Nolan Burkholder
People who have tried to visit Pierce College’s Web site before have probably run into Pierce Mortuary Colleges . Their Web site, http://www.pierce.edu, is close enough to http://www.piercecollege.edu that many students accidentally go to their site instead of that of Los Angeles Pierce College. By now, enough careless people have visited www.pierce.edu that it’s time to understand the mortifying truth about what goes on at “funeral school.” To get an associate’s degree in funeral science at Pierce Mortuary College, students must take classes in embalming and funeral directing. Since funeral directors and embalmers are required by federal law to have a license, the intent of the school is to prepare possible morticians for their exam. Some of the classes offered are “Embalming Bodies for Long-Term Preservation,” “Funeral Accounting,” and “Funeral Psychology.”But Pierce Mortuary isn’t the only other Pierce out there. Pierce College District 11, in Lakewood, Washington, is named after Pierce County, where its two campuses are. Apart from the two campuses, Pierce District 11 holds classes at the nearby Army and Air Force bases. They have slightly more class offerings than Pierce, but their enrollment is 12,453, compared to Pierce’s 20,000.A slightly less closely-named college, Peirce College, is based in downtown Philadelphia. Their student demographics are similar to Los Angeles Pierce, except for the fact that they are based in one large skyscraper, while Pierce is on a sprawling 426 acres. And no, “Peirce” is not a misspelling. The college’s founder was Thomas May Peirce, a Philadelphia philanthropist. The Web site http://www.pierce.com is the website of Pierce Technology, an I.T. employment firm that contracts with businesses needing I.T. workers.Though none of the colleges are named after the same person, they’re all from the same ‘hood: they’re community colleges named Pierce (and Peirce).