Mike Rose points out that this is a crucial moment in the history of education in the United States. On one hand, Americans see a rhetoric of College for All, and pressure to get more racial minorities and low-income students into higher education, while the high school dropout rate stays stubbornly high near 30%. There is another rhetoric, about…

As long as there have been public schools, there have been reformers of public schools. All too often, they have insisted on sweeping changes; enamored of their bold, new idea, they haven't considered whether anything established ought to endure. The result? A century of faddish ideas, but little real progress. Among today's most vocal reformers…

This article presents the authors' critique of lessons proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The authors initiate a discussion about content that they hope will play out in schoolhouses and statehouses across the country. They take on a different task: they present a handful of lesson ideas from P21 that could enhance studies…

This paper focuses on the discussion of community colleges as baccalaureate-degree granting institutions. The discussion is based on research projects undertaken in both the U.S. and Canada that investigate the institutionalization of degree programs at community colleges. Colleges in British Columbia and Alberta are baccalaureate as well as…

This paper advocates the community college bachelor's degree (BA). The author presents the Canadian system as a possible model for the emerging United States trend toward community college BA programs. He argues that the U.S. binary educational system is vertical, separating institutions according to levels of learning, while the European and…

One possible explanation for Australia's technical and further education's (TAFE's) defensiveness in its relationship with higher education is its lack of a secure definition since its foundation by the Kangan committee. Perhaps vocational education could found its identity on another characteristic. Neither an analysis of various definitions of…

Contrary to expectations a decade ago, the United States has not buried the dichotomy between vocational education and academic education. Instead, as shown by the publication of the report, "A Nation at Risk," the academic community is again declaring war on the vocational education establishment. This report, which stresses the need…