ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the social and political issues pertinent to the debate on the community college baccalaureate. It examines the arguments, both in support of bachelor's degrees, and critical of four-year programs. The chapter discusses the baccalaureate within the context of community college history. The conversation surrounding the community college baccalaureate is focused on economic concerns, although, the discussion could easily run parallel to the broad debate that took place over the nature of high school curricula in the early part of the last century. The baccalaureate also affords us an occasion to discuss the role of education in society. Institutional mission, college-wide curriculum, and the teaching strategies that faculty use can and probably should focus on economics to some degree, but not for the purpose of producing trained and subordinate workers for regional businesses. The chapter concludes with a call for teachers and scholars to conceive the schools in cultural terms.
