A couple of people have written to me wondering what an A.A. is and what good it will do me, and since I had no clue what it involved before I actually looked into getting one I believe I will explain the difference between an Associate of Arts or Science and a Bachelor of Arts or Science. For the purposes of this essay we will choose Arts and refer to A.A. and B.A. with the understanding that these are undergraduate degrees in the American educational system.
The short answer is an A.A. is a two year degree and a B.A. is a four year degree. The shorter answer is the B.A. is the only one that counts. I don't mean you're an uneducated loser if you don't want a degree, or that you can't get anywhere if you don't have one, because there are plenty of fantastic success stories out there that didn't involve going to college. But I can also tell you how many jobs I didn't get because I didn't have a degree, and the School of Hard Knocks teachs you something quite different than studying an art or science in depth does, though both are valuable. Degrees absolutely can make a difference in the kind of jobs you qualify for or the limits of your chosen career. So, here's the deal with degrees.
In the State of California any college or university degree requires the would-be graduate to meet a specific set of General Education Requirements totalling 48 credits. Students who complete these requirements at a community college and are pursuing a four year degree will transfer to a university at this point in their academic career and continue on towards obtaining a Bachelor of Arts. They will have to take another 72 to 87 credits, depending on what university they go to. Most of those extra credits will be selected from their particular major but some are euphemistically known as "electives", a grab bag of credits from a variety of disciplines (mainly left up to the student to select) which fill out the total required credits for graduation. Getting your Bachelor's means getting a broad, generalized education. Specialization is for graduate school.
Students who balk at or can't afford the time or money to do a B.A. may obtain an Associate of Arts degree instead. They do the G.E.R. plus an additional 18 credits in a particular field of study to qualify for the A.A.. It's not good enough if you want a job in a specialized field, and it's not good enough if you want to go to graduate school, but it's still a degree in higher education which is nothing to sneer at. I freely admit I've sneered at it in the past, but no more. Those of you who have been following my erratic course through higher education can see how varied and challenging the basic requirements can be. Anyone who gets through 48 credits worth has my respect these days.
As an aside, courses are worth anywhere from 1 to 5 credits with most being 3 credits at a college on the semester system. If a student goes to college full time, taking 12 credits per semester, they will nominally be ready to graduate in two years with an A.A., or four years with a B.A.. Those of you who did this, I salute you. You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. I dropped out after four years with a mere 67 credits to my name, which technically made me a junior, but I failed to take most of the basic courses and the bulk of my credits are in music, literature, and language.
The reason I bring this up is there's exciting news in this weekend's local edition of the county newspaper. Apparently the county is attempting to arrange the option of getting a B.A. at the community colleges through the use of university faculty teaching courses at our campuses. It's not likely to happen for a couple of years, but the very idea that I might be able to complete a B.A. without the pain of transfering to a school further away with even more parking problems than WHCC, and not having to pay $600 a semester instead of $60 is terribly exciting. I hope they can work it out. Though I'm getting very tired of going to night school and though I'm now considering the A.A. instead of the B.A., there's always the tantalizing thought of graduate school where I could specialize and not waste my time taking general courses to keep me plugging away, one 3 credit course at a time.
I have an appointment next week to talk to a counselor about the A.A. and whether or not I've already fulfilled the additional work necessary with my music credits from the University of Washington. If yes, then once I finish these damned dull G.E.R.s I'm going to get that degree in music after all.
What good will that degree do me? None in terms of career. But everything in terms of peace of mind.
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