Frederick Community College Facilities Master Plan Chapter 1 Overview of the College 1-3 May, 2023 community college, Joliet Junior College, was begun in 1901 as an experimental postgraduate high school program as the “brain child” of J. Stanley Brown, Superintendent of Joliet Township High School, and William Rainey Harper, President of the University of Chicago.5 From the outset, community colleges were an extension of the Morrill Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890, both responses to America’s industrialization. Community colleges provided access to education and training to lower division coursework beyond high schools while principally using high school facilities when available. The Local Education Agency (LEA) [nee: local school boards] oversaw the governance and operations of community colleges focusing on adult basic education, transfer programs and vocational training.6 In 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights, providing financial assistance for veterans of World War II. The Truman Commission report of 1947 transformed U.S. higher education from an instrument for ‘intellectual elites’ to the means by which every citizen, youth, and adult is enabled and encouraged to pursue higher learning.7 By the 1960’s, the comprehensive community college model was created.8 During the 1970’s community colleges continued rapid growth with greater emphasis on economicdevelopment activities in preparation for the pending impact of high technology. This led to the 1980’s emphasis on specialized training, customized training and vocation-oriented study as a precursor for career and technical education (CTE) programs of study. In 1988, the Report of the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges clarified ‘community’ to mean both a geographical location and a climate for learning. Emphasizing learning, 5 https://jjc.edu/about-jjc/history 6 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876835.pdf 7 https://www.diverseeducation.com/opinion/article/15288858/th e-important-history-of-community-colleges teaching, and college completion the report stated: “The national college completion agenda has focused funders, communities, and government on community colleges and the goal to double the number of students who complete, with market- place value, a certificate or an associate degree, or who transfer to earn a bachelor’s degree in the next two decades. Achievement of this completion agenda requires: A systematic transformation of community colleges to create a new seamless and integrated system that begins in high school or at points where adults enter the community college pipeline and extends to college completion. A commitment to support staff development and engage adjunct faculty because every community college employee facilitates learning and moving students towards completion. A program of study with “instructional program coherence” that includes general education and liberal education, in addition to career training, to provide students the common core knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be successful.”9 The national discourse created a false dichotomy between the thesis that favors teaching versus the antithesis that favored learning. From this came a new synthesis that suggests: “The purpose of teaching is improved and expanded learning. Improved learning is the outcome of effective teaching.”10 This left the third pillar of the report for exploration, college completion with a market8 https://www.chronicle.com/article/community-college-faqwhats-a-comprehensive-community-college 9 http://www.3cmediasolutions.org/sites/default/files/LearningTea chingAndCollegeCompletionAACC.pdf 10 Ibid.
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