No More 13th Grade: The High School Mentality in Two-Year Colleges

The author describes a number of ways that faculty and administration can improve the brand of community colleges:

By changing our own attitudes and behaviors, administrators and faculty members can begin to alter the perception that two-year colleges are less rigorous and intellectually stimulating than four-year institutions. We can help students appreciate more fully the value of a community-college education, whether they plan to enter the work force or transfer. Most important, we can develop a sense of pride in ourselves and our institutions that will carry over to the communities we serve.

Because the fact is, we're not the 13th grade. Community colleges open the doors of higher education to students for whom those doors would otherwise be closed. And that's something no high school, and very few universities, can say.