ABSTRACT
The community college is an American institution. In the meantime, however, officials from both political parties became resigned to the idea that community colleges function best when they focus on occupational training as opposed to the liberal arts. The move away from the liberal arts and toward job training advanced without a thorough consideration of the implications or alternatives. Community colleges reflected broader cultural patterns by stressing education for the sake of equipping students with the ability to address questions of political and economic justice. Community colleges receive little public attention, but in early US history national leaders held deep discussions on the subject of social institutions and their function. Eighteenth-century colonial societies were stratified, and Hamilton came to see political and economic inequality as a result of natural distinctions between members of differing social classes. Political power would be taken from the hands of working people, and democratic ends would be subordinated to the goals of commerce.
