They remind you of the exact amount they're paying for every minute of your time in a class, and then turn around and offer you their gratitude for the priceless experience you've given them in a course. I'll also wager that community-college students take advantage of the entire collegial experience and savor daily learning moments more often than students at privileged institutions. It never ceases to surprise me when former students reminisce about classmates, literature, turning points in a class, or the course of their own development at the community college. Students who transfer to four-year institutions regularly return to tell me that they miss the language of family and love of the community college. My own educational experience made me want to become a teacher.
Misconceptions also abound about community-college faculty members.
We usually are treated as if we teach at community colleges not because we want to, but because we can't get work elsewhere. Some glut of Ph.D.'s supposedly results in wannabe university professors suffering at community colleges for the sake of teaching-related employment. It's the opposite in my case. I chose to teach at a community college because it celebrates committed, passionate teachers. You get credit for working intensively with people, not with paper, researching, and writing.