I finally figured out why it is that I've been so frustrated and confused by my colleagues' behavior in the community college. The community colleges in my state are directed by the Department of Education, just as k-12 schools are, and they are organizationally the same. Teachers are called professors and vice principals are called deans, but there is no faculty governance, no faculty oversight in hiring (a dean with a degree in chemistry hires professors of math, and deans with degrees in history will hire professors of philosophy), faculty are completely devoid of any power and are not treated as equals but rather subordinates, and that's exactly the way things are set up in k-12 schools (even though faculty are required to have masters degrees in their subject area and not in education). The legislature rules it, the administrators "administer the legislation", and the faculty are just factory workers carrying out the orders of the day. Challenge to authority is looked down upon and so is questioning policy. "This is a college", my ass. I work at a glorified high school. I honestly think it should be called a "post-secondary school" I think that more accurately describes it rather than call it a "community college". What ever happened to the democracy in this nation after the industrial revolution is beyond me - democracy was usurped by dictatorship of the State and Capital. I work at an institution of the "Department of Workforce Preparation" (I'm not kidding) that calls itself a "college". I'm glad to hear that education is seen as a means of creating the productive laborer. Did I mention dictatorship of State and Capital (I chose the conjunction and for a reason)?