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Table of Contents: Community College Historians in the United States |
The Importance of Teaching History at a Community College: A President's PerspectiveConstance M. Carroll
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Community colleges play a unique and vital role in the United States, offering many people their first or only exposure to higher education. Whether they later transfer to a four-year college or university for further study, apply what they have learned to their work situations, or simply function as better informed members of society and potential voters, the impact of community colleges on the quality of American society is profound and far reaching. To understand the importance of teaching history at the community college, one must also understand this relative newcomer to the higher education establishment. Two revolutionary developments in American higher education laid the foundation for the modern community college. The first, the Morrill Act of 1862, provided land grants for universities devoted to the practical pursuits of agriculture, mechanics, and other applied studies. The act addressed the nation's need to prepare a broader segment of the population for the changing world of work than the more elite, liberal arts colleges and universities were designed to do. America's strong emergence as an industrialized nation would not have been possible without this major innovation in higher education. The second development took this egalitarian step much further. With the founding of the Lewis Institute in Chicago in 1896 and Joliet College as a public two-year institution five years later, the American junior college was born. Higher education was radically changed by the extraordinary concept that all Americans, not just a privileged few or the new middle class, could pursue and benefit from a college education. Enjoying steady growth from its inception, the two-year college flourished following the passage of the G.I. Bill of Rights in 1944, when America's veterans (including more than 60,000 women and, significantly, more than 70,000 African Americans) enrolled. The 1960s and 1970s saw even more explosive growth as the baby boomer generation began to take advantage of the democratic notion that all Americans should have access to and, if necessary, receive federal assistance to attend an institution of higher education, whether it be a research university or a community college. The change in name to "community" college reflected this sense of broader, societal obligation. Community Colleges Today In the late 1990s the size of the community college sector is truly astonishing. The American Association of Community Colleges notes that in the United States today there are 1,086 community colleges: 921 public, 142 private, and 23 tribal. Because many of these institutions have multiple campuses, the actual number is even higher. The real story of the community college, however, and an even more astounding development, lies in the student body. America's community colleges now enroll more than 5.5 million students, the vast majority of whom, 5.3 million, are pursuing their higher education opportunities at affordable public community colleges. By far the largest segment, the 106 California Community Colleges account for 1.3 million students. No longer an experiment in higher education, the nation's community colleges have clearly taken their place as an enormous and integral part of the fabric of postsecondary education in contemporary America. As President Clinton noted in his 1997 State of the Union Address, community colleges provide a critical component in the effort to prepare the population for the postindustrial world of work. How the community college carries out this mission for so many millions is critical to the nation's future. When one looks at community college students, one sees a truer portrait of present and future America than in the more traditional four-year colleges and universities. The demographic differences among the segments of higher education are sharp, especially with respect to the representation of ethnic minorities. Students of color have increased in both number and percentage in all segments of postsecondary education over the last few decades, but the resulting proportions are most dramatic in the community college sector. The charts below depict 1996 student enrollments. The California community colleges reflect, of course, the growing diversity of the state itself, which is soon to be the first mainland state with no ethnic majority. This multicultural, multiethnic population now matriculates by the millions in the nation's community colleges, seeking a strong foundation in academic preparation as well as training for their occupational goals. These students, whose numbers include waves of immigrants from all over the world, particularly the Pacific Rim, are seeking and require a balanced curriculum if they are to succeed. Although both technology and vocational applications have helped shape the community college curriculum over the years, much has remained unchanged since the formative period. General education has been the dominant component of the associate degree curriculum for most of the century, including a strong representation of the discipline of history within the general education requirement structure. In The American Community College, Arthur Cohen reviews studies conducted in the 1930s showing that the majority of community college semester hours were offered in academic areas of the curriculum.(1) According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in today's community colleges the largest number of associate degrees awarded is in the arts and sciences disciplines. Moreover, general education requirements still buttress both academic and vocational associate degrees, often including specific requirements in U.S. history and the history of individual states. As president of a very large and highly diverse community college in southern California, I have had many opportunities to interact with students, both as an administrator and as a teacher, and many opportunities to see the results of the education the students have completed. The most important aspect of that education, in my view, is still the general education requirement structure, which supports all programs, both transfer and vocational. Within this program of academic breadth, the discipline of history stands out as the key to empowering students and preparing them for their future pursuits. Community Colleges and the Global Society Now that global politics and economic interdependencies, agreements such as NAFTA, electronic banking, and the Internet have shrunk the world to a point where cause and effect are almost instantaneous, with geography and time no longer functioning as significant factors in international processes, students need an even broader education than they perhaps needed in the past. High quality instruction in world history is absolutely critical to students' understanding the global village and its political, economic, religious and cultural issues, many of which are centuries and even millennia old. In addition, students need instruction in the history of specific regions. The importance of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Mexico, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim requires representation in the modern student's curriculum if he or she is to understand today's international dynamics. Although European history is well represented in the curriculum, these other areas are not. Both native students and immigrants need to understand U.S. history and American institutions in order to succeed and be effective in future studies, in work, and in the voting booth. The issue of the role of the federal government versus the role of the state, which is as hotly debated today as it was during the Civil War, cannot be properly understood outside its historical context. The role of a dynamic, living Constitution in a rapidly changing, turbulent nation cannot be understood without a knowledge of the crafters' intent as well as the purpose and outcome of modifications over the years. Community college students need to understand the history of labor in America in order to be prepared for the issues they will confront when they enter the workforce. Whether the issue is the limitations imposed on individuals because of gender or race, the role of affirmative action, the role of labor unions, or the work ethic itself, all aspects of the modern workplace are grounded in a history that students must understand in order to be effective. Instruction in history is also the key to understanding the culture of this nation, which has become a battleground in recent years as traditionalists vie with emerging groups in an effort to redefine American culture. The millions of community college students educated each year will be a major force in this national debate as they take their place in leadership roles, as taxpayers, as the new workforce, and as voters. Their understanding of such often untaught histories as slavery and its enduring impact on African Americans, anti-Semitism, discrimination against women, and xenophobic hostilities toward Asian and Latino populations is essential if they are to be effective in the national effort to eradicate the effects of these problems in America. Just as students learn to celebrate the Constitution and the cultural heritage of the original immigrants who forged it, they must also learn the more inclusive lesson of those initially excluded from its protections, as well as relatively recent efforts to remedy these oversights and problems. The progressive community college will address these outcomes by taking several important steps: 1. Ensure that it offers a broad spectrum of high quality courses in history, including opportunities for honors and learning-community formats. 2. Provide support to the history faculty to ensure their professional development, conference attendance, and special training in culturally diverse subject areas. 3. Take advantage of the adaptability of the discipline of history to new instructional delivery formats, especially in distance education. Strengthening instruction in history will simultaneously strengthen the community college's ability to carry out its mission in modern America. In 1995 President Clinton and two Cabinet officers addressed the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, demonstrating the federal government's new awareness of the importance of two-year institutions to America's future. President Clinton described community colleges as being at the "fault-line" in economic opportunities for many Americans and thanked us for our role in helping "individuals achieve the American Dream." If ever one wants to put these sentiments to a test, one only has to attend a community college commencement ceremony, where hundreds of first-generation college graduates from all walks of life, from all levels of the socioeconomic ladder, from all races, and from all over the world gather to celebrate a remarkable achievement despite immense obstacles. These students' gratitude to the colleges that brought them to this point is obvious and deeply moving. They came to learn the academic content and the skills necessary to reach their goals, and they are replaced each year by millions more with the same hopes and dreams. Community colleges are particularly effective in addressing their needs, being both accessible and supportive, and having learned that to prepare them for success begins, as does everything else, with history. Note 1. Arthur Cohen, The American Community College (San Fransisco: Jossey-Basss, 1982), 16. |
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