Terry O’Banion
Tom Bailey and his colleagues at the Community College Research Center in their seminal work, Redesigning America’s Community Colleges, identified the “cafeteria curriculum” as a major barrier to student success noting “…The general studies curriculum is perhaps the most confusing and complex program for students to navigate.” Almost every community college in the nation lists a general education or core curriculum in the catalog following this statement: “The Core Curriculum is a set of courses that provides the knowledge, skills, and educational experiences needed to succeed in higher education.” Here are several examples of core curricula:
In a California community college, the catalog includes four different sets of requirements for general education degrees — already confusing for students. In the college’s general education requirements of 6 courses students must choose from among 217 different courses (one course from 46 in natural sciences, one from 47 in social and behavioral sciences, one from 79 in art, humanities, and culture, etc.).
In an Ohio community college, students must choose from 46 different courses in the arts and humanities to meet a three-course general education requirement, from 36 courses in the social sciences, and from 48 in math and science.
In a Texas community college, students are required to select five courses from among 78 courses in 3 different categories to meet general education requirements.
The curriculum is supposed to be the collective wisdom and expertise of the faculty about what is important for students to learn. Unfortunately, faculty have created jungles of courses through which students cannot navigate; and advisors cannot possibly guide students through these pathways of fractured, incoherent, programs that lack integrity. The cafeteria curriculum is ubiquitous in the nation’s community colleges as a structural barrier to success for all students, but for diverse students it is especially pernicious in its effect—a Maginot Line they seldom breach.
