A Study In The Educational Function Of Transfer Of American Community College

American Community College, though occupies a basically low position in the American modern higher education system, has got its unique functions and commitments. Among its various education functions, Transfer education and professional education constitute its core function and fundamental mission. The transfer education of the American Community College consists of two components:to confer associates upon those who have successfully completed the required general education courses of Humanities, Social Science and Natural Science, which is a part of the baccalaureate program for a B.A. degree; and to frame the 2+2 articulation mechanism to help those with associates to transfer to work on his or her B. A. degree program in a university with the help of necessary procedures. Such features of the transfer education have helped safeguard the essential nature of community college as one of American higher education institutions, and done its bit to move forward the democratization and popularization of American higher education.The thesis is made up of an introduction and four chapters to investigate the transfer education of the American Community College.Introduction presents the source of the issue, the researches achieved so far by scholars at home and abroad, the theories employed in this thesis, its exploration logic and some of the related concepts.Chapter 1 outlines the origin and mutation of the transfer education of American community college. Originating together with the American community, American community college has helped quite a lot to achieve a seamless articulation between the training to make an associate and that to temper a bachelor, and paved an economical and convenient way for a community college graduate to pursue his or her B. A. degree program after having received his or her associate. Such a unique mechanism thus created has helped to make community college "a genuine college"Chapter 2 interprets in detail the practice of the 4-year baccalaureate universities members of New York State University and its 2-year college members including its community college members to achieve a seamless articulation for associates to transfer to universities to work for their Bachelors Degrees. The interpretation turns out such a practice can not only facilitate higher education institutions of different types, natures and at different levels to co-operate and to carry out their particular functions and commitments, and thus to achieve a reasonable disposition and deployment of educational resources, but also enables in way "the underprivileged ones" in the American society to strive for their equal rights for higher education, and to give a substantial impetus to the popularization and democratization of American higher education.General education is an essential component of the transfer education of a community college. The general education courses offered in Miami Dade Community College (MD-CC), Florida is quite representative among different models of general education practice prevalent in U.S. today. Chapter 3 deciphers such a course design in detail. The general education courses offered in MD-CC consist of four categories, i.e. Basic Skills, Core Courses, Distribution Courses and Elective Courses, each of which different subjects. The General Education Requirements by MD-CC, not only stipulates that a student working for an associate choose whatever courses he or she feels like to satisfy the total degree credits required for the degree, but also requires that the college carry out its commitment to provide necessary consultation and guidance, so that the students can take more initiative to select and take the courses designed in its General Education courses.Chapter 4 tentatively explores the possible revelations and references that the education practice of American community college can offer for us to reform and better the existing "practice for a higher vocational college student transferring to a four-year regular university for an advanced study", and to make it a unique "seamless articulation mechanism" to guide Chinese higher vocational college students to transfer to regular four-year baccalaureate universities to pursue their desired education: 1. Courses in higher vocational colleges in present China might be designed to better meet the needs of students while maintaining their academic and pragmatic natures; 2. An articulation between professional education and regular education might be ensured by means of a credit certification mechanism; 3. The narrow-minded locality-bound ideologies and long-rooted wrong understandings of a planned economy which has been exerting adverse impact upon the existing higher vocational college management might be abandoned; 4. The education goals of higher vocational colleges could be redesigned to better meet with the changed situation; and 5. Efforts might be made to help improve the existing higher vocational colleges in China into "community colleges" with Chinese features with the help of a reasonable choice to bring repetition to the possible least and to redeploy the educational resources available in higher professional college for utmost efficiency.