What if someone told you the classes you’d been working on for part of your time here, weren’t going towards your major at a 4-year university?
That’s the case right now for some students in the Media Entertainment and Arts department, specifically in the broadcast journalism program.
The issue lies in aligning COC’s curriculum with what’s being taught at the CSUs.
“There are a lot of good programs out there that wanna make sure the students are getting the career education – career technical education aspect of it. The balance is trying to come up with curriculum where students can get their feet wet but at the same time is also applicable to their particular major program at a Cal State school or any other school,” said Dave Brill, MEA Professor.
This can result in quite the stressful situation, leaving some students to question what the point of their hard work was?
“Community College is supposed to be a place where you can complete your general ed. and put full force focus into the degree or program you’re pursuing at the four year,” said Marc Monroy, MEA Student.
Despite the frustration being felt by some students, there are steps being taken behind the scenes to try and better connect the MEA department to the CSU system.
“That’s my next order of business to kinda look it over this summer and see where we can find some common ground,” said Brill.
While students may have to wait for a solution, there’s still hope in the meantime for a better understanding…
“I think the communication is vital to understand what’s going on around COC but also the majors we’re in is really important,” said Katherine Brook, MEA Student.
