March 28, 2014--Optical Systems Technology

Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY offers the certificate programs listed below. 



These are typical of those offered by nearly 1,000 community college nationwide. The only significant differences one finds when comparing Monroe's offerings with, say, West Los Angeles Community College's is that a few of the programs reflect their local economies and potential employment prospects.



Pretty much everywhere there is at least some need for dental assistants, restaurant workers, and security guards. But considering that Xerox and Corning are located near Monroe, custom-designed for these companies, the college offers courses in Optical Fabrication and Optical Systems Technology while at WLACC they offer a program in Aviation (the college is located near LAX airport) and Real Estate (we know about LA real estate!).

Monroe Community College Certificate Programs

Addictions Counseling

Automotive Training Apprentice Program

Computer Aided Design and Drafting

Criminal Justice: Corrections Administration

Criminal Justice: Law Enforcement

Culinary Arts

Dental Assisting

Early Care

Electronics Technology

Emergency Medical Services

Food Management

Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning

Hotel Management

Human Services

Interior Design

Law Enforcement

Mathematics

Office Technology Specialist

Office Technology: Medical Office Assistant

Optical Systems Technology

Paralegal Studies

Paramedic Certificate

Precision Machining: Optical Fabrication

Precision Tooling

Small Business Management

Solar Thermal Technology

Sustainability

Teaching Assistant: Adolescent

Teaching Assistant: Early Childhood/Childhood

Teaching Assistant: Technology

Tooling and Machining

Travel and Tourism

All things being equal, considering the state of the economy, and as a reflection of the kinds of offerings and training that Guest-Blogger Sharon suggested yesterday should be available for the non-college-bound student (a position I in many ways share), this would make a lot of sense and should receive the resources needed to assure that these programs are of high quality.


Sadly, far from in every case are things equal. 



At Monroe and WLACC, which is unfortunately typical, very few of these programs have ever been rigorously evaluated. We do not know, for example, how up-to-date they are in regard to the latest technologies or methodologies; and, perhaps more important for programs that are designed to prepare students for the world of work, beyond anecdotes, we do not know if graduates get the jobs they have been trained for and how well these courses and programs prepare them for the work that actually exists.



At Monroe, for example, if you click on Optical Systems Technology and look to see how graduates fare when it comes to employment, there is an asterisks (*) that states in effect that the college is "not required" to offer this data and thus they do not. One suspects that if the employment data were positive, the college would be eager to trumpet them. And why they are not required to see how well public money is being spent on these programs is a whole other story.



This does not blunt Guest-Blogger's main argument. She is right to call for high-quality programs of the sort that exist in Germany. 

We know that people enroll in and pay for these career programs, but we do not know if they work. This in spite of the resources that have been directed toward our community colleges and high school career programs.

March 27, 2014--We Can Never Go Back to Before

In response to a number of recent blogs in which I wrote about our public education system, guest blogger Sharon has a number of interesting perceptions and recommendations--

The March 25 blog, "Chem Lab," brought to mind my reaction to a sound byte I recently heard. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel briefly stated his goal is to make sure that every child in Chicago is college ready.

I'm not sure that's the right goal, unless he also meant community college and even then . . .

Here I cite an observation from a long-time teacher in Maine who from her experience concluded that most of the kids she encountered were just "average." Yes, there were kids who wanted help figuring out how they might be the first ones in their family to go to college, but unlike the hyper-competitive era we now live in, most of these kids aspirations and aptitudes were more modest.

So I thought, wouldn't a better goal for the Mayor and other leaders be to prepare these children for skills that would make them ready for the realities of today's job market?

And for some (many) this doesn't mean a B.A. with graduate school to follow. The cost alone is increasingly prohibitive.

Of course the larger challenge is to remove the "second best" stigma, a perception that I admit I've been guilty of.

Senior year of high school I chose not to take physics or calculus and instead took fashion design and merchandising courses and guiltily, since I was an academic track kid, made off with the top awards in both areas at graduation. In those days NYC high schools had academic, commercial and general tracks.

I really loved those classes, although no more than history, but a lot more than math and science. I got applications for FIT and Parsons but at 16, I got the message from friends and teachers that this would waste my academic promise and didn't apply.

But after a B.A. and graduate education in history, there were few openings for history professors then and for the next 20 years. Although still an advocate for a liberal arts education, given the economic realities of today (my first apartment's rent was $235 a month so paying back my loans wasn't tough) I wonder if my career path would have been clearer if I had completed the other applications and was accepted.

Relating training and education with employability and quality of life, I've encountered many small business owners: car repair, salon owners, restauranteurs, contractors, etc. living very comfortable lives without college degrees.

Yet I was especially surprised to read recently the comments of a young German woman noting that her college-bound friends didn't get why she would want to participate in a factory-based apprenticeship. These long-existing successful programs in Germany are now being considered in the U.S. as a possible answer to the skills gap and unemployment. Yet even in Germany peer and perhaps parental pushback exists.

Although I think the unequal deployment of resources is wrong morally and philosophically, sadly I think even if you could wave a magic wand and bring all facilities up to code, I don't believe it would change much. Not unlike the impact of technology and globalization on the economy, these forces too have made our traditional education structures obsolete. Many on the right and left are still thinking (or wishing) we could go back to before, at least the parts that seemed to work.

Instead of applying limited resources to buildings maybe there needs to be more channels for access and financial support to rescue kids from under-performing schools who do want to go to college and beyond as early as possible. I've seen a few very gifted and privileged kids who fell behind out of boredom when they were sent to schools with under-achieving children.

This brings to mind my last year of high school and my first and only experience with a teacher who couldn't control the class, who didn't want to be there, the shape of the things to come. I learned nothing. And this in a public school that produced senators and a Supreme Court justice. A few years later, but before metal detectors, kids were afraid to go to the bathroom.

Perhaps opportunity of access and a better fit for aspiration, drive, and ability would provide better results, rather than zip code and financial support. Danger and disruption to learning not only take place in failing schools. Bullying takes place in schools where kids have every advantage--one child was threatened that his house would be burned down if he told. Other children have told me they want to avoid a hyper-competitive atmosphere where there are a few suicides each year. The difference between them and the kids at Roosevelt is their parents can more easily remove them from the situation.

One of the reasons charter schools are popular is parents and students who care enough see them not only as a way out of their struggling public schools but a refuge from the scary kids who go there who are impeding their children’s progress and safety.

Creating a pathway for teachers who can spot and rescue the academically inclined kids and another for those who may not be so inclined, but are motivated and teachable, and getting them into more appropriate schools might be a start. It’s such a waste that bullies in better equipped schools get to squander their advantages while others have to enter lotteries to get their motivated kids into a better situation.

And with increasing income inequality where a few people own five houses and many can't even afford rent, I return to a comment made by Steven Zwerling’s dad, "What does happiness have to do with anything?"

We may have come to the end of a brief golden period where many of us sought careers that would be satisfying and not just a means to provide food, clothing and shelter. Maybe future generations who aren't technology whizzes for now will need to refocus on education and training commensurate with their potential before they have the luxury of a career path to happiness. And society needs a way to identify the children who can and want education and or training and make sure they are not penalized by where they live.

Thinking everyone wants to or can succeed on a path to college or better circumstances for all is thinking for another time. And what will become of the bullies and disaffected? There's a job waiting for them on Wall Street . . . .