The biggest difference is that high school kids who aren’t motivated are your job to teach anyway. You can’t just shrug them off and let them fail (at least not if you’re a good teacher). At any college, you can try as much as you’re willing to, but iltimately the student is an adult going to make his own choices and his parents are not likely to step in and support you.

On the positive side of community college, many of those students are investing their own money in that education and that motivates many of them to succeed.

Best wishes.

One of the limits of teaching at a community college, I would imagine, would be that your students come from a vast array of life experiences and skills; however, if done right, this is also the best thing.

I taught in a fairly homogenous population in a small town– most of the students had gone to the same elementary schools and junior highs, so most of the students already knew each other. Unlike community college or post secondary education, where students have to pay for their education, they are required to be at the public high school, and have a wide array of motivation, but tend to have similar skill sets and life experiences. This isn’t so great if you want your classroom to thrive around group discussions and you don’t have any dissenting viewpoints on issues, but it is helpful if you want to have a well structured year, in which you know the skills your students need to learn for their next school year and for life outside of school. Sometimes my students were moody, sometimes they were completely disinterested, and sometimes, they judged me for not wearing the same clothing labels they were (think abercrombie vs. target), but they were often very perceptive, interested in current events, and willing to trust that everything I was having them do had a point and a purpose.