Critical Analysis of Online Community College Proposal in California

This essay delves into the significant issues surrounding the online community college proposal, focusing on education levels in various sections of the USA and among different ethnic groups. It assesses the context of 2.5 million Californians aged 25-34 with education levels between high school and college degrees, noting that a substantial portion are employed but could benefit from further education for economic and social mobility. The essay highlights the importance of online community colleges in addressing the workforce needs of California, especially for skilled-services industries, and emphasizes the need for improved social and technological infrastructure to support online education. It also acknowledges limitations and concerns raised in the response letter, such as the potential impact on student understanding of higher education, while advocating for initiatives to improve online education facilities and address skills mismatches in the labor force. The essay concludes that online education is crucial for prospective employees to compete in both skilled-services and blue-collar industries.

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY
English Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH ESSAY
Introduction
The following essay is aimed to discuss upon the significant issues within the spheres of
the online community college proposal. The purpose of the essay lies at the fact that the
education levels of the students in many sections of the USA are just high school or the
graduation degree (Allen, Elaine and Jeff 234). In this aspect the education levels of the
different ethnic groups will be assessed as well. These issues will have to be resolved on the
basis of the given data. The various issues will have to be argued based on the various aspects of
the issue from the community college proposal and the response letter.
The analysis of the context
As per the case study, it can be argued that there are around 2.5 million people living in
California whose age is between 25 and 34. Their average education level is between the high
school and college degrees. It can be said that around 80% of the people are into the employment
as they do not belong to the educationally and economically prosperous class. Out of this section
of the working people (Kuo et al. 16). it can be assumed that 49% of the people are Hispanic
people. This is why they have not gone for the higher education facilities within California. The
argument in this context by the author that it has taken quite a lot of time to recover from the
Great Recession or inflation that has made the job scenario quite complex indeed. This is why
the people who possess the associate degrees have done better than those who only have the high
school and college degrees. In this case it can be said that the education level has been one of the
most effective things for them to succeed in this whirlwind of job scarcity around the world (Kuo
et al. 16).

2ENGLISH ESSAY
On the other hand, it can also be said that the societal issues and the ethnic issues also
have contributed to this matter largely as well. The author has argued over the fact that the
workforce in the modern days is needed by the skilled-services industries for the people without
the bachelor’s degree. It can be said in this context that the need for the workforce for the blue-
collar industries has lowered down for those people with just school degrees. It has been much
prevalent that they should have some postgraduate training to get qualified for these jobs. It has
been seen in the situation that the organizations will need the employees with much service skill
and digital skill in order to be successful in the different industries. The growing unemployment
suggests that the young people will need to get the higher education more than ever. It would
surely increase the availability of the jobs for them. The debt went up so high that the impact of
the job losses were felt despite the high-quality of education among the Californians (Oliff 1).
On keeping this purpose in mind, the importance of creating the online community
colleges was being felt. This could provide the students with the proper opportunities in the
employment scenario of California (Adams, Maurianne and Lee 341). The chances could be
created properly since the online community colleges will surely go on to analyze the need of
workforce according to the job specifications. If the students take part in the courses provided by
these online community colleges it will definitely be very helpful for them as well. As described
in the response letter, it can be quoted that “While FACCC supports a state buy-down of student
fees, it does not agree with the provision in AB 19 that restricts these funds to colleges that
participate in Guided Pathways” (Johnson 773). There is the importance of these sorts of
colleges in the entire working arena of the organizations. The Governor of California might have
stated about some funding options for the people within that age limit, it can be stated that the

3ENGLISH ESSAY
need for these online community colleges will be of supreme need indeed (Adams, Maurianne
and Lee 341).
The state has emphasized upon the need for these online colleges to improve upon the
success rates indeed. The institutions like San Jose State University have begun the various Open
Online courses that might provide the assistance to the job seekers in this segment as well
(Markham 567). The proper learning model should be developed in this context that will be the
most important factor for the development of effective candidates for the job market. However
there are some limitations as well since it can be quoted from the response letter “A fully online
college that exists outside of our established institutions limits the student understanding and
potential of what higher education has to offer” (Hout 379).
However, it can also be argued that the participation among the labor force has remained
low because of the knowledge of the employees in this scenario. As per the proposal it can be
quoted that the “Labor force participation remains low among the working age population, and
economists believe this is partially due to a skills mismatch’ (Johnson 789). The initiatives
should be taken for the online education facilities in the state of California. The social and
technological infrastructure of the state education must be improved to afford the proper number
of candidates to the workforce indeed. This will be big responsibility for the online colleges and
communities. As stated in the chapters it can also be quoted “The Online Education Initiative
supports groups of teaching faculty with the training and tools needed develop online courses,
including a peer-supported instructional network that provides feedback to individual
instructors, enhancing professional development opportunities for faculty with little or no fonnal
pedagogy or training in online delivery” (Oliff 1). The online education support system will

4ENGLISH ESSAY
assist the candidates with deep insight from their peers in order to provide them with a low cost
educational mentoring.
Conclusion
As per the above discussion it can be stated that the online education system will be a
very important factor for the probable employees so they can find their jobs in the competitive
market both in the skilled-services industry and blue collar industry.

5ENGLISH ESSAY
References
Adams, Maurianne, and Lee Anne Bell, eds. Teaching for diversity and social justice. Routledge,
2016.
Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Grade Level: Tracking Online Education in the United
States." Babson Survey Research Group (2015).
Hout, Michael. "Social and economic returns to college education in the United States." Annual
Review of Sociology38 (2012): 379-40
Johnson, Hans P. Higher education in California. Public Policy Instit. of CA, 2016.
Johnson, Hans, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, and Sarah Bohn. "Will California run out of college
graduates." Public Policy Institute of CaliJ fornia. Retrieved from http://www. ppic.
org/content/pubs/report/R_1015HJR. pdf (2015).
Kuo, Yu-Chun, et al. "A predictive study of student satisfaction in online education
programs." The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 14.1 (2013):
16-39.
Markham, Jerry W. A financial history of the United States: From Enron-era scandals to the
subprime crisis (2004-2006); From the subprime crisis to the Great Recession (2006-2009).
Routledge, 2015.
Oliff, Phil, et al. "Recent deep state higher education cuts may harm students and the economy
for years to come." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2013): 1-21.