A couple days ago, I was checking my Twitter feed to catch up on the US Department of Education’s Innovation Summit. One remark caught my eye. Jeff Selingo, from The Chronicle, reported the following comment by Under Secretary Martha Kanter: “Ed innovation is about what kind of democracy we want, not just jobs.” This one tweet really hit a chord as it was re-tweeted dozens and dozens of times (including by me). Why? I think it was because it gets to the very heart of why our work is so very important.
One of my favorite quotes about the value of education comes from Yale Law Professor and novelist, Stephen L. Carter. Years ago, at of all places a SACS accreditation conference, he gave an impassioned argument on liberal education, noting that it was created to help citizens make “right use of liberty.” In his remarks, Carter was recalling Thomas Jefferson’s famous argument for accessible, high quality public liberal education: “Those persons, whom nature has endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens; and . . . they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or other accidental condition or circumstance." In other words, liberal education is that most elusive of things: a true public good.
Liberal here means “broad” (a word also often used by Jefferson), wide reaching: an education that provides not just content but also context and perspective that deepens the learning experience and enriches the learner’s quality of life. Extending the comparison attributed to Under Secretary Kanter: it is essential that we provide public access to the means to learn, understand, and engage more, as well as the means to find a career. Not to sound too lofty, but our ability to successfully achieve some innovative balance across all four is probably the key not just to the future of public higher education but to the future quality of our (little d) democracy. Stealing a phrase from Jefferson, this might be our “sacred deposit” to “guard.”
MCC, as a community college, finds a call to balance in our mission, and it finds its way onto the campuses in exciting and innovative ways. Some examples:
- Last week as we celebrated SUNY’s groundbreaking DOL grant, connecting students with life-changing career pathways, we also hosted National Voter Registration Day events as one of the initial signatories to the Democracy Commitment.
- As we launch a one-credit hour career exploration course within our community, we also welcome one of Rochester’s most treasured cultural assets, the RPO, for a free concert at MCC.
- Our newest class of Alumni Hall of Fame members includes a Vice President and Dean of Students at Mount Holyoke, a CFO, and two CEOs—one of whom “moonlights” teaching art at MCC.
- Our students are hired by over 300 companies and make the President’s Honor Roll for Service Learning. They transfer to RIT and Amherst. They help lead global businesses and neighborhood development associations.
This balancing act is but one reason community colleges are both lauded in Forbes for their “innovation” and called “democracy’s colleges” by the White House. It’s why and how we value both career pathways and liberal education. They are not mutually exclusive. Together, they make a stronger whole.
Where do you see the balance between career pathways and liberal education at MCC? Share your observations on the blog.
Anne M. Kress
President's Office
10/03/2012 |