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Post date: Feb 24, 2017 7:15:56 PM
Lurlene B. Wallace Community College
Heading down the road to Andalucía, Alabama the next College I could find was Lurlene B Wallace. By the time I was swinging through Andalucía it was mid afternoon, so expectations were low that I would find many people there, and I was correct. LBW is a small college, only a handful of large buildings set back from the roadside by a large lawn (with marque of course).
The school was small but obviously had pride, the windows of most buildings being painted with rally signs for the upcoming football game. Buildings were rather generic cinderblock interiors. What caught my ear was sound as I approached the back of the campus. It drew me to a large preforming arts center with attached music hall and classrooms. I quietly poked my head inside the back of the auditorium to find a rehearsal for a musical review in progress. Not wanting to disturb the work, I listened for a few songs then slipped back out again. The quality of the singing, choreography, and the musicians were excellent. Not community college excellent, sound production values were beyond American Idol, excellent. The musicians were as sharp as any professional studio musicians I have heard, and the space was well engineered and equipped for great sound quality.
Now I know it may seem from a few of my posts that I’m just being Madeline’s propagandists for the CCSF PAC, but it really is true that CCSF is deficient in not having a preforming arts center given our location. The elderly southerly accented woman at the front desk confirmed that the performance arts center at LBW is a centerpiece of the college and is constantly in use. The college hosts its own productions, while community groups rent it out at other times. It is booked throughout the summer by beauty pageants! I could clearly see and hear that music was an integral part of this community and one they valued and participated in.
Leaving LBW Community College the question I have is what do we in San Francisco value? If football was our community focus then more than just the teams playing would be involved in our games. It is painfully clear to me that we do not value the arts although we have an excellent flow of arts students going through our community. If we valued digital media then we would be showcasing our own video productions in our marketing and on our website. One might say we value all things and this makes it hard to support any of them with specific focus and pride.
The question I have upon my return is what is our source of pride at CCSF? And being accredited is not a good enough answer if we are to have a vibrant future… (thoughts and feedback welcome from anyone reading this….eshanson@ccsf.edu)
Camping
Last night I camped at Open Pond in Conecuh National Forest in Alabama. After watching the herons fish, the sun set and I was treated to a symphony of red eared slider turtles in the large pond who started croaking in unison. Nature can be truly magical. I only wish my own turtle who is trapped in her aquaria at home where she is a solitary member of an invasive species, and seldom croaks, could be here instead of me…. It’s turtle heaven.
I rose early while the fog was still thick on the landscape in order to avoid any territorial conflicts with the users of the boat ramp and ferry site I was camping at. Sure enough by the time I had loaded the bike the first trailer with boat had arrived and I headed off to Monroeville Alabama for an early visit to the next college in my path.
Alabama Southern Community College
When I arrived the college was just waking up for the day. The campus from the outside looks stately, like the ones in Mississippi with the difference being the interiors of this campus are just as nice as the exterior. Dark wood molding and architectural interior details make you stand up a little straighter when you enter the buildings. The classrooms are clean and crisp with AV tools that do not look like an afterthought or add on.
I quickly found the Biology labs and introduced myself to a few Anatomy and Physiology instructors who were setting up for a lab practical. Talking students and anatomy shop business it was clear to me that this is a quality school. The classes are small (limit ~25 max to a lab) with a “stacked” lecture. This is their lingo for two labs attending the same lecture period. Everything seemed familiar with the exception of scale. Because I know Joe and perhaps some of the other CCSF Anatomy and Physiology instructors might be reading this, they were very taken with Pearson’s learning system for A& P. We are always looking for a best fit in terms of text and materials… Most of the smaller college Anatomy and Physiology programs do use the year long combined sequence. At Alabama Southern there are no perquisites to any of intro. Courses required for nursing programs (Insert teacher frustration with unrealistic student expectations here). When asked how much time is devoted to covering the cell the answer is they don’t…. Skip the chapters.
The students here seem to be dealing with the same challenges as ours do. They are parents, have work, retain unrealistic expectations about how much work a college course really is, and how much time and discipline they need to develop. I wish I could say I found the instructors secrete to these challenges here in Alabama but I think I just found some good comrades valiantly trying to take up the same challenge we do.
When asked about support they mentioned they were pretty much given what they needed. Here is where perhaps some similarities end. I noticed the labs did not look as polished as the rest of the buildings interior but they were packed with models and equipment. They had all the basics including instructor microscopes connected to the AV projection system. Something we have yet to achieve in every lab at CCSF.
Having tried to improve the material items at CCSF for years, I feel bad when I see smaller colleges doing better for their students than I see us doing in the city. And I think that is part of the reason for this trip, not to see it. But I left San Francisco, with a sense of failure and frustration, and that helps nobody. It does not make sense that at CCSF we do not have better facilities and equipment for our students, we have money, we have students still impacting many of our programs, but we do not have the recognition of priorities or the follow through? We are just large enough for each person in the executive chain to take the, this is not my job approach. The individuals who do go the extra steps or push an issue get burnt out (insert picture of me as example here)
A thought, perhaps as we are now actively right sizing the college. Instead of demanding we simply not do so, we focus on what are the best things that a smaller college can provide and we demand that. Only change us if the change makes us better. Perhaps we can start with class size caps for lab classes, instead of just cancelation minimums?
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