Academic Crisis of the Community College, The

By Dennis McGrath & Martin B. Spear

Series: SUNY series, Literacy, Culture, and Learning: Theory and Practice
Paperback : 9780791405635, 200 pages, July 1991
Hardcover : 9780791405628, 200 pages, July 1991

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Stories from the Front

1. The Problem of the Academic Culture

2. The Remedialization of the Community College

3. Disorder in the Curriculum

4. The Lure of General Education

5. The Confusion of Writing Agendas

6. What's Wrong with Writing across the Curriculum

7. The New Professoriate of Community Colleges

Afterword: Renewing the Academic Culture

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Description

"What I like most about this book is that the authors do not see community colleges as being separate from other parts of post-secondary education. The usual view of two-year colleges is reductionist -- perceiving them exclusively in functional ways -- vocational, collegiate, remedial, etc. McGrath and Spear see community colleges as part of the full historical unfolding of educational institutions in the United States and, thus, critique them as academic institutions. This is an important work -- more intellectually challenging and wide ranging than virtually all books on the subject. " -- L. Steven Zwerling New York University School of Continuing Education

"This is a book which will stand out. It takes a genuinely fresh, integrated approach to a difficult and vexing problem. The authors develop a synoptic picture of education in the community college by tracing the ways in which that institution has been shaped. The authors present a convincing framework within which they can discuss the past failures of efforts at reform and put forward their own proposals. " -- William M. Sullivan, LaSalle University; co-author Habits of the Heart

"The concept of 'remedialization' of the community college is an important contribution to the understanding of community colleges. This work is appealing because it draws from and is influenced by a diversity of works in philosophy, education theory, organization theory, and literary analysis. I especially appreciate the fact that this book does not proselytize the community college credo nor politicize its function. " -- Estela M. Bensimon, The Pennsylvania State University

Dennis McGrath is Professor of Sociology, and Martin B. Spear is Professor of Philosophy, at the Community College of Philadelphia. Each has received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.