Community, Technical, and Junior Colleges

In 1981 this journal published an article by Cross which described America's community colleges as the plateau [7]; in 1983 a follow-up article by McCartan [16] attempted to identify the community colleges' current mission and to predict the future mission. In 1985 Cross continued her speculation about future directions and missions for the community college [6] and Tillery and Deegan identified a fifth generation of community colleges [26]. This article continues that re-examination of community college mission. Ample evidence exists to support the fact of change in the function and mission of community, technical, and junior colleges, but the direction of that change is not clear nor has a clear concensus on current or future mission emerged. While change in mission is occurring, the debate over mission has been slow to develop. We believe continued debate on mission would be constructive. We also believe that the weight of the available evidence indicates a drift or evolution of that mission in a direction with potentially significant consequences for all of higher education. We propose to identify the direction of drift and to indicate areas of concern. We hope to further stimulate the discussion of mission for the community college so that planned change, not institutional drift or mission erosion, will determine the future mission(s) of the community, technical, and junior college. Change has been a constant in the landscape of American higher education, and no segment of higher education has changed as much or as rapidly as the junior college then community/junior college, now community, technical, and junior college. Higher education continues to respond to social, demographic, and economic shifts. Notable recent responses have been the evolution from more to less academic emphasis [20] and from less to more occupa

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• The Contradictory College

  Barbara K Townsend, Kevin J Dougherty•The Journal of Higher Education•1996

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• Transfer and Articulation within Colleges and Universities

  Carolyn Prager•The Journal of Higher Education•1993

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• Career Education in Colleges

  Clarke G Carney•The Journal of Higher Education•1979

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• Technological Studies and the Curriculum in Higher Education

  Robert E Roemer•Curriculum Inquiry•1980

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• Literacy in the Open-Access College

  Kathleen Rockhill, Richard C Richardson et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1985

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• The American Community College

  Fred L Pincus, Arthur M Cohen et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1983

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• Issues for Community College Leaders in a New Era

  Terry L Reuther, George B Vaughan•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1985

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• The Condition of Education, 1981 Edition

  Nancy B Dearman, Valena White Plisko et al.•American Political Science Review•1982

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• Community Colleges on the Plateau

  K Patricia Cross•The Journal of Higher Education•1981

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• The Community College Mission

  Anne‐Marie McCartan, Anne-Marie McCartan•The Journal of Higher Education•1983

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• Enrollment Patterns in Postsecondary Education, 1961–1982

  Darrel A Clowes, Dennis E Hinkle et al.•The Journal of Higher Education•1986

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• Renewing the American Community College

  Amaury Nora•The Journal of Higher Education•1988

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• The Dilemma of Access

  Laurence R Marcus, Michael A Olivas et al.•The Journal of Negro Education•1980

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