Policy, Pedagogy, and Social Inequality - Community College Student Realities in Post-Industrial America

Drawing extensively from critical educational theory, feminist perspectives and the writings of community college insiders as well as from her three years of classroom research, Professor Herideen develops the concept of Critical Mainstreaming. This educational model transcends traditional dichotomies such as vocational vs. liberal arts education and educating for critical consciousness vs. training for upward mobility. Critical Mainstreaming provides a unique pedagogy designed to maximize educational and career success for nontraditional students. Her work challenges the current wave of higher educational reform proposed by policymakers such as President Clinton and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich by showing the limitations of the human capital model for education. Dr. Herideen proposes structural and instructional innovations so that educators, administrators, and policymakers can remedy rather than reproduce existing social inequities.

Despite the fact that 39% of the nation's college students attend community colleges, there is almost no literature using student voices to explore the dilemmas of nontraditional students. This book is unique because it combines macro and micro sociological analysis by blending the insights of community college insiders with the abstract principles proposed by critical theorists. Through a theoretically based experimental approach to education for the less privileged, Professor Herideen shows the strengths and limitations of a variety of educational models.

List of contents

Series Foreword by Henry A. Giroux
Introduction: Democracy, Capitalism, and the Community College
The Impact of Educational Reform on Nontraditional Students
Rethinking Reform Through Counterdiscourses
The Cross-National Influence on My Methodology
Community College Culture and Fatigued Realities
Grounding Critical Pedagogy
The Classroom Outside the Classroom
Critical Mainstreaming for Learning and Earning
Bibliography
Index

About the author

PENELOPE E. HERIDEEN currently teaches and researches educational issues at Holyoke Community College. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Northeastern University.

Product details

• Authors: Penelope E. Herideen, Herideen Penelope E.
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 19.11.1998
• EAN: 9780897895934
• ISBN: 978-0-89789-593-4
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies, EDUCATION / Educational Psychology, EDUCATION / Special Education / General, EDUCATION / Learning Styles, Educational psychology, Social issues & processes, United States of America, USA, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Teaching of students with different educational needs, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Social and ethical issues, Higher & further education, tertiary education, Higher education, tertiary education, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Biracial & Multiracial Studies, EDUCATION / Schools / Levels / Higher, Current Events and Issues: Education