The Community College

The community college has played a vital part in the overall system of public education for the United States for some time, providing students with a low-cost entry to college, with an alternative for some students, with a vocational program for those needing that type of training, and so on. The system has traditionally been an important part of the community, working with high schools and universities alike to provide added opportunity for the disadvantaged and those requiring additional classroom learning before going on to a four-year college or university. More recently, though, community colleges have been faced with many of the same financial pressures affecting other institutions of higher learning, and this along with increased enrollment has created a number of problems with which community college administrators must cope for the future.

Cohen and Brawer (1987) see the factors shaping the community college "as a link between the lower schools and establishments of higher learning" (Cohen and Brawer, 1987, xi). As such, the community college stands as a significant element in the American educational system, and representatives and leaders of the community college must be sensitive to the educational realities of those "lower schools" and the educational needs of those "establishments of higher learning" at one and the same time. Cohen and Brawer (1987) are generally optimistic about the ability of the community college to fulfill its collegiat

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given the budgetary constraints being placed on the entire educational structure in California. The state legislature addressed the issue in 1988 when it systematically revised California's Master Plan for Higher Education, an omnibus community college reform bill signed into law that year. The 1988 reforms set priorities for the community college system as follows: 1) vocational education and equally the education of students planning to transfer to the California State University or the University of California; 2) remedial instruction; 3) continuing education or "community service" instruction. Attempts have been made starting in 1992 to change these priorities in the face of the budget crisis. Governor Pete Wilson wanted to downgrade vocational education, especially short-term vocational education, while upgrading the two-year associate of arts degree an further upgrading transfer education. This took place in the context of a budget negotiation and was criticized as the wrong time to determine the future mission of higher education ("What Is a Community College?," 1992, B7). The community colleges of California have traditionally taken up the slack when hard times hit the State University or University systems

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