The Community College and the Good Society: How the Liberal Arts Were Undermined and What We Can Do to Bring Them Back

by Chad Hanson

Overview

The community college is the largest single sector of the U.S. higher education network. As of 2005, 40 percent of newly enrolled undergraduate students attended community colleges. The American two-year school is a vast, rapidly changing, and under-studied institution. The aim of The Community College and the Good Society is tocritically analyze the internal changes and external forces that shifted the focus of the two-year college—from the liberal arts to job training.

Chad Hanson raises a series of questions about what is lost or forsaken when public institutions become preoccupied with economic goals. When educational institutions turn their attention toward training workers to private-sector specifications, Hanson argues, our social and cultural lives suffer. He describes the "the learning college movement," an ideological framework that justifies the current emphasis on vocational training. In addition, he explores the implications of competency-based education, a philosophy and method for creating curriculum with strong support among administrators and boards of trustees.

For more than four decades, a steady stream of commentary aimed at understanding the two-year school made its way into the literature on higher education. In this work, Hanson provides an alternative view of the community college. He offers suggestions for new teaching strategies, curriculum, and organizational structure. These changes will encourage the potential for the two-year college to flourish as an institution that provides a permanent place for the arts and sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412813433
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	04/15/2010
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Chad Hanson

Table of Contents

Introduction: What are Community Colleges For? 1

Part 1 Change on Campus

1 Political Culture: The Quid Shift toward Job Training 9

2 Organizational Beliefs and Values: The Learning College Movement 23

3 Educational Practices: Competency-Based Education 39

Part 2 External Forces and Their Impact

4 Government Agencies: The U.S. Department of Education 53

5 Professional Organizations: The American Association of Community Colleges 67

Part 3 The Promise of the Arts and Sciences

6 Curriculum: Localized and Problem-Based 83

7 Mission and Purpose: The Community College Baccalaureate 93

8 Pedagogy: The Town Hall Meeting as a Teaching Method 105

Epilogue The Twenty-First-Century College 121

Reference 135

Index 147