The Academic Crisis of the Community College

Book excerpt: "What I like most about this book is that the authors do not see community colleges as being separate from other parts of post-secondary education. The usual view of two-year colleges is reductionist -- perceiving them exclusively in functional ways -- vocational, collegiate, remedial, etc. McGrath and Spear see community colleges as part of the full historical unfolding of educational institutions in the United States and, thus, critique them as academic institutions. This is an important work -- more intellectually challenging and wide ranging than virtually all books on the subject." -- L. Steven Zwerling New York University School of Continuing Education "This is a book which will stand out. It takes a genuinely fresh, integrated approach to a difficult and vexing problem. The authors develop a synoptic picture of education in the community college by tracing the ways in which that institution has been shaped. The authors present a convincing framework within which they can discuss the past failures of efforts at reform and put forward their own proposals." -- William M. Sullivan, LaSalle University; co-author Habits of the Heart "The concept of 'remedialization' of the community college is an important contribution to the understanding of community colleges. This work is appealing because it draws from and is influenced by a diversity of works in philosophy, education theory, organization theory, and literary analysis. I especially appreciate the fact that this book does not proselytize the community college credo nor politicize its function." -- Estela M. Bensimon, The Pennsylvania State University