The extraordinary array of 146 public-supported degree granting
institutions, with the University of California at Berkeley
(North) and UCLA (South) usually the top ranked examples, and a
similarly extensive group of private-supported universities,
with Stanford (North) and Southern California (South) seen as
the best examples, have served both as facilitators and
generators of the California dream.
California is a state of superlatives. Some have come to
California for its special climate; it's one of the few places
in the world that enjoys the Mediterranean-type weather.
Especially in Southern California, the dry warmth permits
lightweight clothing and outdoor recreation almost all the year
round, and palm trees can be seen as far north as the San
Francisco Bay area. Rainfall is primarily confined to the
November to March period.
California's superlatives have drawn others because of its
amazing geographic variety. The film industry, originally
centered in Hollywood (LA), was drawn by the possiblity of
representing most of the world's geography without leaving the
state. Geographically and culturally, California can be viewed
as three regions: Southern from Santa Barbara to the Mexico
border, Northern from Monterey to San Francisco - and north to
Oregon - and Central to include the central shore to Sierra
Nevada, and the great central valley from Bakersfield to
Sacramento and Redding. These regions all exhibit rather
dramatic differences.
The North has jagged shorelines, more rain, and rugged terrain,
rushing rivers and many lakes. Here are the great forests and
sparse population north of the Bay Area. North of Redding is the
Shasta area of snow-capped mountains, and even some glaciers and
bald eagles, the country's national bird. It's an area that we
sometimes call California's Shangri-La. Nearer the Bay Area is
Napa country, with its sophisticated restaurants and numerous
wineries. The Bay Area itself is home to more than 6,000,000
people, whose diversity has expanded from gold miners to
computer programmers, who, coached by numerous local
universities including Stanford and Berkeley, have created the
entrepreneurial paradise commonly called Silicon Valley,
centering from San Jose to the Golden Gate.
Southern California has a climate that exhibits sunshine and
ideal temperatures most of the year, and encourages a recreation
life-style that has brought many to California. The Los Angeles
(LA) area is home to the entertainment industry, major
technological and business enterprises as well as land
development, tourism, and professional sports. Immediately south
of LA is Orange County, which is famous for its beaches,
amusement parks (the original Disneyland), residential
developments, top higher education institutions and a decidedly
less urban atmosphere than Los Angeles.
Within the northern sector of Orange County is North Orange
County, where two of the region's finest community colleges are
located. Cypress College is highly respected for its programs in
the health sciences, automotive and transportation technology,
and the liberal arts. The college recently initiated an
innovative Geographic Information Systems curriculum with grants
from the National Science Foundation. It also offers such
specialized programs as aviation and mortuary science. Fullerton
College is the oldest continuously-operating community college
in California, and it offers to its more than 19,000 students
strong programs in business, science and the fine arts -
particularly in music and theatre. Fullerton College is one of
the largest in the nation in transferring students to the
university. South of Orange County is San Diego, which has a
streetcar ride direct to the Mexican border! San Diego is home
to America's cup, has a world-class zoo, and 90 museums - need
we say more?
The Central region is dominated by the San Joaquin Valley, an
enormous 500 mile long example of rich, irrigated farmland, with
a north/south string of cities in the forth, half, and one
million population range. It is the fastest growing region in
California, as people leave the more crowded shore cities.
Central west is Monterey/Carmel (very internationally oriented),
Big Sur ( a northern Italy type of coastline), and Santa Cruz
with its boardwalk amusement park and university. Further south
on the coast, we find a castle (Hearst) sitting on a hill
overlooking the ocean, and further inland a charming town
(Solvang) straight out of Denmark.
Central East is high Sierra country, with the gold country towns
along foothills and strung like earls on north/south highway 49.
Between Sierra and the sea are lush fields of grapes, and a
cornucopia of other fruits and vegetables - the nation's
breadbasket. Merced County, centering the triangle including San
Francisco, Monterey and Yosemite, has the world's largest winery
(Gallo). But industry and cutting edge telecommunications are
moving into the farmlands; Merced also prints 80% of all the
telephone books, and several national magazines, produces
speedboats, etc, and has an International Trade Development
Center with a Free Trade Zone.
The two-year colleges of California issue Associate Degrees that
are transferable to the more advanced degree universities in the
nation, and also provide vocational certificate programs, such
as ESL, often of an intensive nature. The State University
System provides Bachelor's degrees (usually four years or so
after the Associate), and Master's Degrees (usually requiring a
fifth or sixth year). The University of California issues
Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate degrees (the doctorate
usually requiring two or more post-master's work, plus an
approved dissertation).
These university programs represent the combined experience of
California and the world, and have brought California to the
cutting edge of the world-wide revolution in telecommunications.
For beginning university students, I recommend starting at the
two year colleges, since they are much less expensive, have
smaller classes taught by professors whose major interest is
teaching rather than research, and provide a more flexible
format for individual tutoring or counseling, while determining
what major is desired. Fullerton and Merced have extensive
international outreach, eg Fullerton receives a select group
from the Beijing Institute of Management each year, and Merced
has sister college agreements with universities in China, Japan,
Vietnam and France, plus articulated programs with the Monterey
Institute of International Studies.
California is an attitude as well as a place. It is vibrant,
entrepreneurial, diverse and intellectually stimulating, because
it's always on the doorstep of the future. Everyone needs the
California experience, just as everyone needs the Paris
experience - to have a better sense of who you are and to touch
base with your feelings. Only when you experience another
culture do you better know your own culture. |
