Parents of Saline High School seniors set to graduate on June 3 are likely to remember the career aspirations given voices by their own classmates a generation ago. [1]
Circa 1994, Bill Clinton was early in his first term and it was exciting to think about work in the political arena. NASA was safely thirty-five shuttle missions post-Challenger, “the Internet was the next big thing in technology,” and “Y2K” had yet to justify massive increases in corporate IT budgets; STEM was in assention. A seemingly endless expanse in jobs for physicians and medical researchers were promised, too, safely pre-healthcare reform. [2,3,4,5,6,7]
The world of 2018 is vastly different.
Even longstanding claims of wanting to become a “doctor” or “lawyer” ring insufficient, the college or university to which anyone has now been admitted often says little or nothing anymore about who that student is expected to become.
“Lifelong learning” has evolved from curious notion to a prerequisite to survival.
“Society created a pecking order,” Dr Rose Bellanca told Saline Journal during an exclusive interview on the campus of Washtenaw Community College (WCC) this month. “That pecking order started with your degree. For a lot of people, college becomes the end because of this. They believe it means they don’t have to think about where they are going.
“Community colleges think it’s important to think of education like a highway: You get on, get what you need, then get off. Then your circumstances change, and you get back on again. You continue, because that’s never going to end. Things around you won’t stop changing.”
This could be readily appreciated during the April WCC “Automation Open House Larry L Whitworth Occupational Education Building. At one with legacy vehicle repair familiar to your grandparents’ shop class were advanced robotics and computer-driven controls that could easily serve on the production line of any modern global competitor. The employees of tomorrow will need to be hands-on effective with both. [8]
Community colleges are not only uniquely equipped to provide this kind of ongoing support — to both the workforce and the industries that employ them — but they are by definition a reflection of their local environs. Dr Bellanca pointed to the high bar in engineering set by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor SPARK as a tech incubator. [9,10]
“In Washtenaw County you have high expectations,” she said. “We’re held up to the UofM bar. We want to be ‘the UofM of community colleges.’
“This also means we have to be an economic driver. This means supporting the integration of manufacturing and IT.”
Throughout this interview, Dr Rose Bellanca spoke in terms of collaboration and balance. While clearly against the stereotypical and easily refuted view of university metriculation as the only path to career success after high school, she eschews an equally concerning bent toward the trades.
Washtenaw Community College doesn’t compete with any Washtenaw County university; rather, it actively collaborates with them.
“If you’re intelligent and can work with your hands, you can make a lot of money. We may not use the same labels, but machine trades become highly proficient in math, physics, geometry, and calculus. You’re life and mine depend on those men and women getting that right in their jobs all the time.
“Everybody Isn’t Cut Out for Trade Work.” And Saline will certainly benefit from those among the Class of 2018 who are.
References
- “Average Age Of First-Time Moms Keeps Climbing In The US” Rae Ellen Bichell (January 14, 2016) NPR.
- “William J Clinton” White House.
- “Challenger: Reporting a Disaster’s Cold, Hard Facts” Howard Berkes (January 28, 2006) NPR.
- “Everything You Needed to Know About the Internet in May 1994” Harry McCracken (September 29, 2013) Time.
- “1994: ‘Today Show’: ‘What is the Internet, Anyway?” Chrissy Miklacic (January 28, 2015) YouTube.
- “Remember Y2K? Here’s How We Prepped for the Non-Disaster” Lily Rothman (December 31, 2014) Time.
- “Signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (March 23, 2010) Barack Obama Presidential Library.
- “What Cities Need to Know about Consumer Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles” Dell Deaton (March 30, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Got job skills? Michigan needs you” John Gallagher (February 16, 2016) Detroit Free Press.
- “Construction and Extraction Occupations” (April 13, 2018) Bureau of Labor Statistics.
