walter, sounds like your kid is a great candidate for CC and would take advantage of all it offers while also gaining other super valuable life skills such as working for awhile as well as having fun, growing up a little, etc.
Other kids aren’t quite as “smart” and ready for that environment, and it’s almost like they need a bridge from high school to the next stage, where there’s an environment that – well, let’s just say it – coddles them a bit more. Of course, we hate to admit it and feel guilty that our kids at this stage can’t just suck it up and be self-motivated enough to ignore distractions. And it goes without saying that plenty of distractions also exist at private colleges.
But, here’s an example of one kid we know well who got “derailed” at CC…this kid was bright, interesting and successful all during high school. She was super creative and a great writer, and got a partial merit scholarship to a small private liberal arts school. She went for one year and although she loved it, raved about it, said it felt like “home”, she came back with way less than stellar grades. Her parents said “enough” and thought they’d teach her a lesson by enrolling her in the local CC for at least a semester, which she started the following fall. She also took a part-time job.
Long story short, it’s now about 3 years later and she met a guy the first few weeks of attending CC who ended up being a disaster for her, to put it mildly, and she left school by the end of that year, moved in with him and got married to him within 6 months. She worked at Victoria’s Secret in the mall, and he worked in a tattoo shop. Who knows what else is going on because she stopped communicating with her family very often. Now, several years later, she recently broke down and told her mom in a tearful phone conversation that she’s been physically and emotionally abused in the relationship and wants to divorce the guy and move back home (almost 22 now) and start all over.
Of course, her attendance at CC did not “cause” this situation, and other bad things probably would have happened in her life had she continued at private college since obviously her maturity and judgment was lacking in many ways. BUT, her parents often wonder if it would have been better, even with her floundering a bit at her private liberal arts school, to just send her back there and let her slug it out through a few more years. I think they think she would have been in a more positive environment there because the private college had MUCH more oversight and counseling and direct involvement with her. And most kids were fairly motivated to finish their 4 years.
Just a single story…your mileage may (hopefully will!) vary.
