Teddy’s Reading Log #2 for 03.21.2010

Posted by on March 22, 2010 
Filed under Reading logs

Teddy’s Reading Log #2 for 03.21.2010

For class session 03.23.2010

 Scholarship truly matters! This second article describes the current efforts to deny faculty at community colleges the fruits of academic citizenship. Their right to fulfill responsibilities of scholarship in their institutions, disciplines and in higher education should quickly warrant an immediate round-table discussion with college presidents, community leaders and state officials to remove such unfair barriers. According to Prager (2003), the sector claim to a unique teaching mission has been used to exempt or exclude community college faculty from the scholarly obligations and responsibilities understood elsewhere in higher education. By discouraging externally validated scholarship, community colleges deny their faculty an appropriate voice. In turn, this denies all external agency access to that voice. Community college teachers educate nearly 40% of all college students and almost half of all first time freshmen. It would be wise to provide significant scaffolding for these two-year institutions and critically think about how they can be enhanced and used to energize the workforce. Excluding them could prove to be detrimental for future applications. More than likely, we may need their assistance to resolve both local and global matters of catastrophic proportions.

Community colleges have a long history as institutions of teaching. Therefore, their faculties are not thought of as producers of scholarly work or geared to focus on much of anything else. Community colleges are known for their strict concentration on student learning, giving students skills that will make them want to learn and they do that job well! Their instructors are extremely committed and take to heart the success or failure of their clients. They are often referred to as schools of second or lesser choice. As a result, community colleges are tagged with the stigma of being lowly-rated, stand-by schools for undergraduate students having little success in academic settings. Those of us who have taught in community colleges know that this is far from the truth. Instructors of community colleges are highly rated by their students as being of high quality. In fact, many instructors teach at both two-year and four year facilities. The only real difference is in tuition!

Scholarship is rarely included in community college mission statements. They have not institutionalized scholarship, instead, they have very cleverly positioned themselves as organizations where teachers are not expected to conduct research or pursue other scholarly venues. Such policies serve to disadvantage or deny faculty of existing remnants of tenure and promotion. It makes it very difficult for faculty to achieve the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, the scholarship application and of course, the scholarship of teaching. The connection between teaching and scholarship is critical to expanding the inclusion of community college faculty as essential contributors to the scholarship of teaching and learning movement in higher education. I am thorough convinced that it is the responsibility of all to ensure that all college teachers are given the opportunity and responsibility to conduct research as teachers of younger scholars who aspire to educate, publish and make inquiry of current and future topics.

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