DOCUMENT RESUME ED 093 427 JC 740 240 AUTHOR Goodwin, Gregory L. TITLE A Social Panacea: A History of the Community-Junior College Ideology. PUB DATE Sep 73 NOTE 316p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC-$15.00 PLUS POST GE DESCRIPTORS *Community Colleges; Educational Change; *Educational History; Educational Practice; *Educational Theories; HistoriCal Reviews; *Junior Colleges; *Social Influences ABSTRACT This examination of the community- junior college ideology is divided into the followingareas:(1) an introductory historical review of the development of the community- junior college movement;(2) the junior college and the age of efficiency (1890-1920); (3) the rise of "terminal education" (1920-1941), including the emphasis on "social intelligence," vocational curricula, selectivity, guidance, and the impact of thedepression; and (4) acceptance without understanding (1945 to thepresent), including guidance, vocational-technical education, andthe impact of WW II and the Cold War. The fifth and final chapter deals withthe problem of the terminal student, vocationalversus general education, and minority groups and the "open door." An emphasis isplaced throughout the study on the lives and theories of majorspokesmen of the movement. A 25-page bibliography is provided. (KM) Cr.gory L. r;oodwin A SOCIAL PANACi'A: A HISTORY OF TUE COMMUNITY-JUNIOR courcE Bakersfield Bakersfield, California 93305 We are submitting this at level . It because of marginal legibility of some sections. if you feel)\ it iA appropriate for level _please process it at level T. `41 '41-1,;OFYiaAiLAIAE BESTCOPYk A SOCIAL PANACEA: A HISTORY OF TH.3 COMMUNITY-JUNIOR COLLEGE IDEOLOGY Gregory L. Goodwin Bakersfield, California September, 1973 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous people provided the personal and professional support that enabled me to complete this book. Members of my doctoral committee at the University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDrs. Terry O'Banion, Jo Ann Fley, Clarence Karier, Robert Pingry, Paul Riegel, and Paul Violas- -wore all help- ful beyond words. Dr. O'Banion in particular supported my research efforts after the dissertation stage. His guidance and personal encouragement were immensely valuable. Many librarians throughout the nation, from Washington, D.C., to Cali- fornia, fr3ely offered needed assistance. Facilities granted to me at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara campuses of the University of California were much appreciated and fully used.. Mr. Jack Gernhart of the staff of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges in Washington, D.C. was remarkably helpful in providing materials and workspace for my investigation there. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities enabled me to carry my research into areas of significance untouched by my doctoral 3tudy. Without such help, I could not have completed this work. My wife, Peggy, provided needed encouragement and was my most careful and competent assistant in the preparation of the manuscript. Added to her responsibilities as wife, mother, and teacher, her burden was not an easy one. Others, to:numerous to mention, reacted to the manuscript and provided insights and corrections. My appreciation for all those instrumental in the execution 'sf this work is limitless. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. INTRODUCTION. 5 Historical Significance of the Community-Junior College Movement 6 Definitions 7 National Spokesmen for the Community-Junior College Movement 11 Stages of Development. 13 Precursors of the Community-Junior College Idea 15 II. THE JUNIOR COLLEGE AND THE AGE OF EFFICIENCY 19 Harper, Jordan, and Lange 20 The Hallmark of Efficiency 24 Evolution and Elitism 31 William Rainey Harper 37 David Starr Jordan 64 Alexis F. Lange 75 Efficiency and the Junior College 86 III. THE RISE OF "TERMINAL EDUCATION" 93 Koos, Eells, and Campbell 95 Other Community-Junior College National Spokesmen During the 1920ts and 1930ts 116 The Meaning of Junior College Terminal Education 140 The Emphasis Upon Social Intelligence 144 General Education: The Curriculum for "Social Intelligence" 150 Vocational Curricula 156 Selectivity and Guidance 161 The Impact of the Depression 169 The Lingering Dedication to Efficient Educational Reorganization 173 Friends and Enemies 178 Rhetoric and Reality 185 IV. ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING 189 New Spokesmen for the Community-Junior College Movement 193 Continuing Voices from the Past 225 The Impact of World War Two and the Cold War 238 Ideas and Efforts Toward a Vocational- Technical Education 245 CHAPFER Page Developments in Guidance 251 Wnoro is the "Community College?" 25? V. OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW PROSPECTS 261 The Problem of the Terminal Student 262 Vocational Versus General Education 272 Minority Groups and the "Open Door" 279 Conclusion 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY 290 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION There appears to be no sound reason to neglect one of the most rapidly expanding segments of education; one that is destined to influence American life; one that grows by reason of its basic concept for better community living; that is being increasingly geared to present-day industrial and economic conditions; that aims at the further equaliza- tion of educational opportunities. - Jesse P. Bogue1 The segment of American education that Jesse P. Bogue charged was being neglected by American historians in 1950 was one that went by various names: junior colleges, community colleges, two-year colleges, city colleges, technical institutes, and people's colleges. As Executive Secretary of the American Association of Junior Colleges (AAJC), an or- ganization that encompassed institutions with all of the above-mentioned titles, Bogue was very much aware of the lack of historical materials describing and explaining the half-century old community-junior college movement. With over 600 institutions in AAJC by 1950, Bogue had suffi- cient reason to question why they had escaped the historian's notice. Now, in 1973, there are over a thousand such institutions in existence, and there is still precious little information yielding any historical perspective. 1Jesse P. Bogue, The Community College (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1950), p.135. 5 6 Historical SiDnificance of the CommunitJunior-College Movement The phenominal growth of the community-junior college movement does not itself justify an intensive historical study. But more is involved in this movement than a mere proliferation of institutions. Major currents of educational reform, reflecting the hopes and the fears of the larger American society, have guided the path of the community-junior college movement. The dominant social value placed upon efficiency, social intelli- gence, and a rationalized work force had underscored the public acceptance of the movement. The ostensibly simple debate over reorganizing oublic education on a 8.4-4 Year Flan or a 6-3-3.2 Year Plan, for instance, was more than an argument over administrative convenience and economyrather it reflected an overwhelming concern for efficiency, with efficiency defined as a moral virtue as well as an economic gain. The progressive education movement, as another example, which attempted to alter all educational insti- tutions in the early twentieth century, found that its basic rhetoric became most permanently embedded in the ideology of the then-blossoming community- junior college movement. The social importance of curricular reforms in vocational education and general education was nowhere voiced more strongly than by spokesmen for the community-junior college. And the birth of the student personnel movement not only coincided with the birth of the commu- nity-junior college movementthey were, in fact, meshed together. Still today the most articulate 'advocates for the ustudont-personnel-point-of- view,' exist in the nation's community junior-colleges. Rich as it is in historical significance, the history of the community. junior college has been little explored. Despite the fact that the history of the community-junior college intertwines with that of secondary and higher education, noted historians in both fields have altogether overlooked the significance of the movement.'Within the community-junior college it has become a cliche to speak of an identity crisis, partly in recognition of an unexplored past and partly out of dismay with confusion today.2Beneath the omission of the historian and beyond the myopia of the community-junior college "establishment" lies a fertile field of study. This study seeks to enter that realm. Definitions At the outset it is important to clarify some terminology. In this study the term "community - junior college" is used as if it were a definite entity. Actually, the terms "junior college" and "community college" are more commonly used to refer to particular two-year institutions. The value of the term "community-junior college" is that it symbolizes the interrela. tionship between two major ideas in the movement-- (1) that the institutions shall be integrately bound to their local communities, and (2) that the in- stitutions shall faithfully duplicate the first two years of four-year, senior institutions. Furthermore the term "community-junior college" is historical in nature, reflecting the common roots and development of the many various two year institutions that today enroll more than half of the nation's freshmen and sophomore students. 1Three standard histories of American higher education have not allotted more than five paves collectively