From the Academy

The Community-College Boondoggle

There are a half-dozen good junior colleges in the country, I think: no more. But the number of junior colleges is increasing rapidly. Nowadays it is fashionable to call them community colleges. At one time, their purpose was to give students the first two years of college on a humane scale, usually close to their homes, at modest cost; then, presumably, the students would proceed to “senior” colleges to obtain their degrees. Some people entertained high hopes of this movement, and Mr. Robert M. Hutchins, nearly two decades ago, proposed that the number of such junior colleges be immensely increased, to drain off from the good universities and senior colleges a mob of prospective students unqualified for advanced studies.

RK

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Russell Kirk

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The Community-College Boondoggle

There are a half-dozen good junior colleges in the country, I think: no more. But the number of junior colleges is increasing rapidly. Nowadays it is fashionable to call them community colleges. At one time, their purpose was to give students the first two years of college on a humane scale, usually close to their homes, at modest cost; then, presumably, the students would proceed to “senior” colleges to obtain their degrees. Some people entertained high hopes of this movement, and Mr. Robert M. Hutchins, nearly two decades ago, proposed that the number of such junior colleges be immensely increased, to drain off from the good universities and senior colleges a mob of prospective students unqualified for advanced studies.