Yale vs. CNM

The comparison isn’t as far-fetched as you might think

I must thank Scheherezade, of Stay, for giving the inspiration for this post. In her blog, she refers to a eulogy of William Sloan Coffin, a longtime professor at Yale University. When I read it, I was struck by how much is the same in post-secondary education, whether it’s Yale Law, or Central New Mexico Community College. The students are often wrapped up in their own little worlds – whether it’s the elite societies at Yale or the basic need for survival at CNM. As instructors, we can encourage our students to go beyond their own worlds and become more involved in the world at large.

Here at a community college in an impoverished state, the focus is pragmatic – teach the fundamentals of analytic reading and expository writing, with the goal that, when our students graduate from our program, they will have the mechanics of college-level reading and writing that will allow them to succeed in college coursework. Once they get the associate degree at the community college, they will easily be able to move on to the bachelor’s degree program at the university next door.

But I find I can’t stop at the nuts and bolts of rhetoric and grammar. I have to teach more. I have to teach my students critical thinking, so they can understand the validity of an argument. I have to teach logic, so they can make their point clearly. And I have to show them how to put the human element into their writing, because logic alone doesn’t have the impact of logic backed up with emotionally moving human stories.

Along the way, my students get involved with the world. They see something bigger than just surviving until the next paycheck, or surviving the next big exam. They don’t have the same sorts of worries as Yale students, but just like Yale students, they can become trapped in their own little world. In my class, they choose issues to research and argue about, such as global warming, gun control, and red-light traffic cameras. And in the process, they begin to see the world with a wider field of vision.

I have actually had people ask me why I bother – these are “only” community-college students, so why should I be asking so much of them?

The answer is that I ask so much because they are capable of that much. They just need to be shown that they are. Who knows – one of them might someday earn her way into Yale Law.