The People’s Colleges and Economic Development; Or, The Changing Meaning of Access: Or ??

In 1958, when the Guilford Industrial Education Center was opened, jobs in agriculture were disappearing in the state. Industrialization was the future, but people coming off the farms needed a way to make the transition to this new economy. They had to learn the factory skills required by the industries that met the demands of the post-war US and world economies for manufactured goods – in North Carolina, that was textiles, furniture, and tobacco products. North Carolina adopted a state policy of focusing on people – making it possible for citizens to acquire the needed skills – through local community colleges statewide. That gave the state an edge over the rest of the agricultural south. North Carolina and the states that copied our focus on education and training soon outpaced those that did not make that investment.

North Carolina had leaders who really cared about ordinary people. They recognized that economic development isn’t real unless the majority of the people have a chance to participate and benefit. They also cared that the people have a chance for the education in reading, writing, math – and history, government, and the arts – that would make them informed citizens with the potential to continue learning and changing as the economy changed…and community colleges were established in North Carolina. The challenges were keeping up with the demand for more colleges, access near the people, in every community, and equipping the colleges with the machinery and expertise that was the era’s cutting age.

Today the state is making another transition -- from the industrial age to the information age. Once again, community colleges are called upon to facilitate that transition. Access today means more than geographic location near the people. Access also means affordability for those on the bottom of the economic ladder whose incomes have stagnated for decades. It means staying up with technology that is relevant to the modern services industries – health care (nursing, pharmacology, physical therapy, medical offices, surgical technology, and more), logistics, computer technology, modern computer-operated machine tools, computer-based graphic arts, computerized auto engines, modern crime and fire fighting techniques, etc.

Today access means more – it means insuring that more youth and underprepared adults actually learn the skills that will fit them for the new economy. It means educating more people to make the transition to a four-year education and beyond, since the demands of the workplace have become so much more complex. It means doing everything we can do to insure that once into college, students achieve success – attainment of the skills they desire and the capacity for earning that will support their families.

In the end, the future prosperity of all citizens in our state rests on the success community colleges have with this task. A society in which citizens can participate fully as productive citizens and productive members of the workforce is successful. A society where parents can earn enough for their families to prosper and children thrive is successful. Community colleges are still the best investment for North Carolina’s people.

Dr. Kathryn Baker Smith is Vice President for Educational Support Services at Guilford Technical Community College.