To the Editor:
“What the Public Really Thinks About Higher Education” (The Chronicle, September 5) is largely based on a false assumption.
I read your article with a certain amount of frustration. Please understand: my frustration is not directed at the reporter, but rather at the continuing over-arching assumption the public holds that “college” can only mean a four-year institution. Even the Chronicle’s survey reinforces this assumption by the forced choices within the survey, and in particular the item titled “Decent Alternatives to a Bachelor’s Degree.” It appears to be the case that anything short of a four-year degree from a four-year institution cannot or should not be considered as part of higher education. “Trade schools” are determined to be the better alternative to this limited definition of higher education. Well, as the president of Lake Superior College, a comprehensive community and technical college, I can tell you that people attending our technical (read “trade”) programs for dental hygiene, welding, automotive service, nursing, aviation mechanics, business, accounting, carpentry, computer science, medical lab technician, electrical wiring, or radiologic technology are both learning the trade AND attending higher education.
In fact, people who attend comprehensive community colleges have an advantage when considering long-term goals beyond any one trade. Two-year colleges can offer stackable industry-approved credentials that allow students to gain skills, start working, and return for more education. For example, a one-semester certificate can lead to the beginning of a career, then after some time on the job, returning for more advanced skills through a one-year diploma or a two-year associate degree. Non-credit continuing-education courses can also fill gaps for specific skills employers need.
Most universities welcome students transferring with a two-year degree into their baccalaureate offerings. Choosing to start at a community or technical college does not mean you cannot finish a bachelor’s degree. And by the way, our students are learning to think as well as gain much needed post-secondary preparation, whether they are in a trade program or taking English courses. Employers want people prepared to think critically, communicate effectively, and understand and interpret data; skills I tend to think of as workforce skills rather than so called soft skills. These workforce skills are taught in our trade programs and in our liberal0arts associate’s degree programs. English majors with these workforce skills make great employees!
Recent high-school graduates hoping to quickly get a good-paying job and working adults trying to add skills needed for a promotion or for a career change, deserve a full menu of higher-education choices. They should not be made to feel that their choice of a “decent alternative” is somehow less than attending a four-year institution. Yes, advanced degrees from four-year schools will always be respectable educational avenues, and at the same time I agree that today’s economy includes a large pool of jobs with family-thriving wages requiring specific skills obtained in less than four years at a reasonable cost. This focus on workforce preparation is vital to the mission of community and technical colleges, and community colleges are very much a part of higher education.
So please, stop perpetuating this false assumption that universities are the one and only path to higher education. Stop thinking of preparing people for the trades as somehow less than preparing someone in a four-year seat time program.
Patricia L. Rogers
President
Lake Superior College
Duluth, Minn.
