I have mentioned the proprietary schools in this blog several times before. They are without doubt one of the biggest reasons why your department is losing enrollments. These for-profit schools are doing well enrollment-wise since they not only promote and sell better than the community colleges, but also because they do a better job of targeting the jobs and industries. Despite the fact that these programs cost two to six times more than typical public community college tuition, students sign up by the droves. Why? Because the schools help them get jobs.
And isn't that what graduates want, jobs? They don't necessarily want an education but it is part of the price you have to pay to get the job. As academics we tend to believe all students are motivated by the desire to learn and get that mythical liberal education. Delusional as we are, in fact, what motivates students is money and that requires a job and that, in turn, means at least some education. I had a student put it in perspective for me one time. He said, Lou, if I pass this course, I graduate and get the degree. Now I can get the job. And then at last I will be able to buy the new pickup and boat. That says it all. Proprietary schools play to that mentality. We in the community colleges do not. No wonder our enrollments are down.
My daughter just recently graduated from a proprietary school where she went to be a chef. I won't mention the school, but they are well known and they do an excellent job. And they are VERY expensive. They do help you get a job. But the bad news is that they literally flood the market with new chefs. All of their grads are highly skilled and do superb work. But there are not enough jobs out there at the level to which they are educated to absorb them. So they literally crank out dozens of new highly qualified grads several times a year into unemployment. And they just keep doing it, of course, to keep their income and profit growing.
So while I fuss at the proprietary schools for this practice, I suppose that the community colleges would do the same thing if they had a continuing stream of students wanting to learn that field. During the semiconductor manufacturing boom, I saw community colleges cranking out fab techs for which there were no jobs. Back in the early 90's I saw colleges graduating robotics techs in droves for which there were no jobs except in Japan. They whole thing is irresponsible. But how do you balance or control that? Do you say to a student wanting to learn to be a chef or whatever that we cannot accept him or her because there are no jobs. No. We cannot and do not say that no matter what, public or proprietary school. What a problem.
What the proprietary schools do really well is teaching their specialty. They focus on it and do it well. At my daughter's school, the labs and kitchens are world class. Modern, clean and big. Everything is stainless steel and high end appliances. In the community colleges we would be so lucky to have such facilities. This really shows up when a student goes to visit schools to make a choice. It impressed me when I went with my daughter. The proprietary school labs were so much better than the local community college that it was a no brainer.
The chef school has the students attend 5 hours a day 5 days a week. A brutal schedule. And most of it is hands-on. They learn by doing. Of course there are "theory" classes but they make up a smaller part of the curriculum. The grads come out with many hours of real world hands- on experience. Not just a bunch of classroom hours. How I wish we could construct an electronics curriculum for techs like this. Techs need more good hands-on experience with equipment and less math and theory. Oh yes, we need some math and theory, but not as much as we give them now.
Wouldn't it be great to create a new curriculum and approach to teaching electronic techs? I do. It would be fun. Out of the box thinking all the way. A major stumbling block would be the big bucks for labs. It would be so far afield that most of you who are traditionalist to the max would kill it straight away. If it is not as you learned it or as you do it now, it must not be any good. I can hear it now. Such a program would not articulate with BSET programs. But so what? Most grads don't go that route anyway. They want jobs and industry wants competent employees. Yet, you insist on doing the same old thing year after year and wonder how come enrollments are going down. Duh....?? It is that attitude that keeps departments from moving ahead and from building enrollments. When will we ever break out of this situation? No one in academia is willing to do something so drastic. That's why all the innovation will come from proprietary schools who are not hampered with such dated thinking. And that is why they will increasingly continue to take away enrollments from you.
Think about that.
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