https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c2fc24aca34fa22bdfd330fb90ab4eb3.pdf 5ddef25018c5b36fe6f1aea102bef3c0 PDF Text Text CHAD HANSON AND PATRICK AMELOTTE Cracking Open the Curriculum Lessons from a Community College COMMUNIPf COLLEGES comprise the largest single sector of the US higher education net­ work. Forty percent of undergraduates attend one of our two-year schools. Some estimates suggest that, since the turnover is quicker than on four-year campuses, two-thirds of the students who attend a college at all attend a community college. For many of those stu­ dents, open-access institutions are where they are exposed to the liberal arts: science, com­ position, mathemat­ ics, the humanities, and so forth. Yet, general education in the two-year school receives scant attention in A group of fifteen scholarly publications, and even less in the faculty and two staff popular media. members embarked Lately, however, the liberal arts have been receiving attention on the Casper College on a journey to campus. In the fall of 2009, we created a com­ assess^ discuss, mittee charged with evaluating and chang­ and ultimately ing the school’s general education program. recreate the liberal We will not speculate about the motivation for the wholesale reassessment, but we will arts core within cite a common local assumption: the cur­ our curriculum riculum ought to change with the times. We realize that assumption is arguable, but our program had been in place for three decades, and the college administration had been talk­ ing about “cracking open’’ general educa­ tion for at least five of those years. Thus, a group of fifteen faculty and two staff members embarked on a journey to assess, discuss, and ultimately recreate the liberal arts core within our curriculum. As of this writing, the group is midway through its third year of deliberation. In that time, we have met with some success, but the CHAD HANSON is instructor of sociology, and PATRICK AMELOTTE IS instructor of English, both at Casper College. 44 Liberal Education Winter 2013 team has also faced a series of challenges. We trust that our discussion of the process of cur­ ricular change at Casper College will sound familiar to those who have undertaken a simi­ lar endeavor. We also are confident that our example will prove helpful to those who have yet to engage in the process. In what follows, we share some of the lessons we have learned. Consider the history of the community college The study of history is a cornerstone of general education. Across the country, and around the world, we ask students to study history under the assumption that the present and the future rest on a foundation built by previous generations. Ironically, our committee did not take time to discuss the history of general education in the two-year school. Our situation is hardly unique, however. One of the quirks of higher education is the practice of hiring full-time educators without a background in the study of edu­ cation. A comparison with other profes­ sions makes the situation seem uncanny. For example, a hospital would not hire a medical doctor who had not made a formal study of medicine; law offices do not hire counselors who have not studied the law. But we rou­ tinely hire teachers without a background in the study of teaching. This practice sends the message that matters of education and cur­ riculum do not require rigorous thought or analysis. After close to three years’ worth of arguments among members of our committee, we are certain that assumption is untrue. At a minimum, if we would have taken time to study the role of the liberal arts in two-year schools, we could have developed an understanding of the reasons why committee members often found themselves at odds with �<• Hi O HI M a* Hl Casper College each other. Even a brief examination of the com­ munity college suggests that the institution has a unique relationship with general education. Historically, two-year schools were liberal arts colleges, patterned after the University of Chicago. In the late eighteen hundreds, William Rainey Harper, then president of the univer­ sity, divided undergraduate studies into junior and senior colleges. That split the four-year baccalaureate. The first two years introduced students to the arts and sciences, while the third and fourth years immersed them in a particular subject. In 1901, with Harper’s support, the first junior college opened its doors at a site in Joliet, Illi­ nois. The school was the first to offer the associ­ ate degree. Harper chose the term “asstxiate” to suggest that the degree’s value was to be realized when it was “associated” with in-depth study in a single discipline. For three decades, the model used in Illinois served as the national standard. By the middle of the twentieth century, junior colleges began transforming themselves into community colleges. That meant a shift away from the liberal arts, toward a more com­ prehensive mission. The schtx)ls sought to bal­ ance the goals of general education, vocational training, and community outreach. In the new era, the associate degree was no longer thought to represent the first half of the baccalaureate. In many cases, two-year degrees became terminal. Programs were divided between the liberal arts and a major. That trend continues to this day. 46 Liberal Education Winter 2013 The problem is that students still must earn roughly sixty-four credits to qualify for the associate degree. Major requirements account for at least a third of those credits, though many majors use up fully half the space in a degree program—and some would like to take up even more. In certain depart­ ments, major coursework could account for all sixty-four credits. Thus, in the community college, we argue about the size and shape of general education. The changing mission of the institution put a squeeze on the curriculum. As a conse­ quence, there is no easy way to settle the argument over the number of credits it takes to complete general education in a two-year course of study. But it is helpful to know that the debate has roots in the fact that we are asking associate degrees to perform roles for which they were not originally intended. In other words, the problem is historic and structural, and therefore not unique to the psychology of any particular members of a curriculum committee. Examine the assumptions behind your intentions—even the good ones More S(.) than other student populations, com­ munity college students attend class and pursue their education in the face of hardships. Some students are swimming in debt. Others are struggling to learn parenting skills at the same time they are trying to learn to write effectively. �There are For some, the walk to class questionable presents a physical challenge, assumptions that and some are unfamiliar with the underlie the tendency basic workings of a computer. to steer community Community college teachers are compassionate. When we college students see students in trouble, we want toward courses in to help. Therefore, when we basic life skills as serve on committees designed opposed to the to restructure curricula, we see the role as a chance to lend a liberal arts hand. The tendency is to require students to take courses in the areas where we have seen them struggle. We could all cite a case where a student would have benefitted from a course on personal finance or parent­ ing skills or computer basics. For that reason, we are glad our college and most others offer such courses, but in a liberal arts program, especially one of limited size, courses in basic skills often take the place of courses in the arts and sciences. For some faculty, substituting one type of course for another seem,s appropriate, but there are questionable assumptions that underlie the tendency to steer community college students toward courses in basic life skills as opposed to the liberal arts. One of the assumptions is that two-year college stu­ dents cannot meet the demands of challeng­ ing academic courses. Another assumption is that those same students will not rise into positions where they would make use of cre­ ativity, critical capacities, or higher-order thinking skills. Both assumptions require an unsavory lack of confidence in students, their potential, and their ability. In other words, we sell our students short, and in so doing we limit their potential to contribute to society. Keep learning outcomes In their place Early on, the majority of our committee mem­ bers agreed that we should begin by listing the knowledge and skills our graduates ought to possess. The discussion of outcomes enjoyed a place of primacy in our meetings. During our conversations, we made good use of the Essential Learning Outcomes offered as part of the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative (AAC&.U 2007). We also found support in Mary J. Allen’s (2006) Assessing General Education Program.s. Our efforts culminated with a list of eighteen different outcomes, which were discussed and then approved by our faculty senate. The next step included making decisions about where students would achieve the outcomes. Ultimately, we had to decide which courses they would take. On this matter, we did not reach a consensus. We had been focused on assem­ bling a set of learning outcomes. Then, when we finished, we went looking for places where students could achieve our objectives. But it turned out that the range of places was broader than many of us had imag­ ined. For example, students learn to think critically in our welding courses. They improve their writing skills in classes on marketing. On our campus, computer networking courses involve teamwork, and it is possible to dem­ onstrate responsibility by taking workshops to improve safe practices in coal mining. On one level, we were glad to find out that a range of courses address the outcomes typi­ cally linked to the liberal arts. Yet, it also began to look like our students might com­ plete their general education without taking a single course in the arts and sciences. More­ over, from the perspective of certain depart­ ments, it started to look like students would not have to take any courses outside of the major. We believe in the importance of mea­ suring outcomes, but the assessment of liberal arts outcomes is no substitute for a liberal arts curriculum. It is important to place general education outcomes in context—the context of the arts and sciences. Disciplines matter—history, philosophy, biology, mathematics. Each field in the acad­ emy offers a unique perspective and method of inquiry. With regard to the history of higher education, Romans created the collegium to collect a diverse group of scholars in a single place. As a result, students and society both have benefitted from access to a range of means to frame and then confront problems. Our committee started out by thinking small. We began by assembling a set of learn­ ing outcomes. If instead we had begun with a discussion of the disciplines students should engage with as part of their general education, however, then in the end we could have enlisted faculty from tho.se areas to help establish Liberal Education Winter 2013 47 u lU «> te w �M 111 O 111 w OS III appropriate goals and objectives. That was not our path, but it is an approach worthy of consideration. Remember, two-year college students transfer Four-year institutions enjoy a high level of freedom when it comes to their curricula. They can offer and require a unique mixture of classes. They can put a distinctive stamp on their liberal arts program, and, in the end, after completing the requirements, their stu­ dents earn bachelor’s degrees. Community colleges work under a differ­ ent set of circumstances. We offer a general education program that will potentially serve as a component of a four-year degree in any one of the nation’s baccalaureate-granting institutions. Late in our process, we discov­ ered that, between 2008 and 2010, students transferred from Casper College to 199 differ­ ent institutions—from Middlebury College in Vermont to the University of Hawaii. Most two-year schools can make similar claims. 48 Liberal Education Winter 2013 and when community colleges drift away from a traditional core group of classes, gradu­ ates find it difficult to transfer. For instance, a two-year college may require an introduction to Microsoft Word as part of the general edu­ cation program, but that course will not likely transfer as part of a university’s liberal arts curriculum. From the standpoint of students, it is vital that they receive general education credit for their general education. Apply the argument for labor force development carefully As is typical of any committee, on any campus, our curriculum committee included members who believe the liberal arts are unnecessary, that they are a distraction from the business taking place in the “real world.” A number of us made the case that employers value the outcomes of a general education. Hence, we held several discussions about the best means to prepare students for success in the labor force. We are happy to say that, near the end of the process, the majority of our committee �If the benefits of a general education are members came to agree that the liberal arts serve graduates going to be realized, in the workplace. they are going Through the course of our to be realized, meetings, however, no one made in large part, on the case that the goals of a college education relate to two-year campuses anything but employment. The faculty geared toward workforce development argued for the necessity of vocational compe­ tence. The liberal arts faculty argued that gen­ eral education plays a role in preparation for careers. Nobody argued that students are more than one-dimensional workers. Nobody claimed that education entails more than job training. In the process of making the case that the liberal arts are valued in the workplace, fac­ ulty unwittingly support the assumption that colleges exist solely for economic purposes. Of course, the arts and sciences are useful on the job, but they also help fulfill a higher purpose: human development. The liberal arts provide resources to help people ask and struggle to answer questions that relate to ethics, logic, and what it may take to produce a just and peaceful future. Ideally, supporters of general education can divide their atten­ tion, and make the case that the liberal arts are preparation fi^r both life and work. Focus on enduring questions As a nation, we place faith in the idea that we can use higher education to address social problems. Elected officials rarely give a speech without mentioning the role of education in solving one of our pressing concerns. Likewise, our committee spent time trying to decide how our general education program would contribute to the nation’s recovery from the recession that began in 2007. Our interest in solving the financial crisis led to an even longer discussion about the cause of our cur­ rent predicament: consumer incompetence, Wall Street greed. Democrats, supply-side economics, and so on. Some of the discus­ sions were brutal, and worse, they were un­ necessary. By focusing on the problems that occupied our attention at the moment, we became distracted. We were kept from dis­ cussing the issues and questions that are most pertinent to a liberal arts program: the big, enduring questions. The purpx^se of a general education is to give students a chance to wrestle with the issues that have dogged humanity since the beginning. Do we possess free will, or is our behavior determined? What are the standards for beauty? Is science the best or only way to know the truth? Are morals relative or absolute? What are the defining features of our age? Are freedom and equality compatible? What is our responsibil­ ity to each other, to the earth, or to animals? When students are given an opportunity to address such broad, durable questions, the end result is a careful type of introspection. Well-designed liberal arts programs create a place and time for students to ask, what should 1 care about and why? Or, to what use should I put my life? It is only through the process of grappling with such questions that students can move in the direction of living well, as opposed to simply making a living. Conclusion When we think of the liberal arts, many of us think of liberal arts colleges. We picture marble columns and creeping vines on brown­ stone walls. Most undergraduates do not attend private, four-year institutions, however. Statisti­ cally, most students attend community colleges. Thus, if the benefits of a general education are going to be realized, they are going to be real­ ized, in large part, on two-year campuses. That places a grave responsibility on faculty and staff. In our experience, however, that is a challenge that the personnel of two-year schools can meet. Through careful planning, sound choices, and frank conversations, the community college holds the potential to make good on the promise of the arts and sciences. To respond to this article, e-mail liberaled@aacu.org, with the authors’ names on the subject line. REFERENCES Allen, M. J. 2006. Assessing General Education Programs. Bolton, MA: Anker. AAC&U (Association of American Colleges and Universities). 2007. College Learning for the New Global Century: A Report from the National Leader­ ship Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise. Washington, 1X2: AAC&iU. Liberal Education Winter 2013 49 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. 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Chad Hanson Journal Publications, CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01_ChadHansonPapers_21 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Liberal Education Magazine</em>