what: community college
where: Center St, between Shattuck and Milvia
Today your humble nameless grad student reporter has to give mad props to the local community college, Berkeley City College. As I’ve alluded to in the past, I’m a first year grad student at UC Berkeley, that huge campus with the mega reputation up the street. UCB is a major driving political and economic force in the area, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that BCC may actually hold far more importance for a lot of the local residents here. UCB draws students from all over California, the United States, and the globe. BCC draws students from the East Bay and, yes, even that – ahem – OTHER side of the bay. (You know, the one with the crazy hills.) I have always been a big supporter of community colleges – I’ve been taking classes through them since I was a 15 year old high school student. Affordable continuing adult education is a wonderful thing, both for people who want to simply enrich their lives and learn something new and for those who are looking for a career change and upward mobility in life.
My favorite aspect of community colleges, however, is the sheer diversity of students. I’m currently taking a course at BCC in American Sign Language, and my classmates range from high school students to retirees. The course is actually easily my favorite (but don’t tell that to my UCB department!) because it is such a joyous change of pace. We have fun in class, we laugh a lot, we tease each other – all without ever speaking a word. ASL is taught immersion-style at BCC, meaning that after the first day of class no English is allowed in class. Only ASL! BCC is a major player in ASL education – their curriculum has served as a model for schools across the country and the predominant ASL textbook (Signing Naturally) was developed right here at BCC.
BCC, and its associated other community colleges in the area (it’s part of the Peralta Colleges network), offers an impressive and substantial range of classes. It’s not just limited to degree-seeking and transfer students, and the resident tuition rate is a bargain deal at $26/credit. That’s awesome!
