EDITORIALS : Back to school
Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Northwest Arkansas Community College just finished hosting the three-day Arkansas Association of Two Year Colleges Conference. To those nearly 800 representatives of the state's 22 community colleges who came to Benton County for this event, thank you for visiting; we hope you enjoyed your stay.
It was a great pleasure to see the conference held here and to see people gather to discuss the importance of higher education.
Arkansas rates last among the states in both per-capita income and the percentage of adults (25 and older ) who have a bachelor's degree. There is an obvious connection there that needs to be addressed. A task force directed to study the issue has recommended improving remedial courses for students, giving incentives to colleges and universities to increase their retention and graduation rates, and providing people incentives to stay in Arkansas once they get their degrees.
While the state works on those recommendations, our local community college continues to give us reasons for optimism. Enrollment this fall is 7, 298 - 12. 8 percent higher than last fall and 48. 5 percent higher than five years ago. It's also worth noting that the number of minority students increased 25. 5 percent from spring 2007 to spring 2008.
We can also be confident that NWACC President Becky Paneitz, who has been in charge for five years, knows what she is doing.
While she is well aware of the importance of serving students, she also recognizes that the college provides a service to the business community by producing graduates who are prepared to step into the various career fields. "Speed to market has become so important," Paneitz said during a speech at the conference. "If we don't respond to that, then we're missing the boat."
Making that boat requires a commitment not only to higher education, but to all levels of school. The state must always work to make certain that students are properly prepared before going on to college. That means hammering the basics into them so that the need for remedial work in college is minimized.
Community colleges, which don't receive as much attention as the four-year universities, are invaluable to our state and our country for the educational options they provide. The progress of NWACC and its contributions to our area are clearly worth celebrating.
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