Community Colleges in America: History, Teaching, and Access

Introduction: Excellence and Criticism in American Education

In 1983 and 1984, a dozen major reports on United States schools were published, all stressing the need for "excellence" in education. These reports are the subject of Excellence in Education: Perspectives on Policy and Practice. The reports pertaining to higher education were published by the Business-Higher Education Forum, which saw higher education as "unable to train skilled managers and technicians that they believed industry needed" (Altbach 32). These reports essentially claim that student achievement has declined at technical schools because schools "do not demand enough of their students, do not apply stiff criteria for promotion, do not test students enough, and particularly in high school, provide students with too many choices about what subjects they study" (Altbach 32).

These reports are somewhat dated in that they compare American students with Japanese students and focus on technical proficiency versus the intuitive grasp of problems and methodologies for solving them — a quality since cited as a strength of American workers. The reports hold that graduates are mediocre at best, and that this mediocrity — directly produced by the schools — is responsible for high unemployment rates and America's decline in defense and world trade. The Paideia Proposal and the College Board Reports claim that colleges have slackened their admissions requirements, admitting a larger proportion of unqualified applicants. These reports argue that schools can address this by teaching more English and foreign languages, focusing on the sciences at the high school level, and using aptitude tests to measure performance at the college level. They also fault schools for failing to encourage students to enroll in math-related or biology programs.

History and Mission of the Community College

In A Handbook on the Community College in America, Baker, Dudziak, and Tyler provide a comprehensive study of the history and development of the two-year college, current teaching methodologies, and how these colleges function in an urban setting. In "Part 3: Curriculum and Instructional Development in The Community College," Albert Smith details the teaching practices utilized in American community colleges. The chapter includes "a brief history of instructional innovation and change in U.S. community colleges, describe the increasingly diverse student body that now attends U.S. two-year colleges, and consider the future, including a discussion of some learning principles, a learning theory, and research on community college faculty that should be useful to community college faculty in future years" (Baker, Dudziak, and Tyler 206). The book not only addresses teaching methodologies at two-year schools but also dedicates sections to the history of community colleges and how they interact with the urban learning environment.

In "The Community College: Educating Students at the Margin Between College and Work," Thomas Kane and Cecilia Rouse "survey the available evidence on the impacts of community colleges on educational attainment and earnings" (Kane and Rouse 63). The authors comment on the changing nature of teaching at these institutions: "Originally, junior colleges focused on what is termed the 'transfer function': students would complete two years of a general undergraduate education and earn an associate's degree at the two-year college, and those who wanted and were capable would transfer to a four-year college to complete a bachelor's degree. Since then, two-year colleges have broadened their mission to include vocational degree programs, continuing adult education programs, and workforce, economic and community development programs. In addition, community colleges have traditionally striven to increase access to higher education through an open admissions policy — often not even requiring a high school diploma — and low, or no, tuition" (Kane and Rouse 65).

Joseph F. Kett's The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties: From Self-Improvement to Adult Education in America, 1750–1990 traces the evolution of adult education across American history. It begins with self-education as portrayed before formal institutions existed — the first universities did not appear in the United States until the late 1800s. Kett also examines the class and social differences produced by the limited availability of adult education, while noting that the advent of industry ultimately necessitated its development. Moving into the twentieth century, he reviews contemporary innovations including the advent of junior colleges and eventually community colleges as they exist today. He also reviews industrial education as it was introduced at the turn of the century, later refined as workers faced domestic and international competition, and ultimately adapted to a working environment that constantly demands skill updates. Throughout, the author draws comparisons between modern innovations and those that predominated in the nineteenth century.