The Role of General Education in the Community College.

Overview & Synopsis

General education is structured across subject matter disciplines and is designed to provide the student with skills and knowledge which will allow him or her to function in society. Inherent in the philosophy of general education is the belief that higher education should be egalitarian. This philosophy is opposed, historically, to liberal education which was designed to serve a citizenry in a master/slave relationship. By philosophy, objectives, and activity, the community college provides programs for various student groups in line with the aim of general education. This attitude shows up the fallacy of meritocracy as the sole criterion for participating in higher education. However, an egalitarian classless society exists in an unclear environment as general education must be truly general since the aims and goals of institutions, societies, and individuals are less well-defined than in the past. A basic question always tends to arise--should the college be in the business of teaching students how to read and write? And more specifically, how does an institution convince the student of the worth of general education with much of its classical liberal arts content? As such the study of literature, history, and science must be made more relevant to contemporary problem solving and not be limited to those in esoteric studies. Similarly, there needs to be a desegregating of vocational students from general education. (Author/MB)