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Tom Campbell

Connecting Education and Employment Jan 12th

by Tom Campbell // Comments

This sounds like a hugely valuable program from Gene Judson (below), who I recently connected with on Facebook. The connection between education and employability has to be clear, and constantly reinforced. One way of doing so is to clearly identify job skillsets so that California’s community colleges can design the best fitting curriculum.
-Tom

“Last week, you responded to my Facebook message about my work to help more community college students stay in school and graduate. I have started FirstDegree to create tools students can use to motivate themselves.

Most programs simply try to make school easier, but I’m trying to make a better connection between education and employment by showing that school is worth it. Most value statements about community college education are general… X amount of dollars over a lifetime… X amount of jobs being created in X industry. While these messages entice entrance to community college, they are not motivational enough to help many students persist.

The current graduation rate in California is about 20%…

I want you to help by sending the message in your campaign that the current situation of “Black Hole” education at California community colleges is going to be fixed during a Tom Campbell administration.

As an economist, you can appreciate that there need to be more incentives for colleges to put more resources towards graduating more students. Propose something like this:

Colleges over X% (30% by my count) graduation rate over a three year period get a 200$ per FTES (.5% general fund) bonus. Colleges who show progress of X% (5% over prior year) get a .5% over enrollment cap bonus from prior year and .5% towards coming year. The idea is that if they are keeping more students engaged and on track due to success, they will go over cap, and therefore be compensated/rewarded for success.”

Contact Tom
  • richardhg
    I am a New Zealander living in the Bay Area, and I did my degree (Economics and Accounting double-major, emphasis on business systems) in Auckland, NZ in the early 1970's. At this time, computers were becoming important tools in industry, and the small size of New Zealand meant that, in those times of very rapid evolution of new real-time reporting, business methods were changing fast.

    The reason I got an amazing education at the leading edge was because the Government, who owned all the colleges, listened intently to industry and what their requirements were of college graduates, and the courses were a fine mix of necessary history (law and commercial law) and leading-edge technology. I learned to program (rather horribly) in COBOL, Fortran, and Algol (yes, punch cards, which became mark-sense with much faster thruput). :)

    The recession-about-to-become-depression in California is driven by the fundamental disconnect between what colleges teach, and what industry is going to need for the future. Yes, some of the finest colleges in the world are right here in California, but the people making the best use of them are foreign graduates doing post-grad work, probably destined for employment elsewhere in the world.

    So a change in style for education (snotty intellectual princesses who would never grubby their hands or stoop to listening to the crass commercial world) is rather essential for the future of Californian colleges, particularly when it is industry that will be paying the taxes (PAYE and corporate) that will continue to fund college excellence.
  • travelingfeet
    Oh great another great crusader who wants to run for president next term.
    Tom save us the bull and pass the ketchup.
  • I have to disagree...

    Maybe the fact that college graduation rates are abysmal suggests that too many people are going to school (not too few).

    Maybe the fact that students have to wait in line to get community college classes suggests that the prices are too low (remember supply & demand).

    The smartest people I know didn't go to college. Many of the worlds greatest talents and entrepreneurs were self-made.

    After elementary reading, writing, and arithmetic... there is little moral justification for public-socialist education in a free country.
  • richardhg
    Unfortunately, the US is hindered by its secondary education system. The idea of dumbing kids down until they are 18, streaming very few intellectually gifted into special schools, really misses the point of education.

    Why not start streaming those that are not academically gifted into their area of interest earlier. Like, at 15, give the kids who want to take up a career in anything from journalism to plumbing, motor mechanic to programmer, a chance to get into courses that will prepare them for their future.

    As the American system currently stands, the education system is an expensive waste of money after the age of 14, and I agree absolutely that once the reading writing arithmetic phase is over, kids should be streamed into the skills that will make them good taxpayers for the future.

    The New Zealand Government found that properly spent education dollars showed a long-term compound rate of return of 11%. Their emphasis on education was purely mercenary. In California, education has been torpedoed by the teachers unions and other special interests. If this is not the time for change, then it is time to turn California into a dumbed-down tourist destination and teach tray-carrying and drink-serving in school.
  • MartinJeffries
    In regards to connecting education to employment I found the ideas sound. I would also like to suggest that local business participate with the community college to help define the jobs that will be necessary and offer something useful that can be used immediately. So often, the student is directed to a path that focuses on a four year degree and after two years of study, the student still isn't prepared to enter the work force. The local companies can participate and help the students that will become their future workforce, but they might need incentives also.
    Another concern is the high cost of books, both at the elementary, middle and high schools. At BYU most of the books are online. Rather than paying $124.00 each for a math book, the state could purchase a license for the material and publish on line.
  • elmocoso
    Tom,

    re: "One way of doing so is to clearly identify job skillsets so that California’s community colleges can design the best fitting curriculum"

    I would assume we already have a clearly identified job skillset - engineering, specifically software and related fields required within Silicon Valley. All top schools are impacted, so increasing focus and throughput at the CC level does nothing other than to drive those students to programs outside of CA. Meanwhile, large employers lobby for an increase in H1-B Visas because of the 'shortage' of US skill sets.

    Would love to hear some ideas of how demand (tech firms) can partner with suppliers (schools) to increase engineering throughput. Why not offer targeted tax incentives for tech firms to underwrite expansion of engineering programs?
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