The DeFacto State of General Education in Michigan Community Colleges.

Overview & Synopsis

A study was conducted of the fall 1989 course offerings at Michigan's 29 community colleges in order to determine the de facto condition of general education within community colleges. Modeled after the basic approach taken by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges (Los Angeles, California), course offerings were divided into the following five categories: general education; career education; remedial/developmental studies; physical education; and personal growth/community service. General education offerings were further broken down into major curricular areas, disciplines, and subdisciplines. Results indicated that out of the 22,931 course sections offered, 7,006 (30.55%) were in non-remedial general education areas, while the preponderance of offerings (i.e., 12,488 sections or 54.4%) were in career education. Of all general education courses, those in mathematics (n=1,901) and composition (n=1,770) were by far the most common in every school as well as statewide, accounting for 42.8% of the total. Of the 38 disciplines represented in the state's general education offerings, 24 provided only seven or fewer advanced or major concentration courses, while 13 disciplines offered no advanced courses at all. Three disciplines (i.e., political science, mathematics, and psychology) provided 55% of all sequential offerings. Conclusions, based on Michigan findings and other recent research, included the following: (1) community colleges may well be primarily career education institutions; (2) the low number of sequential course offerings may encourage community college students to transfer from the two-year institution as soon as feasible; and (3) community colleges are providing for breadth, but not depth in general education and liberal arts areas. (JMC)