1
The Community College: A View from the United States
The Keynote Address
Presented at a Symposium
December 10, 2001
Sponsored by
The Faculty of Education, Hong Kong Institute of Educational
Research, the School of Continuing Studies of the Chinese
University of Hong Kong; Caritas Adult & Higher
Education Service, and the Hong Kong – America Center
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, SAR, PCR
The Associate Degree in the Puzzle of Hong Kong’s Higher
Education System: A Symposium
George McLaughlin, EdD, LPC, Regents Professor of Education
Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, USA and
Fulbright Scholar
The Hong Kong – America Center
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2
The Community College: A View from the United States
Background
In his policy address on 10 October of this year, the
Hong Kong SRA Chief Executive TUNG Chee Hwa said
Education sits at the top of our social agenda. We are
determined to succeed in our education reforms and to
build a partnership with all those involved. . . . I
appeal to all entrepreneurs and employers: continue to
support education wherever possible and try your best to
give staff time off to pursue further education or
retraining. These will ultimately enhance the success of
your enterprise. I appeal to all those working in the
education sector: strive to bring your skills to new
heights and excel in both teaching and learning. . . . I
appeal to all young students: grasp valuable learning
opportunities and prepare yourselves well for the
challenges ahead (p.41).
Focusing on “education in a knowledge-based economy”, the
Hong Kong government has increased funding for education from
HK$37.9 billion in 1996-97 to HK$55.3 billion in 2001-02: a 46
percent increase in a declining economy. Further, the Chief
Executive has stated three targets: (1) raise standards of
primary and secondary students; (2) increase the number of
post-secondary places so that 60 percent of senior secondary
leavers can attain post-secondary education; and (3) emphasize
and promote life-long learning. These initiatives and these
targets are the motivation for this symposium today.
Hong Kong’s higher education institutions are among the
best in Asia, if not the entire world. There is assembled
here an able and extremely hard-working faculty who hold
terminal degrees from the foremost universities of the world.
And only the crème de la crème of Hong Kong secondary leavers
are admitted to these prestigious universities. Moreover,
government budgetary allocations for operations and capital
improvements appear generous. Furthermore, Hong Kong is
acknowledged as one of the world’s leading financial and trade
centers, possessing a highly competent, professional
workforce. If all this is mostly true, many of my Texas
friends would say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
The question on the minds of many and the lips of others
is, “Does Hong Kong need another layer of new institutions?
3
Degrees? Programs? Clearly, Hog Kong is being challenged to
find a way to bring higher education and training to more of
its people. If it is to sustain its preeminence, Hong Kong
will find a way to engage and to be more proactively
responsive to business, industry, and labor. In my view Hong
Kong can afford to maintain the high quality of its
universities and simultaneously provide higher education
opportunities and training for all who aspire to it. Hong
Kong can ill afford not to.
Interesting to me is that nowhere in the Chief
Executive’s statements have I read or heard him say,
“community college” or “associate degree”. Certainly, others
have, for it appears a logical next step to satisfy stated
policy goals for the progress of Hong Kong.
In any event it is clear that as a matter of public
policy there will be additional tertiary education
opportunities for the people of Hong Kong. Consequently,
stakeholders may find it useful to look at the way in which
United States public policy responded to an earlier yet
similar call for greater higher education opportunity.
This paper is a limited overview of the US community
college and salient anecdotal experiences from the perspective
of a university system executive. It is not a prescription
for Hong Kong. Hong Kong will want to design its own. My
hope is that what we do here today might serve to provoke
thought and lead to action that is distinctively Hong Kong’s.
There seems little question that what is loosely referred to
as the community college is the United States’ single-most
significant -- certainly the most original -- contribution to the
institution of higher education. Certainly, British, German, and
French models played influential roles in the formative years of US
colleges. These influences provided the intellectual and pragmatic
impetus from which talented and creative US higher education and
political leaders -- over time -- contributed to the design of a
university system of higher learning that has evolved into one that
has earned worldwide respect and admiration.
It is, however, this uniquely US institution, the community
college, that is the topic of discussion. In some venues it is
called junior college. Others prefer lower division institution.
And in some places it is known as the 2-year college or simply and
affectionately as “the college.” Call it what you will, in the
United States it has revolutionized higher learning, skills
4
learning, and life-long learning. It has created a pathway where
there was none; it has opened doors that were previously closed.
It is credited with enfranchising the disenfranchised; with
marketing the unmarketable; and with making taxpayers of taxtakers. It has empowered women, ethnic and racial minorities, as
well as the elderly. It has become a much-heralded tool for
economic diversification and development and for the uplifting of
community pride.
History
What transpired in US history that laid the foundation for
these phenomena?
Several (American Association of Community Colleges,
2001; Cohen and Brawer, 1996; Townsend, 2001) have observed
that as novel as it may appear, what has evolved as the
community college was certainly not a new idea. In mid-19th
century US, several state university leaders called for adding
the first two years of college to the high school curriculum,
thereby creating grades 13 and 14. Then some fifty years
later in 1896 President William Rainey Harper at the
University of Chicago called the first two years at Chicago
the Junior College and the last two the Senior College.
Harper was instrumental in the founding in 1901 of Joliet
Junior College, the first public junior college in the US and
deserves special credit for his leadership in promoting the
concept and in implementing it -- much to the chagrin of more
conservative educationalists.
Parenthetically, in my own experience as a university
dean in the 1970’s, I strongly supported and urged upon the
university president a proposal to reorganize the university
into two colleges -- a lower division and an upper division.
The lower division unit was to be named University College; it
would provide teaching, student and administrative, especially
counseling and advisement, services for students until their
completion of the freshman and sophomore or first two years
(60 hours) of progressively successful student enrollment.
The design of the curriculum was such that after the
successful completion of the core curriculum students would
receive either an Associate of Arts degree or Associate of
Science degree from the university, a public, State of Texas
funded doctoral degree granting institution. The so-called 2college plan was well grounded: my motivation for it was the
alarming ratio of attrition at the freshman and sophomore
levels. By providing special services and a midway reward in
the form of an Associate degree, baccalaureate graduation
5
rates should increase. Further, if students “stopped out”
after two years they would have a credential that should help
them to be marketable.
However, wording in the planning document was, quiet
surprisingly, discovered to contain language authorizing the
president to assign faculty to either of the colleges-alarming enough in itself -- but when it was further revealed
that the sine qua non of the plan required faculty members of
the lower division to teach five courses and members of the
upper division would teach four courses, the plan met a
certain death.
Later, as system vice chancellor for administration,
planning, and academic coordination I was fortunate to
participate in the process which culminated in legislative
approval and regional accreditation of the university system’s
two lower division branches as stand alone institutions,
empowered to award the Associate Degree. Although different
from my original goal, the accreditation of these two and a
few years later a third lower division college, made possible
the marshalling of forces to reduce the human wastage that all
too often characterizes the higher education enterprise. Of
further interest here is that these lower division/community
colleges have been responsible for a significant increase in
the area’s college-going ratio.
What circumstances contributed to the evolution of the
community college as we know it? According to Evelyn (1999),
community colleges came into their own as a result of several
factors: (1) late 19th century public sector demand for
education; (2) public school districts added the thirteenth
and fourteenth grades; (3) private secondary institutions
ambitiously added the first two years of college to their
offerings; (4) struggling, private baccalaureate-degree
granting institutions revitalized themselves by becoming
junior colleges; (5) so-called normal or teacher’s colleges
added to their course inventories; and (6) many public school
districts created junior colleges by adding a junior college
district to its legal tax base.
(My own Texas, public university, Lamar University, was
founded in 1923 as South Park Junior College. Its mission was
to provide the first two years of a university education to
students who resided in the South Park Independent School
District. In 1936 the people of Jefferson County voted to
create the Lamar Junior College District and added five mills
per $100 to their ad valoreum tax bill; that year a vocational
6
training component was added. In 1947 the Texas Legislature
enacted legislation creating Lamar State College of
Technology. Its mission was to serve the science and
engineering higher education needs of the people of Texas. In
1969, the Legislature created Lamar University.)
What has caused these factors to coalesce to produce the
community college? It is the demand for higher learning. It
is the long and strongly held belief by the people of the
United States that education is, for the people, a means to
upward economic mobility and individual, social advancement.
Terminology
According to Barbara K. Townsend (2001), the original use
of the term junior college referred to an institution in which
were taught only those courses that comprised the curriculum
of any four-year college education. Only later did it become
known as the community college. “Junior college” was the
designation until the 1940s. And the general understanding
was that the mission of the junior college was to provide the
first two of a four-year baccalaureate degree at a site
usually more convenient than the senior college or university.
Consequently, the junior college not only prepared the student
for study at a university but it also enabled the student to
earn the first two years of a baccalaureate degree program at
a site close to home and at lesser cost.
When the American Association of Junior Colleges was
founded in 1920, it came together as a self-interest
organization. It was during this the time it defined the
junior college as an institution of higher learning offering
two years of collegiate grade instruction (Cohen and Brawer,
1996).
The term "junior college" is used by many people to refer
to all two-year colleges. Practitioners, however, use the
term to refer to independent, non-profit colleges focusing on
transfer students. Its students are those who seek a two-year
college as the first step in their pathway to the
baccalaureate degree, who may or may not receive an associate
degree.
The term "community college" was not widely used until
after it appeared in the report in 1947 of the Presidential
Commission on Higher Education (Townsend, 2001). Shortly
after World War II in the wake of 12 million returning US
7
military personnel, President Harry Truman established the
Commission to review and make recommendations about the role
of higher education in America. The report, Higher Education
for American Democracy (1947) gave significant momentum to the
growth and expansion of the two-year college and specifically
the public community college. The report of the Commission
stated their opinion that as a matter of policy government
should establish the right of every American to a free, public
education through the thirteenth and fourteenth grades. The
Commission saw the community college as the clear path to
achieve its goal of extending education to everyone.
Commenting on the purposes of the community college, the
report concluded:
Whatever form the community college takes, its purpose
is educational service for the entire community, and
this purpose requires of it a variety of functions and
programs. It will provide college education for the
youth of the community certainly, so as to remove
geographic and economic barriers to educational
opportunity and discover and develop individual
talents at low cost and easy access. But in addition,
the community college will serve as an active center
of adult education. It will attempt to meet the total
post-high school needs of its community (p. 67).
More recently, fifty years after the report of President
Harry Truman’s Presidential Commission on Higher Education,
President Bill Clinton returned to a similar theme. After
failing to gain support for mandating federal funding for the
last 2 of a 14-year public school curriculum, he signed the
Taxpayer Relief Act in 1997. A goal of this legislation is to
raise the educational level of the workforce by providing an
opportunity for students to attend at least two years of
college while providing taxpayer relief. “Hope Scholarship”
is the name given to the plan. It takes its name from a
merit-based scholarship program of the same name in Georgia.
Other states in the US have initiated their own merit programs
to encourage greater participation in higher education.
As attractive as the goals are -- tax relief and
providing universal access to postsecondary education -- there
is considerable concern among many observers about shifting
financial aid from need-based to merit-based programs.
The
nontraditional and part-time community college student is
least likely to benefit from merit-based financial assistance.
Providing merit-based rather than need-based financial
assistance to community college students is a mixed metaphor.
After all, community colleges exist – in large part -- for
8
those who are least able to pay for it. As Osterlind (1997)
has observed, generally, as a group, those in the US least
able to pay for college are exactly those who are at greatest
academic risk and who possess the least merit in terms of
academic achievement.
The Associate Degree
To understand the community college it is helpful to
understand the associate degree. The laws of the State of
Texas provide a useful model. According to the Texas
Administrative Code (2000) the associate degree in the State
of Texas is legally described as
A grouping of courses designed to lead the individual
directly to employment in a specific career, or to transfer
to an upper-level baccalaureate program. This specifically
refers to the associate of arts, associate of science,
associate of applied arts, associate of applied science,
and the associate of occupational studies degrees. The term
‘applied’ in an associate degree name indicates a program
in which the content is primarily technical (p. 1).
This definition is practically identical to those in other
states in the US. It is also similar to the definition used
by the US federal government. The British Columbia Council on
Admissions and Transfer, which formally recognized the
associate degree in 1991, promulgated the following definition
in 1993:
The associate degree is designed to prepare students for
work, good citizenship, and a more enriching life. It is
also designed to prepare students for further study. The AA
and AS degrees both require 60 semester credits, including
six credits of English. The AA degree requires nine credits
of science (math, computing science, statistics, laboratory
science), 36 credits in arts (social science, humanities,
English, creative and performing arts), and nine additional
elective credits. The AS degree requires six credits in
mathematics, 36 credits in science, six credits in arts
other than English, and six elective credits (p. 1).
Sixty semester credits (hours), including six in English,
are standard requirements for most associate degrees in the
US. Some states in the US have mandated a common core
curricula -- 42 hours in Texas -- with a common course
numbering system for all public (tax-supported) colleges and
universities (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board,
2000). For example, ENGL 1301 meets the same minimum
requirements for the introductory English grammar course no
9
matter where it is taught in Texas; whether it is in El Paso
in western Texas at the University of Texas at El Paso, a
comprehensive university of 25,000 students, or 898 miles away
in eastern Texas at Lamar State College – Orange, a lower
division institution of 1,500 students.
Associate “IN” or “OF”
Cohen and Brawer’s (1996) definition names the 60-hour
degree the Associate IN Arts (AA) or the Associate IN Science
(AS) degree. In Texas the degree is named the Associate OF
Arts and Associate OF Science degree as it is in the State of
Indiana. Whether it is “in” or “of” has no implications for
either the requirements or the quality of the degree.
Articulation
To achieve these phenomena the Texas Legislature mandated
statewide articulation and provided sanctions for noncompliance (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2000).
And what are the definitions and implications of the term
“articulation”?
Articulation is a process to help students make a smooth
transition from one institution to another. Students enroll in
certain courses that satisfy degree requirements and earn
credits at more than one institution. The articulation process
is the analysis, comparison, and negotiation that take place
between and/or among representatives of educational institutions
to gain acceptance by a receiving institution of one or more
academic courses from a sending institution. Once articulation
agreements are reached or courses are “articulated”, there then
exists an acceptance by the receiving institution of the content
and of the quality of the course(s) from the sending
institution.
The State of California has implemented an on-line
(www.assist.org/) course transfer assistance plan. ASSIST
(Articulation System Stimulating Interinstitutional Student
Transfer) is California's official statewide repository of
transfer information, offering easy access to a single database.
ASSIST helps a student to determine if s/he “will receive credit
for courses already taken and how these courses will apply to
specific academic goals” (ASSIST Board of Directors, 2001,
Mission). Also, California has devised the “California
Articulation Number” (CAN) system. It identifies some of the
transferable, lower division, introductory, preparatory courses
commonly taught within each academic discipline on college
campuses. CAN designations are listed in college and university
catalogs with the CAN number following the course title. The
10
State of California has yet to mandate with sanctions an
articulation law.
What are the benefits of articulation? The benefits are
numerous, especially for students and taxpayers. Articulation
agreements eliminate duplication of course work. Articulation
saves students money and time by reducing costs of tuition,
fees, textbooks, and time spent in class. It provides the
public with assurances that the articulated courses are of
acceptable quality; that the content of the courses meets
specified standards and are taught by personnel who meet minimum
professional requirements.
Similar economies accrue to state governments. The cost of
instruction at lower division/community college/junior college
institutions is considerably less that at universities.
Enrollment growth at universities can be contained by the
availability of more cost effective lower division options.
Moreover, as I have pointed out elsewhere (McLaughlin, 1981,
1990) student attrition ratios, which take their heaviest toll
during the freshman and sophomore (first 60 hours) years, are
more easily borne by lower-cost-per-unit, 2-year institutions,
thereby substantially reducing wastage at higher-cost-per-unit
universities.
In an era whose lofty goals include universal completion of
secondary education and a striving to increase college-going
ratios, students of all ages inevitably require academic
remediation of basic skills; that is, reading, writing,
speaking, and ciphering. This is more easily achieved and at
lesser costs on lower division campuses.
I pass over the many other obvious benefits to individuals and
to society such as introducing the possibility of higher
education to those who for a variety of reasons never thought of
themselves as college material. Attracting and admitting
such
students to the college, and thereafter, acclimating these
students to the demands of college life and nurturing their
success, most surely are benefits to society and certainly to
the students themselves even if they drop out or fail.
Community College
Generally, the definition of the community college is any
accredited institution that as its highest degree awards an
Associate’s degree (Cohen and Brawer, 1996). However, the
American Association of Community Colleges extends the
definition to include institutions that “offer the associate
11
degree as the highest award but is part of a regionally
accredited, baccalaureate degree-granting institution"
(Phillippe, 1997, p.108).
Examples of a baccalaureate degree-granting university
awarding Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees is
the University of South Carolina. This state university is one
of the oldest public universities in the US. It will celebrate
its 200th anniversary on 19 December. The university is
comprised of eight institutions, five of which are lower
division campuses, strategically placed geographically
throughout the State. The flagship institution is the
University of South Carolina at Columbia. These lower division,
2-year colleges provide education leading to associates’
degrees, which are awarded in the name of and by the University
of South Carolina. The institutions themselves are named
University of South Carolina at, followed by the name of the
town where the institution is located.
The University of Wisconsin is another example. Its lower
division institutions function as feeders or transfer
institutions into the upper division units. They also function
as community colleges.
And there is further news from the United States: on 4
October 2001, Indiana University at Bloomington – a premier
institution without Bobby Knight, who was recently dispatched to
Texas to excite basketball fans there – announced its new, online Associate of Arts degree in General Studies.
Clearly, in the US the idea of highly reputable, senior
institutions awarding 2-year degrees is alive and well.
The Technical College
To understand more fully the scope of formal, institutional
education beyond high school yet prior to the baccalaureatedegree-granting college or university, it is necessary to
introduce the fully accredited, stand alone, technical
institute. Technical institutes are two-year colleges that
offer courses leading to the Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS)
degree but usually do not award the AA or AS. These institutes
concentrate on training students for trades and vocational and
technical fields. Several observers (Cohen and Brawer, 1996;
Phillippe, 1997; Townsend, 2001) and others whose opinions are
unrecorded exclude technical institutes from the community
college classification because they do not offer the AA or the
AS degree.
12
However, there are notable exceptions. In the Texas public
university system where I was chancellor for seven years, there
was (and continues to be) a legislatively created, tax funded,
fully accredited technical institute that ordinarily does not
offer either the AA or the AS. It has, however, established
articulation agreements in which the institution’s AAS degree
graduates can qualify for admission to a highly specialized and
highly selective Industrial Engineering degree program in a
university component within the same higher education system as
the technical institute. The degree is the Bachelor of Science
in Industrial Technology. This is an example of a pathway from
technical training to a Bachelor’s degree, then to Master’s,
with the distinct possibility of ending with the Doctor of
Engineering Science degree.
Clearly, then, the pursuit of so-called “technical-vocational”
training can and sometimes does lead to an academic degree, even
to the point of culminating in a doctoral degree (other examples
of this model exist in nursing, marketing, and accounting). The
keys to opening these options are competent personal counseling
and well-informed, academic advisement. Both functions require
well-trained and dedicated professionals who manifest themselves
in the lives of students as early as the beginning of junior
high school and whose professional services are available as
long as the life-long learner needs competent counseling and
advisement.
The Mission of the Community College
If any term in modern jargon characterizes the US community
college it is “joint venture”. The community college is most
certainly an undertaking by parties with different vested
interests yet similar goals. It is a high stakes enterprise
about cooperation – cooperation and partnering among local,
state, and federal governments and educational institutions;
cooperation between individuals seeking and the institution
providing higher learning; cooperation among people, organized
labor, business, and professions wanting job training or retraining, or certification or licensure and community colleges
gearing up to meet those needs.
In the US there is an organization known as the Education
Commission of the States. It is composed of governors and other
states’ education and political leaders. It meets to discuss
educational issues of mutual concern. The ECS sponsors
nationwide research projects, the purpose of which is to
13
influence public opinion about education and consequently
education policy.
Of more than passing interest to us here today are the
results of a survey of US governors which was conducted in the
spring of 1998 regarding their perceptions of how higher
education should be transformed to meet their state’s 21st
century needs (Education Commission of the States). In
considering the varied functions of higher education, 86 percent
of the governors rated providing job training and employment
skills as very important or important functions. (Sounds like
community college to me.) When considering what changes
postsecondary institutions must make to meet the needs of
students in the future, 97 percent of the governors rated
encouraging lifelong learning as very important or important.
Eighty-three percent rated allowing students to receive their
education any time and any place via technology as very
important or important. Only 54 percent rated providing basic
skills and remediation in higher education as very important or
important. Many governors apparently do not, cannot, or will
not accept the fact that far too many of public school leavers –
including graduates – lack the basic skills requisite for a
college education. Are we to disenfranchise from higher
learning large segments of the population because they failed to
envision a higher education in their futures? Assuming such
people possess normal intelligence, they must be taught basic
skills whenever and wherever opportunities present themselves.
It is a tedious and quite often frustrating task, and a function
many critics despise taking place after public schooling,
especially on a college campus.
Such issues often take on political significance to which
community colleges are particularly well suited to respond.
Indeed, community colleges exist to respond to community needs.
Already mentioned previously are the under pinning differences
in the origins of US community colleges. Nonetheless, there are
five widely accepted functions that are generally recognized as
the mission of the community college. They include providing the
following:
The first two years of a baccalaureate education in
preparation for transfer to a four-year college or university.
Occupational certificate, diploma or licensure programs to
prepare students for employment (the U.S. Department of
Education has reported that 93 percent of students who have
graduated from a community college in five years or less with
14
an associate’s degree obtain a job in less than one month
after graduation).
Remediation or developmental education courses that prepare
students for college-level work by teaching “how to” study
skills and improving the tools of learning; i.e., reading
writing, ciphering, speaking abilities.
Work force development: colleges and universities in the US
are mandated statutorily to take leadership roles in economic
development and community colleges do so through (1) worker
training and re-training which targets employed workers as
well as dislocated workers and (2) improving worker literacy
through problem-solving, basic math and communication skills,
and interpersonal skills courses.
Continuing education and community service, i.e., citizenship
training, economic development planning initiatives,
mobilizing community assistance for disaster relief, among
others; and support for lifelong learning in which patrons
enhance their personal interests such as cooking, flower
arranging, bridge, and numerous other areas. [These programs
respond to demands from the local community for non-credit
program initiatives. The fact that 22 percent of community
college students in the US over the age of 25 already possess
a bachelor’s degree (National Center for Educational
Statistics, 2000) indicates that community colleges provide
continuing education at all levels.]
Current Trends
There is a growing tendency of foreign students in the US to
attend community colleges. Of the top twenty colleges and
universities in the US in terms of enrollment two are community
colleges: Miami Dade Community College in the State of Florida
is ranked third, with an enrollment of 48,222. Ranked
thirteenth is Houston Community College in Texas, enrolling
37,616 in its multi-campus system. This audience may find of
unusual interest the fact that students from China lead in
foreign student enrollment at HCC; and furthermore, students
from Hong Kong comprise the greatest number from China (Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2001).
Surprising? Not at all. Often international students
studying in the US experience financial problems. Living costs
and educational expenses are major factors. Community colleges
are less costly than universities. For example, in Texas, non-
15
resident tuition and fees at community college averages $1875
for 15 semester hours; at a Texas university those costs average
$9500. And too, smaller classes afford the foreign student an
opportunity for individual attention and a closer relationship
with instructors. Importantly, the ready availability of
personal and career counseling helps international students to
adjust to their new lives in the US and very importantly makes
less problematic their transfer to baccalaureate programs.
A truly exciting development in US education is the program
known as Tech Prep. The idea was idealistic, especially in
terms of the outcomes that the program envisioned. Parnell
(1985) in The Neglected Majority argued “students in the two
middle high school quartiles neither prepare for nor aspire to
baccalaureate study. Instead, they leave high school without
education or training suited to an increasingly sophisticated
technological workplace” (Prager, 1994, p.1).
Parnell proposed an altogether new college preparatory track.
He envisioned a way to reach the neglected majority while
satisfying the unmet and growing demands for a more highly
educated and technically competent work force. Parnell saw
tech prep as an articulated high school/community or
technical college program of formalized studies to reach
the neglected majority by integrating the 11th through 14th
year of occupational-technical curricula. In essence, he
proposed making tech prep a new and different college
preparatory track. Blending the liberal and practical arts,
it would run parallel to the historic academic track but
lead to an associate rather than a baccalaureate degree
(Prager, 1994, p.1).
Parnell’s ideas led to federal funding of the successful Tech
Prep Associate Degree (TPAD) program as contained in the Carl
Perkins Vocational Training Act. Tech prep is a win-win
alternative to the college prep/baccalaureate degree course of
study. It is credited with improving academic performance, high
school graduation rates, and college attendance at the associate
degree level.
The Office of the Chancellor, during my tenure as chancellor,
received one of the first Texas TPAD planning grants, followed
immediately by an implementation grant. I appointed the
Southeast Texas Tech Prep Council with co-chairs from industry,
public education, and myself representing higher education.
There were 18 members of the Council, 6 from each of the 3
sectors. All members of the Council were chief executive
officers; they were CEOs of plants, refineries, banks, or labor
16
unions; superintendents of school districts and director of the
Texas Education Agency Regional Service Center; and the 5
presidents of the institutional components of the university
system plus the chancellor.
A director and secretary were hired, reserving most of the
grant for training and related travel. The plan that was
implemented focused first on publicizing the program, beginning
in targeted elementary schools. Secondly, an academic advisory
committee of industry representatives, public school and
community college teachers, instructors, counselors, and
administrative staff identified courses to be articulated and
thereafter adapted the appropriate syllabi. School and college
counselors were a part of the planning and implementation
process. We conducted a successful effort publicizing Tech Prep
Associate Degree.
Towards what end? The Perkins legislation specifies
achievement of academic competence in mathematics, science, and
communications to be acquired, in part, through “applied
academics”. Our council and advisory group viewed applied
academics as the cornerstone for technical careers. What
industry representatives said was that students must be educated
for a workplace that is constantly changing. Consequently,
academic skills must be adaptable.
As Prager (1994) points out there has been considerable
discussion about the issue of “applied academics”. What has
emerged as the optimal high school academic portion of tech prep
is a course of study in the 11th and 12th grades containing two
years of principles of technology (applied physics) and/or
another applied science, two years of applied math, and a course
in applied communications. There is a secondary education module
named Principles of Technology, which devotes fully half of
class time to solving real problems in a laboratory context;
applied math requires hands-on lab activities; and the applied
communications course teaches communication and English language
skills relative to the workplace using multimedia.
The “neglected majority” has benefited from Tech Prep. This
so-called 2+2 program has, in some places, evolved into a 2+2+2
program, beginning with a Tech Prep curriculum in the 11th grade
and ending with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology
at one university and Home Economics in another.
Conclusion
17
It is apparent that the Hong Kong, SAR government has set the
region on a course for global economic preeminence and has
installed public education as the rudder and unfurled higher
education and training as the sail. Moreover, to an observer,
informed mostly by the news media, Mr. Tung’s education agenda
is in perfect sync with Beijing’s, which itself is boldly and
commendably ambitious.
Re-tooling and attendant measures take place during periods of
economic downturn. As wrenching as it is, it is sound economic
and social policy as well as appropriate business, government,
and individual action. Consequently, this is the correct time
and the right place to revamp, to reorganize, to revitalize, and
to use circumstances to become fiercely competitive not only in
business and education but also individually in the quality of
life now and in the long term.
References
American Association of Community Colleges. “Significant
historical events in the development of the public community
college”. (Retrieved October 23, 2001 from:
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/AboutCommunityColle
ges/HistoricalInformation/Historical_Information.htm)
ASSIST Board of Directors (2001). (Retrieved October 17, 2001
from http://www.assist.org/WaReps_2/help/helpstudents.html)
Cohen, A.M and F.B. Brawer (1996). The American Community
College, 3rd edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Education Commission of the States (1998). Transforming
Postsecondary Education for the 21st Century. Denver, CO
Evelyn, H. (1999, June 28). Ties that no longer bind.
Community College Week, pp. 6-7.
18
McLaughlin, G. (1981). A developmental model for the reduction
of undergraduate attrition. Unpublished dissertation. Denton,
Texas: University of North Texas.
______________ (February, 1991). Testimony before the Senate
Education Committee of the Texas Legislature, Austin, Texas.
National Center for Education Statistics. (June 2000) "Fall
Enrollment" surveys. U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC:
U.S. Government.
Osterlind, Steven J. (1997) A National Review of Scholastic
Achievement in General Education. How Are We Doing and Why Should W
e Care? ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher
Education.
Parnell, Dale. (1985) The Neglected Majority. Washington,
D.C.: The Community College Press.
Phillippe, K. (1997) National profile of community colleges:
Trends & statistics, 1997-98. Washington, D.C.: Community College
Press.
Prager, Carolyn (1994). Tech Prep/Associate Degree (TPAD)
Academic Outcomes. ERIC Digest. Los Angeles, CA: ERIC
Clearinghouse for Community Colleges. (Retrieved October 15,
2001 from
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed367415.html
Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 9,
Subchapter A, Rule ¶9.1; 23 TexReg 8429; amended to be effective
February 23, 2000, 25 TexReg. Retrieved from:
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/CBRules/readtac$extb3c9.html
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (2001).
Statistics. Retrieved 17 October 2001 from
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/DataAndStatistics/
Data and
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (2000). The CB
Rules, Chapter 5, Subchapter S. Retrieved 17 October 2001 from
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/CTC/IP/Core11_00/5_S.htm
Townsend, Barbara (2001). “The Community College” Department
of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of
Missouri-Columbia. Retrieved 19 Oct 2001 from:
http://cdis.missouri.edu/preview/1806/1806.htm
The British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer
(1993). The Advisor: New Associate Degree Requirements
19
The Presidential Commission on Higher Education (1947).
Higher education for American democracy. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government
Tung, Chee Hwa (2001). “Building on our Strengths Investing
in our Future”. Address by the Chief Executive The Honorable
TUNG Chee Hwa at the Legislative Council meeting on 10 October
2001, The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the
People’s Republic of China
20
Appendices 1
The following facts and figures may be interesting and useful.
It provides a snapshot of selected US statistical data drawn
from various sources and edited for presentation here in Hong
Kong. GM
Facts and Figures
There are 1,151 regionally accredited community colleges in the
US, enrolling 5 million students in non-credit courses. At the
same time 6.845 million students were enrolled in four year
colleges and universities.
With notable exceptions community colleges are governed by
boards of trustees, the members of which reside in the area or
district served by the college.
Community colleges are “open access” or “open admissions”
institutions.
Public community colleges receive more than 60 percent of their
revenue from state and local sources and about 21 percent from
tuition and fees.
Public four-year colleges rely less on these sources, receiving
35 percent of their revenue from state and local sources and 18
percent from tuition and fees (AACC, 2001).
Average cost per student of tuition and fees in Texas community
colleges in fall 2000 was $841. It was $2,627 in the state
universities (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2001).
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/DataAndStatistics/
US citizens have become more educated. In 1999, 83 percent of
the population 25 years of age and over had completed high
school and 25 percent had completed 4 or more years of college.
In 1990, 78 percent had completed high school and 21 percent had
4 years of college. In 1999, about 6 percent of persons 25
years old or over held a master’s degree as their highest
degree; slightly more than 1 percent held a professional degree;
e.g., law, medicine etc., and 1 percent held a doctor’s degree.
In fall 2000, 5.42 million students were enrolled in community
college credit courses of which 32 percent of students were 30
years of age or older; 46 percent were 25 years or older. At
the same time 6.845 million students were enrolled in four-year
colleges and universities (National Center for Educational
Statistics, 2001).
21
Estimated number of participants in elementary and secondary education and in
degree-granting institutions: Fall 2000 [In millions]
________________________________________________________________________________
| All levels |
Elementary and
| Degree-granting
|(elementary,| secondary schools |
institutions
Participants
| secondary, |_____________________|__________________
| and higher
| education) | Total Public|Private Total |Public Prvt
_______________________|____________|______|______|_______|______|______|_______
1
|
2
| 3
| 4
|
5
| 6
| 7
|
8
_______________________|____________|______|______|_______|______|______|_______
Total .............|
76.4 | 59.1 | 52.5 |
6.6 | 17.3 | 13.1 | 4.2
|____________|______|______|_______|______|______|______
Enrollment ............|
68.0 | 53.0 | 47.0 |
6.0 | 15.0 | 11.6 | 3.5
Teachers and faculty ..|
4.0 | 3.3 | 2.9 |
0.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2
Other professional,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
administrative, and |
|
|
|
|
|
|
support staff .......|
4.4 | 2.9 | 2.6 |
0.2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5
_______________________|____________|______|______|_______|______|______|_______
NOTE: Includes enrollments in local public school systems and in most private
schools (religiously affiliated and nonsectarian). Excludes subcollegiate
departments of institutions of higher education, residential schools for
exceptional children, and federal schools. Elementary and secondary includes
most kindergarten and some nursery school enrollment. Excludes preprimary
enrollment in schools that do not offer first grade or above. Degree-granting
institutions comprises full-time and part-time students enrolled in degreecredit and nondegree-credit programs in universities, other 4-year colleges, and
2-year colleges that participated in Title IV federal financial aid programs.
Data for teachers and other staff in public and private elementary and secondary
schools and colleges and universities are reported in terms of full-time
equivalents. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,
unpublished projections and estimates. (This table was prepared August 2000.)
Public school enrollment in kindergarten through grade eight rose
from 29.9 million in fall 1990 to an estimated 33.5 million in fall
2000. Enrollment in the upper grades rose from 11.3 million in 1990
to 13.5 million in 2000. The increase from 1990 to 2000 was most
rapid in the elementary grades, but this pattern is expected to
change. The growing numbers of young pupils that have been filling
the elementary schools will cause significant increases at the
secondary school level during the next decade. Between fall 2000
and fall 2010, public elementary enrollment is expected to remain
fairly stable, while public secondary school enrollment is expected
to rise by 4 percent. Public school enrollment is projected to set
new records every year until 2005.
The proportion of students in private schools has changed little
over the past 10 years, remaining around 11 percent. The percentage
of college students who attended private colleges and universities
22
ranged between 21 and 23 percent between 1990 and 2000. In 2000,
about 6.0 million students were enrolled in private schools at the
elementary and secondary levels and 3.3 million students in degreegranting institutions. NOTE: Elementary and secondary enrollment
includes pupils in local public school systems and in most private
schools (religiously affiliated and nonsectarian), but generally
excludes pupils in subcollegiate departments of colleges,
residential schools for exceptional children, federal schools, and
home-schooled children. Based on U.S. Department of Education
estimates, the home-schooled children numbered approximately
800,000 to 1,000,000 in 1997-98. Public elementary enrollment
includes most preprimary school pupils. Private elementary
enrollment includes some preprimary students. Higher education
enrollment includes students in colleges, universities,
professional schools, and 2-year colleges. Degree-granting
institutions are 2-year and 4-year institutions that were eligible
to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Higher
education enrollment projections are based on the middle
alternative projections published by the National Center for
Education Statistics. Some data have been revised from previously
published figures. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems; Statistics of Public
Elementary and Secondary School Systems; Statistics of Nonpublic Elementary
and Secondary Schools; Projections of Education Statistics to 2010; Common
Core of Data; Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall
Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education" surveys; and Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment" surveys. (This
table was prepared June 2000.)
Labor Force
Adults with higher levels of education were more likely to
participate in the labor force (including both those who were
employed as well as those actively seeking employment) than those
with less education. About 80 percent of adults, 25 years old and
over with a bachelor's degree, participated in the labor force in
1999 compared with 65 percent of persons who were high school
graduates. In contrast, 43 percent of those 25 and older, who were
not high school graduates, were in the labor force. The labor force
participation rates for blacks and Hispanics age 25 and older with
high school diplomas were higher than the average for all people
with similar levels of education. The labor force participation
rate for blacks age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree was also
higher than the average for all persons.
Persons with lower levels of educational attainment were more
likely to be unemployed than those who had higher levels of
educational attainment. The 1999 unemployment rate for adults (25
23
years old and over) who had not completed high school was 6.7
percent compared with 3.5 percent for those with 4 years of high
school and 1.8 percent for those with a bachelor's degree or
higher. Younger people with high school diplomas tended to have
higher unemployment rates than persons 25 and over with similar
levels of education.
Income
Between 1996 and 1998, the median annual income of male full-time
year-round workers, when adjusted for inflation, increased by 2
percent and the income for females rose by 4 percent. Women's
incomes remain much lower than men's incomes, even after adjusting
for level of education. The average 1998 incomes for full-time
year-round workers with a bachelor's degree were $51,405 for men
and $36,559 for women.
Dropouts and Graduates
The difficulties in entering the job market for dropouts, and youth
in general, are highlighted by examining their labor force and
unemployment status. About 57 percent of 1998-99 dropouts were in
the labor force (employed or looking for work), and 26 percent of
those were unemployed. Of the 1998 high school graduates who were
not in college, 84 percent were in the labor force, and 18 percent
of those in the labor force were unemployed.
The U.S. Department of Education has reported that 93% of students
who have graduated from a community college in five years or less
with an associate’s degree obtain a job in less than one month.
24
25
26
Appendices III
Web sites Community Colleges
(These sites were compiled by personnel at the University of Missouri and retrieved from the Center for Distance and
Independent Study on 10 October 2001.)

For significant historical events in the development of the public community college, see
<http://www.aacc.nche.edu/allaboutcc/historicevents.htm>.
 For a brief history of Joliet Junior College, the first public two-year college, see
<http://www.jjc.cc.il.us/Admin/History.html>.
 For the AACC National Community College Snapshot, see
<http://www.aacc.nche.edu/allaboutcc/snapshot.htm>.
 For a look at the degrees and programs of a typical community college, see Broome Community College (NY)
Degrees and Programs <http://www.sunybroome.edu/academicprograms.htm>.
For lists of two-year colleges, there are several web sites:
 AACC Member Colleges Listed by State <http://www.aacc.nche.edu/member/members.asp>.
 Community College Web, maintained by Maricopa Community Colleges, provides links to over 830
community colleges arranged in alphabetical and geographical order. The site includes colleges in the USA,
Canada, and Europe. <http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cc/info.html>.
 Web U.S. Community Colleges, Alphabetic, maintained by the University of Texas at Austin, lists all twoyear regionally accredited U.S. colleges alphabetically <http://www.utexas.edu/world/comcol/alpha/>.
 Web U.S. Community Colleges, State, maintained by the University of Texas at Austin, lists all two-year
regionally accredited U.S. colleges by state <http://www.utexas.edu/world/comcol/state/>.
 U.S. Two-Year Colleges, maintained by the University of Toledo, provides access to over 940 two-year
colleges by state <http://cset.sp.utoledo.edu/twoyrcol.html>.
 Tribal Colleges <http://www.omhrc.gov/ctg/ctg-na.htm>.
 Hispanic Serving Colleges, some of which are two-year schools
<http://www.sciencewise.com/molis/selectinst.asp>.
There are several community college periodicals on-line :
 Community College Journal, published by AACC
<http://www.aacc.nche.edu/books/journal/journalindex.htm>
 Community College Review <http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cep/acce/ccr/ccreview.htm>
 Community College Journal of Research and Practice <http://www.tandfdc.com/JNLS/cjc.htm>
 New Directions for Community Colleges <http://www.josseybass.com/JBJournals/ndcc.html>
An important resource for learning about research on the community college is the ERIC Clearinghouse for
Community Colleges <http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ERIC/eric.html>.
Copyright © 2000 University of Missouri
Editor: Greg Sturgeon
Questions/Comments? Contact the Center for Distance and Independent Study
The University of Missouri is an Equal Opportunity/ADA Institution.
27
China Plans to Build Network of Community Colleges
By JEN LIN-LIU
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Shanghai
China's Education Ministry is backing efforts to build a network of
community colleges.
Liu Junyi, the ministry's director of higher education, said in a speech last
week at Shanghai Teachers University that China wants to reform its 1,241
vocational higher-education institutions so that they will more closely resemble
community colleges in developed countries.
"As we go from a traditional planned economy to a modern market economy, we will
have to meet new education needs," he told an audience of Chinese communitycollege administrators, international-aid organizers, and students.
China will study the model of community colleges in the United States and
Canada, but Mr. Liu said that community colleges here should have "Chinese
characteristics." The Chinese community colleges, he said, will vary the types
of programs they offer to better serve the distinct economic needs of local
towns and cities. Currently, about 110 of China's vocational schools have close
connections with their surrounding communities, Mr. Liu said.
But like the community colleges in North America, many financing and
organizational decisions will largely be left to local counties and
provinces. Mr. Liu also stated that China would be looking at ways to
develop community colleges in rural areas as a way to alleviate poverty.
The Education Ministry also plans to come up with policies on the transfer of
credits from the community colleges to universities. Currently, no universities
will accept transfer students from vocational colleges, said Zhou Chunsheng, an
education specialist at Shanghai Teachers University.
Copyright (c) 2001 by The Chronicle of Higher Education