Keys to Community College Success

COVID-19 Success Updates and Coaching Included

Carol Carter, Sarah Kravits

• Publisher: LifeBound
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781735189116
• Edition: 8
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

For First Year Experience, Student Success, and Introduction to College courses for students attending two year programs. Keys to Community College Success sets the standard for connecting academic success to success beyond school, showing students how to apply strategies within college, career, and life. This Eighth edition retains Keys ' tried-and-true emphasis on thinking skills and problem solving, re-imagined with two goals in mind: One, a risk and reward framework that reflects the demands today's students face, and two, a focus on student experience specific to two-year schools with a more extensive research base and increased metacognition, helping students get a degree, get skills, or work toward a transfer. Keys to Community College Success helps students take ownership, develop academic and transferable skills, and show the results of commitment and action so they are well equipped with the concentration, commitment, focus, and persistence necessary to succeed. Keys to Community College Success provides the established KEYS set of tools for success —an understanding of how coursework connects to career and life goal achievement, and analytical, creative, and practical thinking coverage that empowers a range of cognitive ability. This content provides:

• COVID-19 Update: College students in 2020 need relevant information during the unprecedented time of COVID-19. This update of Keys to Community College Success includes up-to-the minute information on digital and distributed learning strategies and practical tips on resilience, persistence, purpose, and strength.
• College Connection to Career and Life Goals: Infused with a focus on risk and reward, showing that the reward of success in the modern world demands a risk of vision and persistent effort over time. It raises the bar to show students that they must risk action to grow, thrive, and contribute in order to make their college investment pay off in gainful employment, meaningful work, and community involvement.
• Thinking Skills coverage: Comprehensive content with research references lend credibility and perspective to concepts, targeted exercises that explore personally relevant situations in context, and sustained focus throughout each topic.
• Tailored to the Two Year Program experience: Acknowledges global economic change and instability and hones in on student concerns about employability skills and debt management so the two-year college experience is framed in practical, work-relevant ways with consideration toward transfer students as well. New coverage of resources, topics, and research support concepts.

The Rewards of College

TAKING RISKS THAT MOVE YOU TOWARD SUCCESS

What Would You Risk? Dr. J. Raider Estrada

THINK ABOUT THIS SITUATION AS YOU READ, AND CONSIDER WHAT ACTION YOU WOULD TAKE.

THIS CHAPTER JUMP-STARTS YOUR ENTRY INTO THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE, WITH INFORMATION ON HOW TO MAKE THE TRANSITION AND GATHER THE INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS.

J. Raider Estrada’s childhood in Los Angeles was defined by challenges. His parents separated when he was 10, and his neighborhood was dominated by gang culture. He grew close to an older boy named Rudy who belonged to one of the local gangs. One day as he and Rudy walked down the street, members of a rival gang drove up, jumped out of the car, and fatally stabbed Rudy on the spot. Raider, age 12 at the time, could only hold his best friend and watch him die.

This experience unleashed rage in Raider that he was unable to control. He joined the gang to which Rudy had belonged and participated in gang violence. He was repeatedly arrested for assault and battery. He went through several stints in juvenile hall and on probation, and he eventually lived in a group home for over a year. However, none of these interventions kept him from continuing to act violently on behalf of the gang.

When his stepmother discovered his gun and called the police, she disrupted Raider’s plan to avenge the deaths of several fellow gang members. After two weeks of hiding out, he risked going to the police on his own volition. This time the intervention was different. He went to a program called Rite of Passage in the heart of the Nevada desert, where he found encouragement and motivation. A devoted teacher who worked with Raider sparked his desire to learn, which led to his earning a high school diploma, and a counselor helped him apply to college. He was admitted to Lassen College and started classes two days after leaving Rite of Passage. Now a new challenge loomed: How could Raider, as a former gang member with a history of failure and violence, earn the reward of a successful college career?

To be continued …

IN THIS TEXT, YOU WILL MEET PEOPLE LIKE RAIDER WHO HAVE TAKEN RISKS THAT HAVE HELPED THEM ACHIEVE IMPORTANT GOALS. WHETHER YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH THESE PEOPLE OR NOT, THEY WILL EXPAND YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND INSPIRE YOU TO MOVE AHEAD ON YOUR OWN PATH. YOU’LL LEARN MORE ABOUT RAIDER, AND THE REWARD RESULTING FROM HIS ACTIONS, WITHIN THE CHAPTER.

How Ready Are You to Risk Effort for the Rewards of College?

For each statement, fill in the number that best describes how often it applies to you.

1 = never 2 = seldom 3 = sometimes 4 = often 5 = always

Each of the topics in these statements is covered in this chapter. Note those statements for which you filled in a 3 or lower. Skim the chapter to see where those topics appear, and pay special attention to them as you read, learn, and apply new strategies.

REMEMBER: NO MATTER HOW PREPARED YOU ARE TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE, YOU CAN IMPROVE WITH EFFORT AND PRACTICE.

WHY IS COLLEGE A RISK, AND

what reward does it offer?

Think about the word risk. What, specifically, comes to mind? There are two different ways to think about risk. One involves risky behavior—impulsive decisions made with little or no forethought—such as substance abuse, unsafe sex, or breaking the law. The other concept is one of deliberate risk calculated to bring reward. Examples of this kind of productive risk include buying shares of stock in a new company or serving in the combat division of the military. This is the concept of risk that will take focus in this text—the one that will give you the power to achieve the rewards that are meaningful to you.

College is often seen as a risk-free, safe choice that increases your chances of career stability. However, striving for a degree in higher education is one of the most potentially rewarding risks of your lifetime. To follow this path, you will risk your most valuable resources—time, money, and yourself. You will dedicate time to learning and self-improvement. You, and anyone helping to finance your education, will commit a significant amount of money. You will sign up for years of responsibilities and challenges for both your mind and your body. Obtaining your degree is a perfect example of a targeted risk, calculated to produce reward down the line.

Well then, why take calculated risks? Why not save your money, time, and effort? Because only with productive risk-taking (not risky behavior) come the rewards essential to your success. Skills, intelligence, motivation, employment, growth, and advancement can be yours, but only as a result of hard work, dedication, and focus.

This text and your course are part of an experience this term that will:

■ Show you the value of deliberate risk-taking in your day-to-day life

■ Allow you to discover more about how you learn and what rewards you seek

■ Build academic skills as well as transferable life skills

■ Help you set and risk pursuing your most important goals

■ Increase your ability to relate effectively to others and work in teams

When a high jumper or pole vaulter gets over a bar of a certain height, someone raises the bar so that the athlete can work toward a new goal. The college experience will “raise the bar” for you with tougher instructors, demanding coursework, and fellow students whose sights are set high. You, too, can risk raising the bar, aiming for the potential rewards of jumping over it. There is potential for improvement in every life—think about how or what you want to improve. You don’t have to have experienced brutality as a gang member, as Raider did, to want to make changes for the better.

Begin your transition to college by looking at the present—the culture of college, what you can expect, and what college expects of you. Then, consider the future—what a college education means for you in the workplace and in life.

The Culture of College

Knowing what to expect in college will help you to transition more successfully. You are likely to experience most or all of the following aspects of college culture (your student handbook will contain details specific to your school). As you read, keep in mind that the reward you earn from college depends on the risk you take.

Independent learning. College offers the reward of freedom and independence in exchange for the risk of functioning without much guidance. This culture requires strong self-management skills. Instructors expect you to do the following—and more—on your own:

■ Use syllabi to create and follow a schedule f...