Many events have contributed to the development and continued growth of community colleges. The social and economic climate of the early twentieth century led to vocal activists for a two year educational alternative to four year higher education institutions. Several different groups advocated for community colleges in the early twentieth century, including students and parents, educators, businesses, state universities, and government officials. Events like urbanization, industrialization, and economic development caused changes in society. One of education’s responses to a country in transition was the junior college.
Several different movements supported the creation of community colleges, including local community support of public and private two year institutions, the expansion of the public education system, increased professional standards for teachers, the vocational education movement, and an expanding demand for adult and community education. Numerous colleges and universities advocated for the development of junior colleges. Leadership felt small, private liberal arts colleges and high schools could provide the first two years of college while larger universities could focus resources on research and junior and senior level students.
Early community colleges
“The two-year college has been a distinctively American creation, and nowhere else has it attained such prominence.” J. L. Ratcliff.suggests one perspective for the presence of American two-year post secondary institutions of the past century: they began in the private sector after the Panic of 1894. J M Carroll, president of Baylor University, made a pragmatic suggestion to solve the problem of too many Baptist colleges with insufficient funds and not enough students to support them: reduce the smaller Baptist colleges’ curriculum to the freshman and sophomore years. After this preliminary period, Baylor University would accept the two year students and provide the junior and senior years of their academic plan. Dr. Carroll believed this fragmentation of a student’s degree seeking path could remedy the depressed college situations by requiring a smaller group of faculty and fewer resources for the first two years of higher education. Such planning would not reduce the existing number of institutions or the roles they had developed in the communities where they were founded—only the length of enrollment on the campuses. This measure was a proactive response to accommodate a continued trend analysis of low enrollment and assure the economical operation of all the Baptist institutions. Also, the catastrophic economic repercussions to the industries and businesses of the towns where the smaller colleges were located would be minimized.
Before this innovation of two-year campuses with transfer missions in the private sector, a few public institutions before 1850 offered two years of college: Lasell Junior College in Auburndale, Massachusetts and Vincennes University of Vincennes, Indiana. Dr. Helland cites a section from the 1899 Vincennes University catalog, in which these statements are found: “The Vincennes University occupies a unique position in the educational field. It is half-way between the commissioned high school and the full-fledged college: it is in fact a junior college.” Many of the early public community colleges were an extension of high schools, like the first established, Joliet Junior College, in 1901. This was a two year system compared to one year high school extension. These initial community colleges generally were very small (usually fewer than 200 students) and focused on a liberal arts education with the goal of transferring students to four year institutions. They were more reflective of high school needs and lacked a definite identity. These examples of two year structure innovations with transfer missions in the private and public sector provided a pragmatic approach for the preservation of existing institutions.
Many of the early community colleges were normal schools and prepared teachers. Primary emphasis was placed on traditional middle class values and developing responsible citizens. Normal Schools began in Massachusetts in the 1880s as extensions of local high schools. They were originated to meet the need for teacher preparation. For example, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, a Normal School was added to the local high school to provide a career track for women who wanted to teach. Mr. Whiteford, the area’s district superintendent, inquired of the University of Missouri to determine if credits from Saint Joseph Normal School could transfer into a baccalaureate program. The University’s President Dr. Hill acknowledged the request and provided for the articulation. Coincidently, Dr. Hill was actively involved in the American Association of Universities and calling for the establishment of junior colleges for this purpose. In Minnesota, St. Paul’s Public School District established a “City Training School” for preparing teachers. The 1883 school’s mission was to provide certified teachers and substitutes for the district. Mrs. M. E. Jenness from the Normal School at River Falls, Wisconsin was the St. Paul School’s first principal; Mrs. N. F. Wheaton was the Director of Practice. Wheaton had been employed at the Oshkosh Normal School in Wisconsin. In Minneapolis, a Normal Training School was instituted in the fall of 1887. Miss Adele Evers of Manchester Normal School in New Hampshire was appointed the first teacher; she was one of six candidates for the position. Evers’ references included work at Martha’s Vineyard and Saratoga.
During the 1920s and 1930s there was a shift in the purpose of community colleges to developing a workforce, which was influenced by wide unemployment during the Great Depression. Developing "semiprofessionals" became dominant national language to describe junior college students. The notion that engineers and supervisors make primary decisions about what and how activities were to be done in the workplace provided the origins for employees needed to carry out their decisions. This need for a class of workers to implement the decisions of the theoreticians demanded an educational delivery system other than the traditional four-year college or university. The closed shop of the artisan which had initially provided workers was no longer the educational program of choice. Nationally, a new two-year vehicle for educating the industrial worker found its launching within the secondary public school system under the leadership of local school districts.
Baltimore’s Manual Training High School opened in 1884, was the first separate secondary school for education that was specifically work orientated. The Maryland institution was unique as a stand-alone campus. Other examples of sub-baccalaureate programs were the University Preparatory School and Junior College of Tonkawa. The result of the two- year schools founded in Oklahoma Public School Secondary System in 1902, both institutions later merged in 1914 and became the Oklahoma Institute of Technology. Dean Schneider of the University of Cincinnati developed an alternative high school with a cooperative plan where students spent one week in an occupation and the other in school. Industry provided the shop experiences and the classroom facilitated the academic. There were also non-cooperative high schools; two examples were the Girl’s Vocational High School in Kansas City, Missouri and the Delgado Trade School in New Orleans. A two-year, terminal education, was seen as more socially efficient for students who could advance past high school but not continue to attain bachelor's degrees. This national vocational movement was seen to give junior colleges a target population, but numerous students wanted more than a semiprofessional education; many maintained a desire to transfer. Throughout this time period, there was a move for more public two-year institutions along with a trend to separate from high schools and affiliate with higher education. With the change in affiliation came a new status which encouraged junior colleges to develop additional credibility through the creation of professional criteria and use of scientific methods.
Cold War era
After World War II, the G.I. Bill afforded more educational opportunity to veterans which resulted in increased enrollments. Another factor that led to growth was the rise of adult and community education. After World War II, community colleges were seen as a good place to house continuing education programs. The 1947 Truman Commission was a very important national document for community colleges. It suggested a network of public community colleges that would provide education to a diverse group of students at little or no cost along with serving community needs through a comprehensive mission.
This national network exploded in the 1960s with 457 community colleges and the enrollment of baby boomers. A series of grants through the Kellogg Junior College Leadership Programs helped train many community college leaders during this decade. Growth continued during the 1970s when many enrolled to escape the Vietnam era draft. The 1970s also marked a shift to faculty development, including more instructional training for the unique student body and mission of community colleges. During the 1980s, community colleges began to work more closely with high schools to prepare students for vocational and technical two year programs.
By the end of the 20th century, all two-year institutions were playing important roles in higher education as access mechanisms. They became an integral feature for those persons who were attending higher education for the first time or as non-traditional students. Brint and Karabel have recognized the change that transpired from 1920 when fewer than 2 percent of all college freshmen were enrolled in a two-year college to the late 1980s when over 50% were matriculated. Junior colleges once located in high schools had left their origins to develop their own campuses and were called community colleges and still retained the transfer access mission. High school normal schools matured into teacher colleges or colleges of education within universities offering bachelor and graduate degrees. Industrial institutes integrated with local junior colleges to make these campus’s programs more comprehensive community colleges. Along with this growth and legitimization of two-year mechanisms for the delivery of higher education, the emergence of two-year institutions provided an epistemological debate that divided the river of education flowing into the early 20th century into three streams of educational natures. “In the process of this struggle and adjustment some colleges will grow stronger, some will become academies, some junior colleges; the high schools will be elevated to a still more important position than that which they now occupy. The general result will be the growth of a system in the higher educational work of the United States, where now no system exists.”
1990s and 2000s
In recent history, a debate between the advocates and critics of community colleges has gained strength. Advocates argue community colleges serve the needs of society through providing college opportunity to students who otherwise cannot go to college, training and retraining mid level skilled workers, and preserving the academic excellence of four year universities. Critics argue community colleges continue a culture of privilege through training business workers at public expense, not allowing working class children to advance in social class, protecting selective admissions at four year institutions for the nation's elite, and discouraging transfer through cooling out. Whether community colleges give opportunity or protect privilege, their century-long history has developed a distinctive aspect of higher education. Although the growth of community colleges has stabilized in recent history, enrollment continues to outgrow four year institutions. A total of 1,166 loosely linked community colleges face challenges of new technological innovations, distance learning, funding constraints, community pressure, and international influence. Some of the issues currently faced are explored in community college resources compiled by the Association for Career and Technical Education.
Timeline of important events
1901: Joliet, Illinois added fifth and sixth year courses to the high school curriculum leading to the development of the first public junior college, Joliet Junior College.
1920: American Association of Junior Colleges established.
1930: First publication of the Community College Journal.
1944: Passage of the Federal G.I. Bill of Rights
1947: Publication of Higher Education for American Democracy by the President's Commission on Higher Education (the 1947 Truman Commission).
1965: Higher Education Act of 1965 established grant programs to make higher education more accessible.
1992: The American Association of Junior Colleges changed their name to the American Association of Community Colleges.