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In Maryland, in-state tuition is offered for young immigrants who are undocumented in keeping with the “Dream Act” that was fought hard for. This offer however comes with a lot of limitations the most important of which is the condition that “dreamers must first enrol in Maryland community colleges.

What could be the reason behind approval of staunch opponents for the act following the adding of community college mandate last minute?

In legitimating US higher education’s class and race biased structures, this concession is minimal. Designed and founded especially to lure minority and poor students away from the selective four year colleges, this is targeted towards those seeking baccalaureate degrees.

Massive performance of community colleges has been documented by sociological critics for decades. According to professor Burton Clark, community colleges act as coolants persuading students who enter their doors to give up their baccalaureate aspirations. These colleges encourage them to settle down for the lesser associates or certificate degrees or simply drop out.

A “meritocratic” ideology is promoted wherein the failure of the student is entirely his/her responsibility and does not reflect the failure of the institution in providing necessary resources and opportunities.

The aim of community colleges seems to be to produce intelligent followers who are resigned to their fate and docile. They are discouraged to dream of becoming well educated, powerful and politically active citizens.

Blaming our economic woes on our workers, President Obama along with the Gates Foundation has decided to plough in $2 billion into community colleges in a bid to equip students with the necessary job skills.

Most education experts are however sceptical with such proposals that indicate that the ability of community colleges to educate more numbers of students determines our country’s and communities’ future.

Clearly, all community colleges around our nation are actually playing a “cooling out” role, say critics of which the public are completely unaware. These colleges are indeed low on the higher education rung.

According to recent research, as compared to students who start their post secondary education at four year campuses, community college students are less likely to obtain a baccalaureate.

Community college outcomes are often dismal and race and class biased. In our country, there is a clear distinction and gap in achievement levels between the poor and rich, the Hispanic/African-Americans and white students. This dangerous and detrimental gap is most evident in community colleges.

The blame is entirely on the college practices and not on students. The outcome produced by each and every college is a direct result of the service, program and academic policy in place. Community colleges enrol a massive numbers of middle and low income students. These colleges play a crucial role in the well being of our nation.

There is no fairness in the way four year colleges are not expanded to include low income families and minorities. There is a clear two-tiered system for the rich and poor in our country. It is time for supporters of the “Dream Act” to analyze and understand how exactly aspiring students will be able to achieve their four year degree goal by persevering through the community colleges.