Community Colleges and the Future of the Humanities

Some see the study of Great Books as a privilege reserved for the elite. Austin Community College╒s first-year student success seminar The Great Questions Seminar and Hostos Community College╒s Columbia Common Core at Hostos seek to change that perception. Community college students not only deserve the same academic challenges offered at prestigious colleges and universities, they thrive when presented with them. Early academic engagement with challenging core texts helps frame college as a place where students go not only to acquire a credential essential for gainful employment but also to explore questions that are important to them as human beings. Through the discussion based study of authors like Homer, Plato, Machiavelli and DuBois, students learn the practice and skills necessary to speak clearly, read carefully, reason effectively, and think creatively, all of which create a solid foundation upon which they can build any academic major and profession they choose to pursue, as well as a life of engaged civic participation. In this session conference participants will engage with community college faculty/administrators and students as they actively explore the power of early academic engagement with core texts in the setting of the community college.