This paper discusses some of the issues facing community colleges as they attempt to create nurturing atmospheres for students. (14 pages; 3 sources; APA citation style.
IIntroduction
Community colleges in the United States are vital components of our overall educational system, yet they have often been perceived as “inferior” institutions—places where less-qualified teachers work, teaching less-qualified students who are not really equipped to handle life at a “real” university.
Anyone who has worked like a slave to get through a community college course knows that this perception is extremely inaccurate, but there is no doubt that the “culture” of a community college is very different from that of a four-year university.
This paper will discuss community college culture, and the way in which community college administrators can influence it.
IICulture Shock
Perhaps the best place to start this investigation is with a brief look at the differences between community colleges and four-year universities, because they are profound. Although teaching lower-division courses is much the same everywhere, teaching them in the context of a community college comes as a shock to new instructors. In a four-year university, students in education courses have as their role models the graduate faculty “whose primary mission has been to do research, and to prepare their students to do the same.” (Fulton, 2003, p. 56).
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At a community college, however, the role of the faculty is substantially different: “But the community college culture is all about teaching and student outcomes and mission and collaboration. Relationships with faculty colleagues, staff, administrators, and students are not the same as in graduate schools.” (Fulton, 2003, p. 56).
I don’t believe it’s fair to characterize community college instructors as a sort of substitute parent, but they are generally much more accessible than the tenured faculty members at a university. Their interaction with the students is direct and much less formal than in other settings. (This, I suppose, begs the question as to whether or not such informality is desirable, but that is beyond our scope here.)
Another source suggests that there are few (or no) programs that adequately prepare either administrators or instructors to function well at the community college level. The research cited is a research study conducted in 2001, in which 128 community college instructors rated “skills and areas of expertise in effectively fulfilling community college instructional leadership roles.” (Brown, 2002, PG).
Although the study is more focused on instructors than administrators, it includes a significant amount of data on the latter as well.
First, Brown says “38% of senior community college administrators had a doctorate in higher education.” (2002, PG).
Furthermore, “a survey of community college academic officers … revealed that 49% of the respondents with a doctorate had one in higher education.” (Brown, 2002, PG).
The problem here is that a degree in “higher education” is often seen as a sort of “fuzzy” degree; a degree that doesn’t demand the rigors of one in chemistry of physics, for instance. Brown refers to this problem: “While leadership training is clearly needed, a review of the literature reflects questions about the relevancy of a higher education degree and the preparedness of graduates of higher education programs of study.” (2002, PG).
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Brown cites another source who “claimed that the challenge of providing administrative leadership for two-year colleges exists in a vastly different milieu than [before] … and that it may be time for a thorough assessment … of the attributes needed by effective two-year college leaders.” (2002, PG).
Perhaps one of the most telling facts Brown brings out is that her review of the literature gives little information on the “specific responsibilities of community college instructional leaders.” (2002, PG).
Without a solid guide to what is expected of administrators and instructors at this educational level, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a consistent “model” for an effective two-year college administrator. Further, although she concedes that community colleges have changed over the years, there has been no corresponding change in the way four-year universities train teachers and administrators destined to work at this level. This perhaps is another reflection of the idea that community colleges are “inferior” to four-year institutions, and somehow less deserving of attention.
Community colleges present something of a challenge to administrators because they tend to serve a much more diverse population than four-year universities. They “share a commitment to open access, comprehensiveness, and responsiveness to local needs.” (Brown, 2002, PG).
They may have a large commuter student population; they may be located in less advantaged neighborhoods; and because they generally have an inclusive admissions policy, they may have an extremely large student body. They present quite a different picture from that of a large university.
IIIHandling the Diversity of a Community College
Because of their diversity, one of the most important tasks an administrator has is to insure that he/she and his staff have a
“multicultural perspective of leadership that includes a sensitivity to diverse sense-making and decision-making strategies, an understanding of organizations as cultures with symbolic dimensions … and a balance between theory and practice that includes concept application, reflection, and an understanding of the future by way of the past. Leadership curriculum must include and reflect an awareness and acknowledgement of how race, ethnicity, gender and social class affect individuals’ experiences and perceptions and that these factors also affect the perceptions of community college leaders.” (Brown, 2002, PG).
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I think it’s worth examining this paragraph a bit more closely, for it is at the heart of the differences between community colleges and more traditional institutions. The words that “leap out” are “social class.” While race, ethnicity and gender are all important issues and must be addressed at the university level, the expense of a four-year university creates, in effect, a barrier that poorer students cannot overcome, unless they win a scholarship. Although many students work while at school, in community colleges the percentage of working students is very high, as is the number of students from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. A community college truly represents perhaps the only college experience available to the poorer members of society; and their struggles to balance work, family and education present a real challenge to administrators and teachers at this level. (I should add that my best friend taught at a community college for years so I’m very familiar with the problems of these institutions.) In many cases, community colleges service the needs of adult learners in addition to younger students who plan to transfer to a university at the end of the second year; educating older people is an entirely different experience from teaching “high school kids”. These students, in many cases, have families, responsible jobs, and life experiences far beyond the younger students, and those qualifications must be respected.
Let’s return briefly to an earlier point for further clarification, for it bears directly on the leadership of community colleges; that is the issue of the education degree:
“… the education discipline has low prestige and a Ph.D. or Ed.D. in education is not the most desirable credential for academic administrators in four-year institutions. Additionally … the mentors that graduate students are modeling have little or no experience with the kinds of institutions in which students will be working…” (Brown, 2002, PG).
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In other words, the preparation that administrators are receiving to take their place as community college leaders is inadequate, and in some cases, considered undesirable. The degrees that are awarded in the vague field known as “Education” serve only to help administrators get jobs; they are not a mark of intellectual achievement. (Brown, 2002, PG).
In their study, Brown and her researchers asked community college administrators to rank the skills they felt were most important to their ability to manage their institutions effectively. (I’m skipping over a lot of her comments about the survey methodology, sampling, etc.) The respondents identified communications skill as the single most important ability they needed to perform well as administrators in the community college setting.
Finally, Brown summarizes the problems of granting doctoral degrees in education to community college leaders in this way:
“Although leadership is difficult to define, community college instructional leaders who are graduates of higher education leadership programs and who participated in this research, indicate that there is a gap in the skills that were emphasized in their graduate programs of study and the skills they recommended for inclusion in leadership doctoral study. This research clearly identifies the skills that current community college practitioners perceive to be necessary for effective community college leadership.” (2002, PG).
The most important skill, and the one that is lacking in the training, is facility in communication.
IVCreating a Community College Culture
As we’ve seen, most community college administrators come to their positions with degrees in education; that course of study, unfortunately, appears to be poor preparation for the job. However, the article indicates that many administrators are aware of the problem, and are encouraging four-year universities to improve the courses they provide for those who will be teaching and running community colleges. What can administrators do right now to create a nurturing environment on their campuses?
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There remains a culture of “monoculturalism” at many community colleges; that is, there is a distinct and easily identifiable cultural majority that gains considerable advantage at the school
“… because the institutions that distribute educational, occupational and social opportunities incorporate monocultural customs, practices and values. Thus, for example, access to higher education or desirable careers is frequently conditioned by successful performance on standardized tests that implicitly presume membership in the cultural majority. Given these circumstances, monoculturalism systematically provides members of the cultural majority with a significant advantage as they attempt to secure a rewarding and stable life.” (Harbour, 2001, p. 79).
The example that probably springs to mind (with some justification) is that of the white Anglo-Saxon male, but monoculturalism simply means a situation in which one, and only one, cultural model is followed. This practice “erects subtle cultural barriers to minority progress.” (Harbour, 2001, p. 79).
If, for example, a community college serves a disproportionately large number of minority students, the school may find itself concentrating on job training courses rather than preparing students for transfer to four-year universities; or it may seek to have its students learn to assimilate into the larger culture rather than celebrating their own individuality; or it may be that “passive learning is emphasized over active learning.” (Harbour, 2001, p. 79).
All of these are undesirable and result when a community college is monocultural, but the effects of monoculturalism aren’t limited to the students—“faculty, staff and administrators also suffer when monoculturalism is a dominant cultural perspective at a community college.” (Harbour, 2001, p. 79).
The answer is to replace the monoculturalism with multiculturalism, a difficult but not impossible task. A community college that follows this model will employ faculty, staff and administrators who reflect the diversity of the student body and the community at large. It will also offer instruction that reflects the wide variety of students attending class, and help them validate their cultural identity. Finally, the college will “acknowledge students as adults who have the right to be equal partners in the learning process.” (Harbour, 2001, p. 79).
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Of course, hiring a diverse faculty, administrators and staff is expensive, as is designing programs that appeal to a broad range of students, and funding is one of the perpetual difficulties all administrators face. Happily, that’s not a subject we need to discuss here, but it does at least deserve a mention, since many administrators feel that lack of funding prevents them from offering as full a choice of subjects as they might otherwise do.
Harbour’s article is a review of a book about community colleges, and as such draws a number of examples that are extremely valuable because they cover a wide range. For instance, he reports on a study that “examined how remedial writing was taught at a small community college.” (2001, p. 79).
In this case, the researchers found that student learning was not merely the result of good teaching, but was also “contingent on sustained positive student-teacher interaction and students’ ability to overcome environmental and cultural barriers.” (2001, p. .79).
[Italics mine]. In this case, the instructor’s encouragement, coupled with an employer who gave the employee the time to go to school, plus the availability of child care facilities at the school, all worked together to enable the student to learn. None of these things is part of a “traditional” classroom, but without them the student in this example would not have enjoyed the success he/she did. This follows up what I said earlier, and also gives community college administrators “pointers” on what they need to provide: in many cases, these are adult students, some with children, who are returning to school. Administrators must provide child care facilities, supportive faculty (it’s difficult to walk into a classroom at age 40), and if possible, an outreach program to the area’s employers. These are non-traditional methods that achieve good results, but it takes work and commitment to bring them to fruition.
Harbour mentions another article that is particularly valuable because of “its perceptive analysis of faculty attitudes towards students and teaching.” (2001, p. 79).
This piece by R.A. Rhoads mentions the fact that faculty members who believe in the monocultural system exhibit those beliefs both in the classroom and in “personal interaction with students.” (2001, p. 79).
Rhoads has discovered that faculty members sometimes believe that a community college education is mainly designed to help minority or students outside the monoculture assimilate into it and adopt its values. Other instructors may hold the “dangerous” belief that they “absolutely know what is best for students.” Finally, “some faculty members regard the submissive behavior exhibited by immigrant students as a positive characteristic and not as a preemptive defense mechanism to disarm prejudiced instructors.” (Harbour, 2001, p.79).
In all these cases, the faculty members, doubtless with the backing of the administrators, have fostered monoculturalism at the expense of diversity; they are sending the not-very-subtle message that the students’ backgrounds are not as good as the mainstream culture.
This constant denigration (even though it’s unconscious) of a student’s own culture, which he or she cannot help but take personally, cannot help but make learning more difficult, and teaching less pleasant than it might be. As Harbour says, “… when present, monoculturalism reflects a cultural prejudice that ignores the significance of cultural differences now commonplace on community college campuses.” (2001, p. 79).
Another of the articles Harbour explicates deals with the difficulties faced by women teachers in the community college system. One was white, the other African-American, and they faced both monoculturalism and patriarchy in their careers, which they describe as “turbulent and bumpy”—words that were not applied to the career paths of their male colleagues. Administrators, then, must also be aware of the ways in which monoculturalism can affect faculty members, for that in turn will affect their relationships with students. Harbour says “This contribution to the anthology demonstrates how some two-year institutions demand a high price from women who have committed themselves to community college education.” (2001, p. 79).
This, along with many other things, needs to change if administrators are to create a nurturing atmosphere for their students.
VConclusion
As we’ve seen, the community college system in the U.S. has several problems that impact administrators, faculty and staff, and make it difficult to create a nurturing and sustaining atmosphere on these campuses.
First, most community college administrators hold doctorates in education, rather than in a “hard” subject, such as mathematics, science or a language. The education degree is not well respected, and four-year universities that train community college teachers reflect this bias in their course offerings, which do not adequately prepare administrators for the community college system.
Second, community colleges, in many cases, have failed to recognize the increasing diversity of both their student population, and the population of the community they serve. This has led to “monoculturalism”—the idea that the college should serve the needs and wants of the dominant culture. This results in students who are not members of that culture feeling marginalized and slighted. Community college administrators must recognize that we now live in a multicultural society, and embrace that concept on campus.
Finally, administrators must recognize that difficulties with monoculturalism and patriarchy extend to the faculty as well, and take steps to insure that all faculty members are encouraged to develop their own individual uniqueness; nor should women in particular be penalized for choosing community college teaching as a career.
VIReferences
Brown, L., Martinez, M., & Daniel, D. (2002).
Community college leadership preparation: needs, perceptions, and recommendations. Community College Review, 30, 45-75. Retrieved 10 Dec 2003 from The Gale Group, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA: http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/685/537/68679303w3/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A90983755&dyn=13!xrn_3_0_A90983755?sw_aep=sddp_main
Fulton, R.D. (2003).
Can we get a little help here? Few newly minted Ph.D. faculty are prepared for the community college culture; here’s a way to prepare them well, and get them into the system. University Business, 6, 56. Retrieved 10 Dec 2003 from The Gale Group, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA: http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/685/537/68679303w3/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A106949668&dyn=10!xrn_1_0_A106949668?sw_aep=sddp_main
Harbour, C.P. (2001).
Community colleges as cultural texts: Qualitative explorations of organizational and student culture. Community College Review, 29, 79. Retrieved 10 Dec 2003 from The Gale Group, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA:
http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/685/537/68679303w3/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A77481465&dyn=19!prv_6_0_A77481465?sw_aep=sddp_main
