Community colleges in the United States: are they a ...

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Community colleges in the United States: are they a model for Britain? W. J. Morgan Published online: 11 Nov 2010.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LIFELONG EDUCATION, VOL. 19, NO. 3 (MAY± JUNE 2000) , 225 ± 235

Community colleges in the United States: are they a model for Britain?


W. J. MORGAN The University of Nottingham, UK The article examines US community colleges from a comparative public policy perspective and asks: are they a model for Britain ? The introduction provides the context for this question, stating that, while systems of education and training are recognized as vital to a nation’ s economic and social development, there has been a long standing lack of con® dence in the eÚ ectiveness of that in Britain, especially in the intermediate post-school sector. A brief section on comparative education and public policy, is followed by a series of questions and answers aimed at providing an answer to the central question, are US community colleges a model for Britain? There follows a comprehensive review of their history, ideology, patterns of development and eÚ ectiveness. The conclusion is that, despite criticisms and shortcomings, the ` multiple mission’ of the community colleges and their service to millions of ordinary citizens, make them a useful guide for British further education colleges.

Introduction The system of education and training is fundamental to a nation’ s economic and social development; this has long been recognized by economists in their development of human capital theory, for which there is now a considerable literature(Sweetland 1996) and by economic and social historians (Sanderson 1999, Aldcroft 1992, Wiener 1985). In Britain, there has been an equally long-standing lack of con® dence in the eÚ ectiveness of education and training, especially at the post-school level, to achieve such broad national objectives. The historian Corelli Barnett commented that it had taken ` about 120 years for the penny to drop with a British government that a coherent national education and training strategy with a logical structure of institutions and quali® cations is vital to Britain’ s ability to survive and prosper ’ (Barnett 1991, Aldcroft 1992 : 147, Morgan 1997a: 243). On its publication,this judgement,which derived from an analysis of Britain’ s performance during the Second World War (Barnett 1986), was seen as exaggerated , though its basic arguments are now dominant, though without Barnett getting the recognition he perhaps deserves. Those responsible for the policy and operation of the British system (they are only rarely the same people) are divided by often quite fundamental diÚ erences of opinion about purposes and objectives. This is seen most clearly in the arguments over grammar school selection and neighbourhood comprehensives, over liberal education and vocational training and over state and private education, with the still unresolved paradox of the ` public’ schools. In recent decades tensions have arisen over the need to W. J . Morgan is Professor of Comparative and International Education and Director of the Centre for Comparative Education Research and Commonwealth Education Documentation, the University of Nottingham. He is currently researching the impact of part time higher and adult education in States in Transition, speci® cally Russia, China and Vietnam. International Journal of Lifelong Education ISSN 0260-137 0 print} ISSN 1464-519 X online # http:} } www.tandf.co.uk} journals

2000 Taylor and Francis Ltd


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maintain both the highest international standards at elite universities and to introduce mass higher education. This was shown in the deliberations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education in the United Kingdom (National Committee 1997a and 1997b). In an interview given before the publication of the Report, the Inquiry’ s chairman, Sir Ron Dearing (now Lord Dearing) stated ` throughout the world, higher education is in crisis because of the issue of funding.’ Noting that 10 % of British higher education took place in further education colleges, the key questions to be asked, he said, were whether that should be increased and how would it aÚ ect the relationship between further and higher education, given ` that we must regard learning as a commitment for life’ ? (Morgan 1996 : 321). Of the US model, he said, ` I don’ t know whether (it) will be at all apt, but the issues that are arising in the United States are issues that are arising here’ also (Morgan 1996 : 322). The debate has now acquired public and therefore political importance, with Britain’ s perceived historic shortcomings placed in relief by what has been achieved by other advanced economies, notably Germany, Japan and the US. As S. J. Prais and others have pointed out, Britain has tended to follow a path of trial and error in education and training reform (Prais 1993). This has led to an unsettling and confused feeling among the tax and fee paying British public, of change without direction or progress. Indeed, some, notoriously during the ` Black Papers ’ controversy of the 1970s (Cox and Dyson 1971), claim that change has been harmful in that it has led to an alleged decline in standards. Such assertions have remained part of the debate. However, the New Labour Government , elected in 1997, has claimed a mandate to modernize Britain and its institutions,with the reform of education both a key objective and an essential tool. However, if such modernization is to be more than a current political slogan, it must be achieved through policy shaped by systematic analysis of current structures , possible alternatives and realistic rather than utopian objectives.

Comparative education and public policy A possible route is through the comparative analysis of educational systems and performance. This has a considerable pedigree in Britain, with the pioneering Michael Sadler, Director of the Oæ ce of Special Inquiries and Reports expressing the view in 1900 that the ` practical value of studying, in a right spirit and with scholarly accuracy, the working of foreign systems of education is that it will result in our being better ® tted to study and to understand our own ’ (Sadler 1900 : 49, quoted in Phillips, 1993 : 17). However, as Bliss and Garbett remind us, Sadler’ s argument is that while comparative study may lead us to a better understanding of our domestic situation,` it cannot of itself tell us what to do, a point the force of which is still not fully grasped ’ (Bliss and Garbett 1990 : 193). Comparative education is a strand in comparative public policy. Heidenheimer et al. (1990) suggests there are three basic reasons for engaging in systematic comparison of public policies. First, to give guidance in the design of domestic policies. The fact that diÚ erent countries and diÚ erent cultures often adopt alternative strategies for dealing with similar problems represents a type of national experiment. Comparison can begin to separate results that may be due to speci® c circumstance from those that may be of general application. Comparing diÚ erent ways of coping with similar problems can provide positive and negative lessons. Hidden assumptions about one’ s own country may be revealed, as Michael Sadler suggests, even if there are no direct lessons.

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Secondly, to understand how certain political institutions and processes deal with speci® c problems. By assessing one situation against another we may gain a clearer perspective on our own, as well as the options and constraints we face. Thirdly, to function successfully in an increasingly interdependent world, we need to understand the problem solving approaches that other societies adopt, the in¯ uence of culture and the way they interact with one another. Heidenheimer oÚ ers as a working de® nition of comparative public policy as ` the study of how, why and to what eÚ ect diÚ erent government s pursue particular courses of action or inaction’ (Heidenheimer et al. 1990 : 3).


What do we want in Britain? As Andrew Britton has pointed out, comparative studies of education and training show that the British system has failed to develop the potential of all but the most able persons who enter the increasingly competitive labour market. He recognizes that the initial disparity of skill levels that results from the system of education and training in Britain cannot be attributed to a competitive market which should ` create the right incentives for both the employer and the employee ’ (Britton 1995 : 6). Nevertheless , such a gap is a handicap to the development of an economy based on the provision of high quality goods and services. There are also the considerable costs of persistent and visible inequality, unemployment, poverty, social alienation and political cynicism. Britton quotes the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Inquiry into Income and Wealth, of the mid 1990s. This drew attention to the considerable income inequality, which had reemerged in Britain, with the poorest 20 to 30 % of the population failing to share in the bene® ts of economic growth. The Inquiry asserted that ` it is hard to overstate the importance of raising education and training standards for the problems we have described ’ (Rowntree 1995, Britton 1995 : 6). In the face of such inequalities, a consensus recognizes that Britain needs to create the conditions in which a ` learning society’ can ¯ ourish (Coæ eld 1995). This means an educational system open to those with motivation and ability, ¯ exible enough to respond quickly to changes in the demands of the labour market and demanding enough to ensure the maintenance and development of intellectual standards . This is a tall order and one that has yet to be delivered. British society is still one in which elitism is tempered by patronage , its educational institutions in practice favouring the few, while the remainder are spared supposedly, the early experience of failure. This, ` ignores the possibility that the risk of explicit failure might provide an eÚ ective spur for further eÚ ort ’ (Britton 1995 : 6). The reduction of inequality in practice, means that each should reach their individual potential, rather than insisting, in a utopian way, that everyone has the potential ` to be a doctor or a company chairman, as if no lower ambition than that were worth achieving? ’ (Britton, 1995 : 7). There is realism and justice in this approach. In practice, it was on such diagnoses, rather than on the more obvious sources of social democratic ideology, such as Anthony Crosland (Crosland 1956, Kogan 1971), that the political victory of New Labour in 1997 was built. That victory provided an opportunity for a fresh agenda, with the reform of education placed toward the head of the list. In an interview given before the General Election, David Blunkett, now Secretary of State for Education and Employment, set out New Labour’ s priorities. First, core public funding of higher education should continue. Secondly, a more ¯ exible system should be introduced that would expand

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numbers and opportunities to meet the legitimate aspirations of individuals and the economic and social needs of the country. This means the development of part time higher education and of locally based education, using to full advantage the increasing possibilities of information technology. The objectives are ` a balance between research and teaching capacity and expertise, the development of links between institutions and between further and higher education, the development of adult education that’ s genuinely available to all within the community’ . Educational planning, he said, should envisage ` the kind of society and economy that we will be dealing with ¼ ’ in 30 to 40 years time. (Morgan 1997b: 462). This agenda led to the series of reports on educational policy that have culminated in the White Paper, Learning to succeed: A new framework for post-16 learning (Cm 4392, June, 1999, Parker and Morgan 1999).

Can we ® nd it in the US ? Christopher Pierson, in an article on the US welfare state, reminds us that the ` social and political development of the United States has been long and widely understood under the rubric of ` ` exceptionalism ’ ’ , with its social and political development diÚ ering in a number of ways from that of other advanced capitalist societies’ (Pierson 1990 : 186). The United States’ speci® c historic features, such as the absence of a feudal or established religious heritage, the frontier mentality, the early introduction of the suÚ rage (for white males), the late abolition of slavery, the absence of an European style labour movement , let alone a mass socialist party, and the antinomies of individualism and organized capitalism, have been identi® ed in support of this view. It is argued also that, not only is the US experience diÚ erent, but it ` anticipates the likely course of future development for the more tradition bound societies of Western Europe ’ (Pierson 1990 : 186). As Pierson points out, this view of US exceptionalism as pathbreaker was ® rst developed in the work of Daniel Bell, Seymour Martin Lipset, Ralf Dahrendorf and others, who each pointed to the emergence of a post-industrial , post-capitalist society (Bell 1973, Lipset 1964, Dahrendorf 1959). US social development would lead the way in which Western Europe, and for that matter Asia and other traditional societies would follow, once they had freed themselves from the destructive con¯ icts of class and hierarchy. It is a view that has received fresh impetus with the end of the Cold War and the onset of the paradoxes of globalization (Green 1998, Ashton and Green 1996). It may be seen as the ® rst attempt to discover ` the Third Way’ , along which Bill Clinton and Tony Blair now stride so con® dently (Giddens 1994). In a recently published polemic against this approach , Nick Cohen writes scornfully that New Labour’ s ` campaign strategies come from Little Rock, their welfare policies from Wisconsin, their economic policies from Chicago and their prison policies from California’ (Cohen 1999 : 116) ; a trend of policy borrowing that developed under the preceding Tory governments , Margaret Thatcher also being an enthusiast for ` the American way ’ , as Finegold and others show (Finegold et al. 1993). In a review of Cohen’ s book, Paul Barker agrees that Britain has a long history of importing US policies but adds pointedly ` precisely when the shine begins to go oÚ them back home. ’ and, in an unexpected swipe as far back as Anthony Crosland, says that the ` introduction of comprehensives as a British variant on urban high schools is only the most notorious example ’ (Barker 1999 : 40). Is this also true of United States community


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colleges or do they in fact provide a model for Britain ? The operational questions of comparative public policy analysis, as suggested by Heidenheimer, though taken in a slightly diÚ erent order, may provide an answer (Heidenheimer et al. 1990).


Why ? The democratic ideology of US community colleges The community college in the United States has its origins in the junior college that was analogou s to the technical college and the later 16± 19 year old further education college in Britain. It became part of the American system of higher education before the Second World War, but remained distinct from the extremely varied provision of adult education(Liveright 1968, Brint and Karabel 1989, Stubble® eld and Keane 1994). The special circumstances of the post-war years led to its transformation into a broadly based community college system, serving a much larger and diverse student body. It was anticipated in the unoæ cial but in¯ uential report of the Commission on Post-War Training and Adjustment published by the Institute of Adult Education, Columbia University, in 1942. The themes of democracy and community and the connection between them and educational provision are emphasized throughout the report. The foreword sets the tone, declaring con® dently that with ` the victorious close of a war fought for the maintenance of democratic principles, it is to be expected that the United States of America will revert to a process of decentralization of government ’ and that certainly this reversed trend ` will have a profound eÚ ect upon education, traditionally organized in this country as a matter chie¯ y of community concern ’ (Commission on Post-War Training 1942 : 1). The community colleges claim to be an organic part of the US system of higher education was enhanced by the post-war Truman Commission. Known oæ cially as the President’ s Commission on Higher Education for American Democracy(United States 1948), 15 years before the admittedly in¯ uential Robbins Report (Higher Education 1963) and 29 years before the less well-received Dearing Report. In Britain, the Truman Commission presented equality of opportunity in education as a national target for the US people. It recommended a multi-faceted expansion of higher education to achieve this. The Commission anticipated that the junior college would provide education and formal accreditation for what it described as ` semi-professional workers ’ (or what would now be called workers seeking intermediate quali® cations) who did not require the fouryear curriculum of the universities. It was recognized however, that some students in this category would wish and should be able to transfer to a four-year programme. The Commission also recommended a change of name from junior to community and encouraged such colleges to make the serving of local community needs their primary mission (Stubble® eld and Keane 1994).

How ? Patterns of development By the 1960s, the community colleges had established themselves as signi® cant providers of post school education to the mass of United States citizens, especially at the local level. They grew over the next 30 years, despite the decline of ® nancial subsidies in the Republican period of the 1980s. It is estimated that only some 30 % of the ® nances of


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higher education institutions,including community colleges, are now provided directly by government at whatever level, compared with 94 % of the ® nance of primary and secondary schools. Programmes in higher education carry tuition fees paid either by the student or by a sponsor. There are scholarships, but these depend on the ability and need of the student and on the capacity of the institution to secure endowments and other grants. This was new territory for the community colleges with their fundamental public service ethos. In a picture familiar to British eyes, the community colleges are seen traditionally as ` low cost, no frills preparatory institutions for students who didn’ t have the money, the grades, or the motivation to attend a university ¼ They depended primarily on tax dollars for funding’ (van der Werf 1999 : A42). To defend their mission to be accessible and aÚ ordable, for example through oÚ ering scholarships, the community colleges have had to follow the entrepreneurial path. The evidence is that they are succeeding, not least by using their community mission to appeal to philanthropic donors. Three community colleges now have endowments of more than $100 million, and are among the largest 275 in the country (van der Werf 1999 : 43). Even in such circumstances, enrolment in non-credit activities continues at around 3± 4 million annually, emphasizing the sector’ s contribution to adult education. The community colleges take full advantage of ¯ exible delivery systems ; tailor made programmes for speci® c customers ; and co-operative sponsorship , emphasizing their capacity as a local resource (Cohen and Brawer 1989, Stubble® eld and Keane 1994). The ® nancial climate since the 1980s also led to reconsideration of the colleges’ relations with business. This is recognized, perhaps belatedly, as crucial to community and to individual prosperity. There has been an expansion of skills training, sometimes subsidized by state or federal funds, and in short programmes of continuing professional development , often designed in partnership with commercial companies or professional associations. The American Association of Community and Junior Colleges has adopted a strategy aimed at positioning ` the community college as a lifelong learning center and as a provider of training for business and industry’ (Stubble® eld and Keane 1994 : 261). US higher education today is a highly developed yet decentralized and diversi® ed system serving a mass, multicultural student body. There are over 3200 colleges and universities traditionally classi® ed as engaged in higher education, enrolling some 14 million students. The inclusion of other kinds of post-secondary institution, such as the numerous small commercial organizations , increases the totals to around 10 000 institutions and approximatel y 15 million students (National Center for Education Statistics 1992a, cited in Hearn 1997: 271 and 310n). The community colleges play a signi® cant, even crucial part in this provision , with some 1444 in operation in the early 1990s (National Center for Education Statistics 1992b, cited in Shackleton, 1995 : 74). They are the hub of local networks of community education services providing two year associate degrees, short vocational and continuing professional development programmes , as well as adult basic education and non-accredited liberal adult education. The associate degree is the central award of the two year community college and can be academic or vocational in aim and content. Shackleton points out, however, that a number of core general subjects must be completed to achieve transfer to a four year degree and transferability varies between states and institutions, which is ` a problem associated with lack of national standards or curricula’ (Shackelton 1995 : 74). There is increasing external pressure to design curriculum and instruction in ways that show students how to apply concepts learned in both their academic and their vocational courses. Teahen says that ` vocational educators are criticized for providing overly



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speci® c training and academic educators are criticized for providing instruction that is neither participatory nor connected to the real-world’ s requirements’ (Teahen 1996 : 3, quoted in Brewer 1999 : 1). This is a complaint familiar enough in Britain. Brewer’ s solution is the integration of academic and vocational education, because such a move would ` reinforce the shifting paradigm from teaching to learning and requires that students become active participants in the construction of their own knowledge’ (Brewer 1999 : 1). The citations that Brewer uses in support of this rationale emphasize the expected twin outcomes of such curriculum integration. On the one hand is the strengthening of civic goals (Badway and Grubb 1997) which provide ` opportunities for a more diverse group of students’ (Illinois Task Force 1997: 4), and the development of ` learning projects connected to the needs of the community’ (Copa and Ammentorp 1997: 10). On the other hand, there is the recognition that students need more than speci® c skills training if they are to succeed in a changing labour market (Edmonds 1993 : 85), with Jacobs (1993 : 81) calling for US higher education to serve the changing interests and need of employers. The success of the community colleges in doing so is illustrated in recent reports. T he Wall Street J ournal describes the eÚ orts of one Michigan community college in the diæ cult task of selling its programmes of worker vocational training to international companies such as Saab Automobile AB and Daimler Chrysler AG. Its aim is to ` prepare students for the rigors of global manufacturing and to make factory jobs more attractive to them ’ (Wessel 1999 : A6). The report also describes the diæ culties of international companies in coping with diÚ erent national training systems. The German system is a business and government partnership providing front loaded training for young workers. The US system on the other hand ` transfers knowledge to adult workers ` ` on a need to know basis’ ’ at a time of technological change’ (Wessel 1999 : A1). The Michigan College sees the emergence of a global automobile industry as ` an opportunity to take what they do in Germany and unify it with what we do in the US ’ . A company representative described this as the college attempting ` to do something ® rst : a global manufacturing curriculum’ (Wessell 1999 : A6). This may be regarded as hyperbole, but, as the J ournal recognizes, the college’ s plans are a genuine attempt to adjust its role. The growth of private provision is also part of the growing commercialization of US community colleges. As Shackleton points out, these are primarily vocational , aimed at developing skills for speci® c occupational use, though diplomas and certi® cates are awarded. Such colleges are often eÚ ectively monotechnics, with business administration amongst the most popular of subjects. There has been a marked rise in the number of such institutions and in their student numbers. They had some 1.6 million or 15 % of the national post secondary enrolment in 1990, compared with only 9 % in 1981. This expansion has aroused criticism over their cost and quality. To de¯ ect this they often register with accreditation bodies such as the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools (Shackleton 1995 : 75). Such privatization accompanies the growth of learning in ` the corporate classroom ’ , often undertaken in partnership with the community colleges, public and private. However, Stubble® eld and Keane (1994 : 266) point out that ` information on the exact number of employees receiving training, on the number of companies providing it, and on the cost of training is not reliable’ . A related issue is the growth of human resource development (HRD) over the past 20 years, which has also had its eÚ ect on the role and function of the community colleges. Watkins comments that ` the training of trainers is itself a massive educational undertaking ’ (Watkins 1989 : 42, quoted in Stubble® eld and Keane 1994 : 268) ; neither situation has changed signi® cantly.

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To what eå ect ? Diverted dream or democracy ’ s open door? However, for some, such developments mean a ` diverted dream ’ , taking the community colleges away from their democratic ideology and core mission to serve their locality. These depended on the community colleges retaining their integrity as higher education institutions providing rigorous academic and professional programmes , not for an elite group or to a corporate consumer, but to a mass and diversi® ed student body on a local basis. They were to provide equality of opportunity in education, through their curricula and quali® cations, such as the associate degree, and as bridges to four year college programmes , to professional accreditation and to higher degrees (Brint and Karabel 1989, Cohen and Brawer 1989). The most trenchant critics claim that these objectives have not been achieved. The debate between those who argue ` for the democratic ideal of mobility through equality of educational opportunity ’ and those who want ` a training ground for middle level manpower ’ has been a recurrent tension within the community college movement (Brint and Karabel 1989 : 206). The outcome has been the transformation of the community college, from an institution dedicated to academic development and transfer to one of terminal vocational training. This is described as ` one of the most fundamental changes to have taken place in the history of twentieth-century American higher education’ (Brint and Karabel 1989 : 214). It is also the consequence of ` a far broader societal problem ; that of managing ambition in a society that generates far higher levels of aspiration for upward mobility than it can possibly satisfy’ (Brint and Karabel 1989 : 213). There is however another view and that is the idea of ` the multiple mission’ of the community college within the United States’ capitalist democracy. While transfer is recognized as ` unquestionably one of the chief functions of a community college ’ , it is not as clear and separate an academic track as often made out and ` the curriculum line between vocational education and transfer education is very blurred ’ (Griæ th and Connor 1994 : 127). Transfer and career programmes are centrally important and provide credibility but, from the perspective of ` the multiple mission ’ , they are not the only important goals, chief of which is to provide an educational service that will raise the quality of life in local communities. Such a service does not ` ignore the four out of ® ve American adults who do not hold a baccalaureate degree’ (Griæ th and Connor 1994 : 129). Cohen agrees, stating that the ` colleges will continue enrolling job seekers because of the high demand for people in occupations for which some post-secondar y training, but not a bachelor’ s degree, is expected ’ (Cohen 1989 : 54, quoted in Minty 1990 : 27). This is realistic and just, and echoes Britton’ s comments quoted earlier. The argument is for community colleges to remain multi-functional , open to all adult Americans ` who want to advance their education, increase their occupational skills, enrich their intellectual and cultural life’ (Griæ th and Connor 1994 : 131). It is in this sense that the community college serves as ` democracy’ s open door ’ . Access for some to four-year colleges is only part of this broader mission.

Conclusion As Dearing is quoted earlier, the issues that have arisen in the United States are of signi® cance in Britain. This is re¯ ected in the British commentaries on the US system and on the community colleges in particular (Cantor 1989, Finegold et al. 1993, Jary et al. 1999). Cantor’ s view is that the experience of the US community colleges is



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relevant at a time when both countries are concerned with increasing access to higher education and witnessing ` major changes in the character of our institutions of further and higher education’ (Cantor 1989 : 309). His analysis concentrates on ` the diverted dream ’ , the decline in the transfer of students, particularly from minorities, to the four year bachelor’ s degree programmes. Cantor comments that ` there is a widespread conviction that the needs of poor people, minorities and lifelong learners are less well served today than they were a generation ago ’ (Cantor 1989 : 318). He reminds us also of the great variation in size of US community colleges, which range from tens of thousands of students in the large cities to a few hundreds in rural areas. This adds to problems of comparison as that in size they are like former British polytechnics, while in curriculum they are like British colleges of further education. Jary and others, writing more recently, also concentrate on the transfer record of the US community colleges. In an explicit comparison with Britain they ask the speci® c questions ` access to what ? ’ and ` whether international tendencies to greater institutional strati® cation can (or should) be resisted? ’ (Jary et al. 1999 : 83). It is suggested that the US community colleges have been successful where they have provided a ` comprehensive learning environment, and have enhanced student self esteem and aspirations ’ (Jary et al. 1999 : 99). This is close to the ` democracy’ s open door ’ argument of Griæ th and Connor (1994). However, Jary and his colleagues remain insistent that the maintenance of ` access routes ’ to universities is essential if the ` advantages’ gained by students at community colleges are to be fully exploited. There remains a historicist determination that the ` goal of a more egalitarian society need not be dead ’ (Jary et al. 1999 : 100). In immediate and practical terms however, what do the US community colleges have to oÚ er policy makers, practitioners and, most importantly, students in Britain ? The evidence is that, despite the criticisms and the shortcomings , many millions of Americans have bene® ted intellectually, culturally and vocationally from the programmes of their community colleges, which have also made a major contribution to civic education and to economic development. To that extent they are a guide, both in their strengths and weaknesses, to the future of the further education colleges of Britain in their new framework. The mistake is in the hidden snobbery of looking to create ersatz ` universities’ , rather than in recognizing the strength of local community and further education colleges. This lies in meeting the many and diverse educational needs of ordinary people in the capitalist democracies in which they live and work. Realistic social and economic alternatives are not yet available. In any case, students prefer to be considered as individuals rather than as a group or a mass (which is one reason why the separation of the 16± 19 year olds population from the ` adults’ proposed by the recent White Paper is a mistake). This is the paradox that makes the community college so attractive to so many. It is a point that should be remembered in Britain, if institutional ambitions or utopian ideological goals are not to override students’ actual and immediate needs.

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