Career Education and Elitism. Perspectives on the Church and the Community College, Paper No. 9.

Overview & Synopsis

These four papers address the issue of vocational education versus general education in the community college. Dale Tillery rejects the career versus general education dichotomy and builds a case for synthesis of the two, discussing as possible threats to general education the following: ethnocentrism, academicism, departmentalism, skepticism, and elitism. Louis Batemale looks at the relationship between career training and general education from three perspectives: historical, current, and future. John H. Porterfield identifies six reasons for the current low status of general education in the community colleges and makes the following recommendations: (1) abandon the idea that there is one best solution to the problem; (2) emphasize the common content of general and career education courses; (3) reexamine the assumption that general education must precede vocational and professional education; (4) emphasize teaching quality. Earl Lowell recognizes an implicit prejudice in the educational system regarding career education. To correct this he recommends a change in attitude among college administrators which might generate an alternative to the concept of the career ladder. (NHM)