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

(Hardback)

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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.

Reviews

"Finally we have an insider's perspective on the perils and possibilities of community colleges as social equalizers. Dr. Herideen presents a gripping portrayal of the struggles that community college students endure as they seek a modicum of the American Dream. By practicing the radical pedagogy of Paulo Freire and others, Dr. Herideen as teacher and researcher demonstrates how faculty and administration can better serve increasingly diverse community college students. This is a must read for all those concerned with understanding and unlocking the hidden potential of disparate learners."-Dr. David L. Levinson Associate Dean, Massachusetts Bay Community College
"Herideen's new book reveals the possibilities of self and social transformation in community college settings when critical pedagogy is re-figured to fit community college student realities."-Peter McLaren Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA
"Penelope Herideen understands something that is all too often forgotten and neglected, the class and gender realities of community colleges. Both Herideen's teaching, and the analysis in this book, go way beyond description, tackling the problem of transformation....If we are to create a new culture and politics, education must be an integral part of that, not only through changed ideas, but even more so through critical practices that challenge and modify existing structures. This book helps show the way."-Dan Clawson Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Author Bio

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