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Community Colleges

Community Colleges in America are publically funded institutions of higher learning that offer 2 year courses. Graduates from Community College can transfer to bachelor courses in Universities as well as other types of course. Community Colleges thus serve an important role in the American education system as a means of helping students from less well-off backgrounds achieve academic qualifications, and thus a chance at a good career. Community Colleges in America have also been at the center of adult education, helping many people to gain first-time higher qualifications, as well as to help people change career.

Community Colleges were called ‘Junior Colleges’ as they prepared students for their senior years at 4 year university courses. In some places in the USA they are called ‘City Colleges’.

The Community College system developed in the late part of the Nineteenth Century. Originally they were institutions offering 2 year courses to people who wanted to be teachers. It was later that matriculation from a ‘junior college’ was allowed as an entrance requirement for 4 year courses at universities. This was seen as an important development at the time as it gave a wider group of people access to higher education.

In the 1920s and 1930s the emphasis of Junior Colleges changed in response to the Great Depression. It was felt at the time that more educational opportunities were needed to be made available to make the work force more skilled and better prepared to meet the challenges of the Twentieth Century, and to haul the country out of depression.

In the 1960s the network of Junior Colleges exploded to 457. This was due to the increased demand for higher education created by the baby boomers generation.

In the 1970s enrollment numbers went up as many young people looked to escape the draft for the Vietnam War. During this era Junior Colleges changed their names to Community Colleges.

In the 1980s many Community Colleges broke away from their high school affiliations and built up their own faculties and campuses. By the late 1980s over 50% of freshmen enrolled in 2 year courses. This period saw the legitimization of the 2 year mechanism to access higher education programs in other institutions of learning. At this time, Community Colleges started offering vocational and other types of courses.

In the Twenty-first Century the debate rages whether City Colleges help to make society more equal or whether they unwittingly make the distinction between the privileged elite and everyone else more acute. Also the issue of public funding for Community Colleges is a hot debate in the USA.

Despite their critics, Community Colleges have been an important stepping stone for the advancement of many people’s employment career. They are regarded by many as being at the heart of the community, and no doubt they will continue to change and adopt as society itself changes.

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