COMPARING CLASSES AT PENN AND MONTCO

One in a series of articles on higher education in the Philadelphia area published in Spring 1996 in the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 

Can community college classes match up favorably with introductory courses at elite universities? 

An Inquirer reporter recently tested that notion by observing two comparable science courses - one at Montgomery County Community College, one at the University of Pennsylvania - over a three-week period. 

Students from both classes completed questionnaires and were interviewed. A handful agreed to visit lectures at the other school and share their impressions. 

The contrasts in students, class size and teaching methods were striking. 

The Penn students, largely teenage freshmen and sophomores, had been the academic stars of their high school classes. More than 80 percent of those questioned said they hoped to go on to medical school. Most said their parents were footing the bill; others expected to graduate with debts, ranging from $20,000 to $40,000. 

Almost all had a dim view of community colleges. ``Much lower quality and reputation than a four-year program,'' one wrote. ``An extension of high school-level work,'' wrote another. ``I don't really know a lot about it, but my general stereotype is not good,'' wrote a third. ``I think the classes aren't hard (possibly hard for the level of students there),'' wrote the fourth. 

The Montco students, who ranged in age from 18 to 44, were mostly seeking careers in nursing, physical therapy or dental hygiene. Two-thirds were paying their own way, most worked at least 20 hours a week, and all but one said cost was a factor in choosing a school. About half had previously attended four-year schools; most hope to transfer in the future. 

When students visited each others' classes, none saw much difference in the material, only in the manner and the pace of presentation. The most noticeable difference, they pointed out, was class size. 

Students said the classes were equally thorough. 

 ``I think the amount of material we learned was about the same,'' Penn senior Lori Lovitz, 21, said after attending a Montco lecture on immunology, which her Penn class had covered the week before. 

``It was exactly the same,'' Montco student Dana Fancher, 29, said after attending a Penn lecture on reproduction. 

All of the visiting students said they preferred the small size, individual attention and give-and-take of the community college class to the more detached atmosphere of the larger Penn lecture. 

``I definitely think it makes it easier to learn,'' said Penn freshman Ethan Smith, 19, who attended a Montco lecture. ``If your classes are always going to be that small, then great. You're learning, you get a lot of attention from your teacher, your professor knows your name.'' 

``I think I would have learned a lot more with a smaller class,'' said first-year Montco nursing student Laura Glorioso after attending a Penn lecture. ``It didn't seem to bother [the Penn students], but for me, I'm used to a lot of question-asking, a lot more in-depth explaining. . . . But I guess in a class that size it's hard because you don't know who you're dealing with; you're just dealing with a lot of faces.'' 

David Roos, 38, the professor who gave the Penn biology lectures, acknowledges as much. He says large, introductory courses are ``the weakest aspect of education at Penn'' - and the hardest classes to teach well. The things he sees as Penn's greatest strengths - superior students, research facilities and advanced upper-level courses taught by experts - are not on display in such settings, he says. 

Would it make sense, then, for a student to learn the basics at community college and then transfer? 

``This is obviously a personal opinion, rather than the perspective of most of my colleagues or university policy,'' he says. ``But I would say that for a majority of students, that makes perfect sense. It certainly would save a lot of money, and I think you can learn the material.'' 

Al Baccari, 47, the professor of the Montco anatomy and physiology class, is completing his 23d year at the school. He says he went there straight from graduate school for one reason: He wanted to teach small groups of students. 

``We bring them in, we make that one-on-one contact with them, and we try to pull them through,'' Baccari says of his teaching approach. ``We never lessen the quantity or the quality of the material. Yet, by holding their hands . . . we get them to realize that, `Hey, this is not so bad. I can do this.' '' 

While Baccari focuses solely on teaching, Roos juggles numerous duties during an 80-hour work week. He teaches Biology 102 for only half the semester; another professor teaches the other half. Roos also teaches an advanced undergraduate course and a graduate class. At the same time, he runs a 15-member research lab. He does not have to teach Bio 102 but feels a sense of responsibility to do so, despite the extra hours. 

 ``Being a research faculty member and being a professor at a place like Penn is just a daunting amount of work,'' Roos says. ``It is work that I like, but it is a lot of work.''