The professors who make the headlines are those who teach at prestige colleges and universities, where they write lots of books and research papers, nurture grad students, and occasionally teach an undergraduate course. Far more numerous but no less consequential are those who teach at America’s community colleges. They do lots of teaching and interact with students who often need adult guidance.

In today’s Martin Center article, Kelly Markson reflects on her career as an economics professor at Wake Tech in Raleigh, NC, where she introduced many students to free-market thinking.

She writes, “Unlike those at elite universities (from what I imagine and have seen on TV this past year), community-college students possess a near universal attitude of non-entitlement. While protests were happening at colleges across the country, I did not witness tensions between Jews and Muslims at my school. I saw in-class collaboration and support. When a Koch-funded speaker comes to speak on campus, there are no protests, just interesting questions.”

Hiring and promotion are based on merit (at least at Wake Tech).

Markson continues, “To encourage and motivate its teachers, Wake Tech implemented faculty rank a few years after I began full-time teaching. The ranks are assistant professor, associate professor, professor, and senior professor. The review process for rank is done by a mix of faculty and administrators. Faculty apply, and, as someone who has sat on the committee to review applications, I can assure you that it is a blind and fair process.”

Lots of Americans look down on community colleges, but based on Professor Markson’s experience, they should stop doing so.