College is supposed to be harder than high school by nature, but it’s understandable why a basic community college experience would be easier than a rigorous HS workload. Do you agree?
I agree, yes. However, rigorous =/= difficult. This was a topic of discussion among my friends and I. Many of the colleges classes we took were fairly easy in terms of getting an A, especially compared to the AP counterparts our peers were taking.
For example, in English, they had a 2-3 page essay almost every 2-3 weeks not including quizzes, tests, and other reading assignments while our college English class had three 3-5 page essays, and the final was an essay that was only a modified and extended version of the last essay. So by nature, AP English Composition was more difficult but it wasn’t really “better” for the student. Our English professor would grade our papers based on how much we have improved from the first paper. Within the first week, we had to write a paper about a selected topic due the next week. This paper would set the expectations she had for each student. Not everyone was gifted in writing and so, although they may written a poorly constructed essay (relatively speaking), she would take note to the improvement made from the previous essay and that would be reflected into the grade. Likewise, if you were a gifted writer, she would still expect to see a level of improvement which if you failed to achieve, would again, be reflected in your grade. Because many students knew about this professor, they deliberately took her, performed acceptable, but still underachieve on the first essay and gradually write better to ensure a better grade. They would basically lie about their level of writing skill to get a good grade.
Such a case wouldn’t be possible in the AP English class our peers were taking since all students were expected to write at a certain skill level so it was difficult for everyone in that class (unless they were already writing a level that exceeded the teacher’s expectations).
And there are other examples of this where college classes are generally easier such as take home exams, presentations as finals (which even if the professor grades tough, the final for an AP class is the AP test. Almost anyone would prefer a presentation versus an AP test).
However, while college classes were easier for us students, we all admit that in these college classes, we definitely benefited from it more. For students who actually did study in writing papers, they benefited from the aforementioned class because they actually tried their best initially, and made an effort to improve. If they struggled, they were comfortable approaching the English teacher because they knew where they stood and I believe many of them really did become better writers. Also, since AP teachers have to get through all the information needed to past the AP national exam, many times there is little more for free discussion, sharing of ideas, watching entertaining videos relating to the subject. Perhaps people had different experiences with AP classes but they would be the exception since AP teachers have little to no room for flexibility in the material they teach and in the time they having teaching since they risk setting the students up for a poor score on the AP test. To add, the Advanced Placement classes we took were full of memorization, understanding, application and any other form of fact regurgitation and little room for creativity, evaluating, and synthesis. While we did have a recall-demanding Art History exam for the first part of the exam, my friend had to remember far more information for AP Art History. Also, the second half of our exam grade was art creation where we would create an art piece that required influence from the art period we were studying.
However as for science and math classes, I would argue that the edge is in favor of a basic community college. The labs could be (depending on the professor) far more demanding and the material was covered more in depth and my friends and I are from a good high charter high school here in Texas. The Chemical Equilibrium and titration problems were a joke on my friend’s AP test compared to Gen Chem II. University Physics I was significantly more difficult and rigorous than AP Physics C Mechanics. Calculus II, although we had to cover less material because of Hurricane Harvey, was more difficult than the AP Calculus BC. Biology, while not to different from Biology I and II (I even used an AP Biology prep book to help condense the material in Biology II), the lab aspect made it more time consuming. Not to mention, CC offers more advanced classes such as Organic Chemistry, Statics, Dynamics, Calculus III, DiffEq, Linear Algebra, A&P, Genetics, etc.
I will say that the AP classes were a better environment to learn in because of the like-minded students. Everyone knew they were in an advanced course. Everyone was competing for the best grade to get the best class rank whereas in the classes took at the community college, it could be anything but. But considering that AP classes are nationally recognized, they would probably be the better option for many students since a 5 on AP Physics C Mechanics in Texas is the same as in Wyoming while a dual enrollment course in Economics at a 4-year university in California may far exceed the rigor of an Economics course taken in Alabama for dual enrollment.
I know this is a long post and probably has little to do with your question regarding the nature of difficulty of community colleges classes compared to a rigorous HS workload, but I feel that many times, people concern themselves too much with the difficulty of the course, the quantity of the material rather than the outcome of the course and the quality of the material but yes, a high school workload many times is more difficult than community college if we’re just talking about difficulty.
I didn’t proofread this post so please forgive any grammatical mistakes.
I was a history major at an Ivy and I can tell you that my D’s AP World class was much harder then anything I ever had to do at college. Most of the difficulty stemmed from the fact that the AP class was focused on memorizing dizzying lists of arcane facts, whereas my college classes were focused on understanding and analysis. Honestly, I think my D’s AP class taught her almost nothing of value but college classes that stress thinking, writing and analysis are invaluable. I have no view on the AP science or math classes because D1 is most definitely not a STEM kid.