EL CAJON – California will need to grant 2 million more
bachelor’s degrees by 2020 if it is to meet the needs of its economy, says
Assemblywoman Shirley N. Weber (D-79), who chairs the Assembly’s Select
Committee on Higher Education in San Diego County.
She told attendees of a luncheon held Thursday, Oct. 31, at
Grossmont College that if California is to meet that goal, it must greatly
increase the number of students who enroll in college and complete their
courses of study.
In order to do that, she added, institutions of higher
education must attract and retain more students from minority communities,
especially from the under-represented African-American and Hispanic
communities.
Diversifying the student population and increasing job
opportunities for all California citizens not only is morally right, it is
economically right, said the Assemblywoman.
Scheduled to deliver an 11 a.m. speech November 7 to
Grossmont College’s student body on “Higher Education in a Diverse Society,”
the Assemblymember met ahead of time with approximately two dozen
administrators, faculty and students to exchange ideas.
Assemblymember Weber, who had served previously as a board
member of the San Diego Unified School District as well as a professor at San
Diego State University, said she has read studies indicating that students who
go to pre-school have a greater chance of making successes of their lives than
those who do not. Pre-schools help children prepare to take their
places in society, she said. If you want to prevent children from growing
up to become criminals, she advised, “send them to preschool.”
Another important step is to remove barriers to completing
higher education, Assemblymember Weber said. Students who graduate from
community colleges, like Grossmont College, should have the opportunity to
complete their educations in the California State University system, she
said. She noted that a legislative hearing on improving college access
and completion rates will be held at Crawford High School in San Diego on
November 21st.
The Assemblymember also shared the fact that ethnic studies
have come under increasing attack in the State from those who feel they do not
impart any useful skills. She said she was able to persuade both houses
of the California Legislature to place a moratorium on any efforts to shut down
ethnic study programs until an impartial study can be conducted to determine
what they contribute.
From her own experience as a faculty member, Assemblymember
Weber said she knows that such programs are places where students of various
backgrounds can find faculty members who understand them and encourage
them—important factors in aiding more students from minority communities to be
successful in their studies, to graduate, and to enter the degree-holding
workforce.
The Assemblywoman suggested that colleges and universities
find ways to incentivize faculty members to become mentors to members of their
own minority group. “If you are the only one in your family who has attended
college, you need mentors,” she said.
-DHH-
No comments:
Post a Comment