By's Musings

Higher Education

By Leave a Comment

Two Simple Questions for the New Year

I am looking at two questions concerning our New Year’s Day, January 1. This image is courtesy of Presenter Meia.

For my third post of the year 2021, I will be looking at two teasingly simple questions. With so much going on in the world this month, I will be the first to admit that my questions are not earth-shaking inquiries. 

You may ask, “Why, at this time, am I concerned with such a seemingly trivial matter?” The world is staggering under the burden of a deadly pandemic. The United States is embroiled in social unrest over many issues. The country is reeling from one crisis after another. People are continually expressing their discontent through words and actions. Almost everyone is constantly murmuring in disgust about the political dissension and hypocrisy, evidenced at all government levels.  

Enough of the endless chatter, unrestrained finger-pointing, and futile arguments. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

However, almost three weeks into a year for which we had such great hopes, we find ourselves struggling with many of the same disappointments of this past year, along with a huge, new portion of disillusionment. I am already tired of the endless chatter, unrestrained finger-pointing, and futile arguments. I am stepping away from the podium and microphone. I am ready for a break.  

My two questions are

  • Why do we celebrate January 1 as the start of a new year?
  • Who decided this for us?
Why January 1? Looking at the calendar, one can easily find many other dates with a legitimate claim to the designation of the start of a new year. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

As I thought about the perfect time to start a New Year, I found many good possibilities. In fact, many organizations and activities use different dates for the start of their years. These dates are based on the cycles we encounter in our daily lives.

Since I live near the 40° latitude North and 77° longitude West, I will use dates and events associated with that part of the world and my interests.

This photograph is a picture of the Daytona 500 Prerace Ceremonies in 2008. It has been released into the public domain by the photographer, Tequilamike. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Before the pandemic, February 1 was generally considered the start of the automotive racing season and the opening of spring training for baseball. In my geographic part of the world, cold weather is a staple of February. Snow is a distinct possibility. Since neither of these weather-related events is conducive to enjoying or playing these two sports, teams head south or west to begin their year. 

March 1 is the meteorological start of the spring season. It is also the beginning of a new cycle of life for many plants. March 21 is the spring or vernal equinox. This is one of two dates in a year when the hours of daylight and nighttime are equal.

Easter commemorates the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Church tradition places it on the first Sunday, after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

Depending upon the lunar calendar, Easter occurs in March and April. Easter is the celebration of resurrection and a new life. According to church tradition, Easter is observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

April 1 used to be the unofficial start of the baseball season. Before 2000, Major League Baseball had to extend their season into March to get the required number of games before winter weather threatened the World Series. High schools and colleges started their outdoor spring sports season on April 1 to finish before the school year ended.

Growing up, I remember April 1, not as April Fool’s Day. It was the day we could take our studded snow tires off our cars and use regular tires. Peace and quiet returned to the roads.

April was the time to bring out the lawnmower and tune it up for the next growing season. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

By April 1, we always had our garden plans in place. We would plant the vegetable seeds in the indoor growing beds. April was the month to bring our lawn tools out of hibernation and tune them up for the upcoming work. It was also the time to prepare the soil in our garden for another growing season.

The last killing frost of the winter season typically occurred in early April. We always had to rush to get our pea seedlings planted as soon as possible after that last frost. Other seedlings could wait until the end of April or the beginning of May. For plants started from seeds, those seeds had to be planted before the end of April. 

The third Saturday in April is the opening day of the open trout fishing season in Pennsylvania. For many fishing enthusiasts, this is a Red Letter Day on their calendars. 

May is commencement time. It is a time of new beginnings. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

May 1 is generally the start of the blooming season for many fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Tulip festivals are held in many locations in early May.

May is also graduation and commencement month for educational institutions and their students. Commencement is a time of new beginnings for graduates. Beginning a new phase in life seems like a good time to start a new year.

June 1 is the start of summer and the usual vacation season. Growing up, our school year was always done by June 1. June 21 is the summer solstice or longest day of the year.

July 4th is Independence Day. It celebrates the start of a new country, a fitting way to start a new year. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

In many organizations, July 1 is the start of many fiscal and budgetary years. July 4 is American Independence Day and the Birthday of the United States of America.

I looked extensively to find something special about August. I came up empty-handed. It just sits there and does nothing. It has the well-deserved nickname “dog-days of summer.”

September 1 is the unofficial start of the harvest season and most fall sports. It is the start of the meteorological fall season and the end of summer. In the United States, the first Monday of September is Labor Day, celebrating the industrious American worker. 

September has been the traditional start of the new school year. It is also the start of many ecclesiastical calendars. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The month of September is also the start of many scholastic and ecclesiastic years. Schools, churches, businesses, and families “return” to a “normal” schedule.

September 22 is the autumnal equinox, the moment when the sun is exactly over the equator. It is the second time in each year when days and nights are of equal lengths. This is the official start of fall.

October is another month like August. Although several events regularly occur in October, there are not many openings or firsts. October is known for fall harvesting of plants like corn, pumpkins, soybeans, or wheat. In our part of the country, it is also known for small game hunting. For children, October is also the home of Halloween and Trick or Treat. At the end of the month, the church celebrates All Saints’ Day.

November is the start of the deer rifle season. Besides national holidays, for how many other days do schools close? This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

November is generally the time for elections in the United States. It is also the month reserved for Thanksgiving and many harvest festivals. In Pennsylvania, for many years, the first Monday after Thanksgiving was the start of rifle deer season. This year the State Game Commission moved the start of rifle deer season to the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. The first Monday of deer season is still a school holiday in much of Pennsylvania. Many years ago, this tradition was established so that teachers and students could harvest deers as food for the long winter ahead.

December is the advent season, the coming of God to earth. This seems an excellent time to start a new year. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

December is the month of Christmas and Advent, the coming of God to earth. It is not just December 25. It is a whole month of joyous celebration of Emmanuel, “God is with us.”

December 21 is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. It is a day when the earth gets to enjoy its time of rest. If we were to follow the Jewish tradition of beginning a new day at sunset, this becomes a prime candidate as the official start of a new year.

Other geographic places and religious traditions have their own special dates. Many of them celebrate a date other than January 1 as the start of their New Year.  Thus there are scores of choices for celebrating a New Year.

I was somewhat surprised to discover that the answer to my two questions pointed to two apparently disparate individuals.

These two individuals lived more than 15 centuries apart. One led a political world empire. He was declared a god and worshiped by his subjects. The other led an ecclesiastical empire. He viewed himself as a servant of the one true God. The members of his church saw him as God’s messenger.

We can thank Julius Caesar (46 B.C.) and Pope Gregory XIII (1582 A.D.) for enshrining January 1 as New Year’s Day. Each of these powerful leaders ordered the world they controlled to use a single calendar that they chose. Due to the percentages of the world under their jurisdiction, they dominated most of the world of their times.

A photographic image of the 1888 oil painting of the assassination of Julius Caesar by Williams Holmes Sullivan. As a faithful reproduction of a work of art in the public domain, this image is in the public domain.

Julius Caesar was the dictator of the Roman Empire from 49BC to 44BC. In March 44BC, he was assassinated by Roman Senators led by his supposed friend and ally Brutus. Because of problems in the first years of his dictatorship, Ceasar wanted the world to use a single calendar. He saw the usefulness of a single calendar for political, fiscal, and military reasons. The Roman Empire was 3000 miles from end to end. It spread across most of southern Europe, coastal Asia Minor, and Northern Africa.

Coordinating events across such an expanse required precision. Caesar wanted taxes collected and censuses taken simultaneously in all corners of the empire. This way, people couldn’t escape the government’s strong-arm by fleeing to other parts of the empire. He also wanted military attacks synchronized so that enemies in other parts of the empire would not be alerted to upcoming hostile actions. All of these desires could only be satisfied if the whole Roman world was using one calendar. 

A photograph of the 1550 woodcut of Janus by Sebastian Munster. As a faithful reproduction of a work of art in the public domain, this image is in the public domain.

As noted in my previous post My Thoughts One Week into 2021, Caesar honored the Roman God Janus by officially “naming” January as the year’s opening month. 

This designation by Caesar gave a formal stamp of approval to a tradition that was at least one century old by 46BC. Janus was the Roman god of transitions. His presence and blessings were sought at every ceremony of opening or transition.

Janus is a form of the Latin word ianua, which means door or gate. Janus was the janitor. He was the doorkeeper or guard of the gate.

A 16th portrait of Pope Gregory XIII by an unknown artist. As a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art, this photograph is in a public domain work.

The Julian calendar ruled supreme for more than 1600 years. However, the Julian calendar had a problem. It was too long. By the late 16th century, the ecclesiastical calendar and feast were more than a week out of sync with the solar solstices and equinoxes. 

To fix this problem, Pope Gregory XIII issued his papal bull Inter Gravissimas in 1582, announcing calendar reforms for all of Catholic Christendom.

To make the holy days line up with the solar dates, Gregory ordered the Christian world to “eliminate” 10 days. In October 1582, the Gregorian calendar skipped the dates of the 5th through the 14th. Thursday, October 4, 1582, was followed by Friday, October 15, 1582. Most of the world didn’t understand what was going on. People thought that they had lost 10 days.

The new calendar for October 1582, developed by Pope Gregory XIII that panicked much of the world. This image was constructed by the author using LibreOffice Calc Spreadsheet.

England had already rejected the Catholic Church’s claim over their religious lives and formed the Church of England. So they rejected Gregory’s calendar as a grand overreach into their civil and religious sovereignty.  However, by 1750 England and the American colonies saw the need for a revised calendar. In the 1750s, most of the English speaking world accepted a variation of the Gregorian calendar. By 1750, they had to eliminate 11 days to make the calendar agree with the solar dates.

By the time we get to the year 5,000, we will need to drop a day from the calendar to sync it with the solar calendar. What day should we drop? This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The newly revised Gregorian calendar is still too long. It is 26 seconds longer than the solar year. Thus, by the year 5,000, we will need to drop a day from the calendar again. Although I am curious about how the calendar will be adjusted, I am confident that I won’t be here to worry about it.

In my next post, I will turn my attention to another topic. On Sunday, January 17, I was the guest speaker at a church service. During the preceding week, our senior pastor, who had been scheduled to speak on Sunday, came down with the flu (not covid). Our assistant pastor was in the hospital recuperating from open-heart surgery to repair four blockages. Our youth pastor had been out of town all week at a youth camp. So I got a call on Thursday asking if I could fill in. Since it had been more than a decade since I last did any pulpit supply work, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. I said, “Yes!” Since the message is too long for one post, I now have several posts that I will be publishing over the next couple of weeks. The title of the lesson is Four Chairs. It looks at where we sit in relationship to the cross.  

By Leave a Comment

The Similarities Between American Healthcare and Higher Education

One of the most dangerous viruses to hit humanity in centuries has stopped the world in its tracks with a deadly pandemic. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

A tiny microbe has turned the world upside down. As of April 22, the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (JHU-CRC) reports that 210 countries or territories have confirmed the presence of COVID-19 cases. The JHU-CRC confirms 2,636,414 cases and 184,204 deaths worldwide.

How did we get here? On December 31, 2019, reports began to circulate of a large number of cases of pneumonia-like illnesses among people associated with a seafood market in Central China. On January 7, 2020, Chinese health officials confirmed these reports, when they announced the discovery of a new strain of a coronavirus. This new virus was named n-2019CoV, or COVID-19. 

On January 11, Chinese media reported the death of the first victim of COVID-19 in China. This report came days before the Chinese New Year, which is the biggest holiday of the year. During the week-long celebration, people usually travel hundreds of miles to be with family and friends. By January 20, Chinese media reported more than 700 cases and at least a dozen deaths in Wuhan.

China instituted a travel ban for the city of Wuhan to protect the world from the spread of the dangerous COVID-19 virus. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

On January 23, the Chinese government shut down the whole city of Wuhan and ordered its population of 11 million people to shelter in place. This action was an attempt to wall the virus off from the rest of the world. But the spread had already begun.

By January 20, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand reported cases. On January 21, the United States reported its first case. It was a man in Washington state, who had recently returned from a trip to Wuhan.

In February, Wuhan was the epicenter of a worldwide pandemic. In March, the epicenter switched to Europe. Italy, Spain, and France reported thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths. Today, the United States is the epicenter of the pandemic.

Face masks are a common sight today in the USA as people try to protect themselves and others from the spread of the coronavirus. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media

As of April 20, there are 817,187 confirmed cases of COVID-19. A total of 45,229 deaths in the United States have been attributed to this coronavirus. Since early April, all 50 states in the United States have put some type of lock-down or shelter-in-place restrictions in place. Social distancing guidelines are also in effect.

Large gatherings are banned. This includes schools, church services, concerts, political rallies, and sporting events. Non-essential businesses are closed. Restaurants and bars can only offer take-out or delivery services. Individuals are ordered to only leave their homes for groceries and other essential goods, medicines, or medical appointments. If you do venture out, masks that covered your mouth and nose are required. 

Empty classrooms were replaced by hastily thrown together distance learning plans. Classrooms sat empty. They were replaced by instructors and students communicating through computer servers. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

American primary, secondary, and higher education institutions were all forced to turn on a dime. Schools were shuttered. College students on spring break were ordered not to return to campus. Those students on campus were told to leave and return home. All face-to-face classes were suspended. Teachers and students were forced to finish the remainder of the spring terms remotely. As the lockdown continued, dissatisfaction among the ranks of faculty, students, and parents grew. 

Changing traditions is not the same as flipping a light switch. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

Commencements and other celebrations which, for as long as the current higher education crowds can remember, have always closed out the school year were canceled. Most traditional summer schools have been abandoned. Events for new students have been indefinitely put on hold. Even now in mid-April, the fall semester is still a big question mark. These pivots were all huge changes. They could not be as easily accomplished as flipping a light switch.

How many changes are coming to American higher education? What will the new normal look like? The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

Are more changes in American higher education inevitable? Will schools be allowed to hold face-to-face classes in the fall? Will students pay F2F rates for online classes? Will students reenroll in their schools in the fall or will they transfer to another college or drop out of school completely? Will new students enroll at the rates colleges have come to expect? Will faculty accept the changes to their routines? How will state and federal governments and the general public support the changes in higher education? What will the new norm for American higher education look like?

Hospitals and medical professionals were forced into war-zone like activity. Everyone’s attention was turned to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Entire hospitals were devoted to just COVID-19 patients. Large facilities like sports and conference arenas, hotels, and cathedrals were converted into temporary hospitals. Emergency hospitals were constructed in days, instead of years, to meet the surging needs.

We don’t know how many people have been hospitalized because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, Vice President, Mike Pense, sent a letter to the administrators of the nation’s 6,000 hospitals asking them to inform the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) each day of the number of patients that they were currently treating for the virus. 

It is not clear how many hospitals have complied with VP Pense’s request. The CDC has not released any reports on these data. When asked, CDC officials only say that it is under review and will be released shortly. Various states and cities have released hospitalization reports. However, these jurisdictions have used their own definitions and the data may not be consistent. 

A decade ago, who knew that toilet paper in the year 2020, would be so valuable a commodity? The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

It doesn’t seem possible that almost a decade ago I wrote two posts that compared the American higher education enterprise to the four disparate industries.  In the first post, I asked the provocative question What can American higher education learn from the watch industry, the chocolate industry, and toilet paper manufacturers? 

Did I cross the line and say too much? How could I compare higher education to an industry? How could I dare suggest that such a disruption could upset higher education’s apple cart? The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

In the second post, Comparison of American Higher Education with the Automotive Industry For many educational purists, I did the unthinkable of comparing American higher education to the struggling automotive industry.

In those posts, I suggested that higher education could face great disruptions similar to the disruptions that those other industries have endured. In this post, I will be brave and take my comparison one step further.

The coronavirus pandemic has spotlighted a number of similarities between health care higher education. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The coronavirus has shined a spotlight on both the health care profession and the higher education enterprise. With both industries under siege from this common enemy, I see a number of striking similarities.

The first similarity is that both have a strict dichotomy between the professionals and the clients, those served by the professionals. It is a great divide between the experts and the untrained. In both fields, the experts provide the untrained with specific services. In medicine, untrained patients are treated by expert medical professionals. In education, the untrained students are taught by the expert faculty.

Medicine and higher education have their own ladders of prestige and stature. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The second similarity relates to the hierarchical structure among the professionals in both fields. In higher education, faculty members strive to climb the professorial ladder to the top position of a tenured, full professor. Beneath those individuals who made it to the top rung are the associate and assistant professors, the instructors, the adjunct and contingent faculty members, and the lowly graduate assistants. In medicine, the specialists are at the top of the ladder. Under them stand the general practitioners or primary care physicians, the physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. Near the bottom are the registered nurses. On the bottom rung are the practical nurses and medical technicians.

Bandaging a wound by a nurse or physician assistant is an up-close and personal operation. The image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The higher rungs translate into more prestige. The higher rungs on the disciplinary ladders also carry with them increased monetary rewards. In addition, the higher rungs mean increased responsibility. Unfortunately, more often than not, the individuals on the lower rungs get loaded with more of the direct contact work with the patients and students.

A cartoon version of a photo of a lecture hall at Baruch College. The photo was taken and modified by Xbxg32000, holder of the copyright. Its use is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The image is courtesy of Xbxg32000 and Wikimedia Commons.

The third similarity shared by both fields is the primary, preferred mode of the delivery of services. For many centuries, this primary mode of delivery of service has been face-to-face. I almost said “up-close and personal.” This is definitely true in medicine. However, higher education started to move away from tutorials and small classes in the lower-level courses to large classes in the twentieth century. Only a few elitist, high-priced institutions held on to the small classes and seminar format for all courses. Even in graduate schools, one-on-one work between a student and a professor is reserved for theses or dissertations. 

Since the middle of the 20th Century, many social commentators have addressed the fourth similarity I see between healthcare and higher education. The current pandemic brings the same critical deficiency in both fields to the forefront of the public interest.

For some, they can ride the escalator to the top. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

The problem is that there is a huge gap in the quality of service within higher education and healthcare available to individuals across racial and ethnic groups, as well as social and economic strata. Certain groups and individuals are privileged. Individuals with economic means have available the best healthcare and education that money can buy. They have access to the best colleges, doctors, and hospitals.

Certain individuals can’t get to the door of opportunity because of a gap, not of their making. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

Other groups and individuals are greatly disadvantaged. As a group, minorities and poor individuals tend to “get the left-overs.” There are exceptions, but a much larger percentage of those adversely affected by the coronavirus are the minorities and the poor.

As an example, in a small city near my home, the coronavirus disproportionately affected the minority communities. The total population of the city is 40% White (non-Hispanic), 25% African-American, 30% Hispanic/Latino, and 5% Other. However, in the early coronavirus counts, 70% of confirmed cases and deaths were in the Hispanic/Latino community, and 20% in the African-American community.         

The fourth similarity reminded me of my high school Latin. If you studied Latin, you will remember “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres”. [All Gaul is divided into three parts.] This is the opening line of The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar. Everyone who studied high school Latin in the mid-twentieth century was required to translate Caesar’s classic journal. What has this to do with medicine and higher education? 

All hospitals and colleges are owned or controlled by one of three groups. The image is the author’s creation using ClickCharts Software.

The ownership or control of all medical and higher education institutions falls into three segments. These three groups are:

  1. Public: These institutions are controlled or owned by a government entity such as the country, a city, county, state, or an agency of one of the above. The two primary sources of funding are government support or fees for service.
  2. Private, non-profit: These institutions are owned by a private, non-profit foundation or corporation. They are controlled by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. The two primary sources of funding are fees for services or the Board through charitable fundraising efforts.
  3. Proprietary: Another name for these institutions is Private, for-profit. They are owned by individuals or for-profit corporations. They are controlled by the owners or a Board of Trustees elected or appointed by the owners. The primary source of funding is through fees for services. The expectation is that these institutions will make a profit for their owners.

The tripartite segmentation of control/ownership in healthcare and higher education has both advantages and challenges. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

Since higher education and healthcare are both divided into three segments of control and ownership, they face the same set of challenges and advantages. For decades, the two fields have claimed that the challenges far outnumbered the advantages. Since I am running out of time and space in this post, I will leave the discussion of the challenges and advantages to another post.

At this time, I plan to publish that post on Friday, May 1. On Monday, April 27, I will be publishing a special announcement. I am changing the format of By’s Musings again.

During the week of April 27, I will be previewing a monthly newsletter, which will highlight what I am reading and listening to in the field of higher education. It will point readers to upcoming webinars (mostly free) and significant higher education articles that have appeared in the previous month. It will discuss the trends and challenges facing higher education. Special features of future issues will include book reviews, interviews of higher education leaders, and invited articles from experts in the fields of higher education, leadership, and organizational development. 

After this first issue in my blog, I will be asking readers to subscribe to the newsletter. It will begin as a free offer. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I will be looking for ways to monetize this effort. I do promise that I will keep the subscription cost-free as long as I can.

Use social media wisely to maintain safe contacts with family, friends, and colleagues during this crisis. This image is courtesy of Presenter Media.

With the addition of this newsletter, I will reserve By’s Musings for my reflections on life in general, as well as my faith and health journeys.

In the meantime, stay safe and healthy. Remain vigilant. Eat healthily. Maintain the practice of your spiritual disciplines. Practice social distancing, but remain in close social contact with family, friends, and colleagues. 

    

By Leave a Comment

Time to Bring Back By’s Musings!

Racing the clock to get things done has a great appeal today for many in this ravaged world. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

It’s time to reopen the pages of By’s Musings. The first working title of this post was Time to Get Back to Work. In the face of what’s happening in the world today, that particular phrase had something of a welcome and satisfying ring to it. Many people would like to be back in the saddle, working regularly, and racing against the clock to meet deadlines. In these past six months, I never stopped working hard, writing each day. It just hasn’t shown up in this blog.

Six months ago, when I published my last post A Short Break from Business as Usual, no one, especially me had an inkling of what was coming. I shut down By’s Musings to concentrate on writing a manuscript and preparing to publish it as a book.

For those six months, that’s where I concentrated my efforts. In September 2019, the working title of my book was A Field Guide to American Higher Education. As I wrote in my September post, I had begun to conclude that this book had no substantial audience clamoring for it. As I noted in my September post, my original ideas were evolving. They were soon to be completely revolutionized.

After that September post, I spent the next month refocusing my thoughts on five questions: 1) For what audience was I writing? 2) What did this audience need? 3) What did this audience want? 4) What would they buy? 5) What did I have to offer this audience? To have a successful book, I had to find the sweet spot at the intersection of the answers to these five questions.

By early October I believed that I had solved that elusive puzzle. I began to work feverously on a new book, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Edition. What’s in a title? I chose the title of this new book very carefully. Each word or phrase is packed with meaning.

I’m using the term student as a short-hand for individuals between the ages of 16 and 24. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

The phrase Student Edition is my attempt at a short-hand to indicate that the book is primarily intended for an audience ranging in age from 16 to 24. In psychological circles, individuals in this age range are referred to as mid-adolescents, late-adolescents, or early adults. In educational circles, these are the ages typically designated for traditional high school and college-age students. This book was written for the typical, Christian high school or college student and other individuals in that age group. It was written for those in that age who find themselves searching for answers to life’s most important questions.

An explorer ventures into the unknown looking to find answers and their way in a new, unknown world. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The word Explorer denotes an individual who is actively looking for and seeking something that is currently unknown. They are not sitting back and waiting for the world to be delivered to them on a silver platter. They are engaged in a process that is not always 100% safe and secure. There may be dangers and setbacks along the way. Not every explorer finds riches at the end of their journey. However, they will discover something new about themselves or this world.

The word Guide conveys the idea that this book is not a cookbook that provides recipes for a good life. It is not a series of road maps that show individuals each and every turn that they should take to reach their destination. In addition, it doesn’t assume that the destination is even known at the beginning or part way through the journey.

A guide is a resource or a person that provides a scouting report but does not prescribe the directions an individual must go. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

A guide is an individual or resource which provides helpful information that individuals can use to identify dangers and directions that they should consider taking. A guide can point out things that the individual can’t or chooses not to see. A guide can make suggestions and challenge an individual’s choices. However, at the end of the day, it is still up to the individual explorers to make their own decisions.

The Bible is God’s word to humanity. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The term Biblical obviously refers to the Bible. The Bible is God’s message to the world. It tells the story of the world through God’s eyes. It is a story in four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.

The Bible is God’s message to us via parables, proverbs, prayers, songs of praise, historical accounts, and prophecy. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The Bible was written by more than forty different human authors, all inspired by God, over the course of centuries. These authors wrote in their own styles so it contains many different literary genres and tenors. It is a compilation of 66 different books in the form of narratives, dialogues, proverbs, parables, songs, prayers, allegories, historical accounts, and prophetic tales. Nevertheless, with all this diversity, it is remarkably unified with the same themes running through all its pages.

God gave us the Bible to be a sourcebook and our reference for daily living. It contains all we need to know to distinguish right from wrong. In it, we find the standards by which we should live our lives and the principles we need for guidance.

Samson was both a tragic figure and a hero of the faith. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The stories in the Bible are about real people just like us. There are stories of triumphs like Joshua at Jericho and David fighting Goliath. There are stories of defeat and tragedies like the first battle of Ai and the fall of Jerusalem, followed by the Babylonian exile. There are miracles like Daniel in the lion’s den and the Israelites being fed by the manna in the wilderness. There are accounts of the highs and lows of everyday life like the parables of the sower and the prodigal son. There were stories of individuals like Samson who was both a hero of the faith and a tragic figure beset by sin. 

God is our refuge. David reminds us in Psalm 18:2 that “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (NIV) 

Christ is our anchor. Where do we learn about Christ? The Bible. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Jesus is our hope and our anchor. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes this in Hebrews 18:2: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, both sure and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” (NIV)

Where do we learn about God and Jesus? The Bible. Therefore we must go to the Bible. It can serve as an anchor in the storms of life. In it, we can find strength and comfort in our desperate times of trouble. In times of ease and satisfaction, it can provide continued encouragement and counsel.

The Bible is a spotlight which shows us who we are and who God is. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The Bible serves as a spotlight to show us who we are and who God is. We are not robots nor meaningless globs of matter. We are living creations of an all-powerful God, who loves us and gives us a purpose and a destiny.

In Life there are few guarantees. If you are like most people, life will not be handed to you on a silver platter. Most of us have to earn our way in this world. We are required to make difficult choices. Although adolescents may not believe it today, as they get older, they will find that the number of decisions to make increase drastically. At times, it may become even more overwhelming then it seems right now.

The devil can’t force you to do anything. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

It may reach the point where people start making excuses or blaming others for their actions. When facing questions about a particular action, people sometimes resort to the Flip Wilson one-liner: “The devil made me do it.” At other times, individuals try to escape the consequences of their actions by relying on the Bart Simpson defense: “I didn’t do it. You didn’t see me. You can’t prove it.”

Throughout your life, you will learn that the devil didn’t make you do it. You did it. You also will learn that you can’t escape the consequences of your actions. You are responsible for the choices you make and what you do.

I can assure you that you are responsible for who you are and who you become. With the exception of the rare accident, you are responsible for most of what happens in your life.

At times it will feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If the thought of such a heavy burden of responsibility scares you, you are not alone. Most people reach this junction sometime in their lives. From watching thousands of people experience this defining moment, adolescents are fortunate to face it at this time in their life. They’re at a crucial point where they have two very important resources available to help navigate these choppy waters. Those resources are time and readily available help.

COME ON., MAKE UP YOU MIND! It may seem like your parents are always yelling at you. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

I can hear some adolescents already shouting, “TIME! I don’t have time. People, especially my parents, are yelling at me, that I must make important choices about my future, NOW!” Even though I probably do not know your parents personally, I am confident that they care deeply about you. Most parents do love their children and are very concerned that they make the right choices for their lives, now and in the future.

Relax. You don’t have to run everywhere. Time is on your side. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If I may be so bold, I have one word for you and your parents – RELAX. As we proceed through the book, I will explain why I think you have time on your side. As you proceed through the book I will explain why time is on your side. I will also outline many of the resources that are available to you. They are there to be used. Make certain you use them wisely.

In higher education and management circles, most experts believe that Planning does not involve a static blueprint. It is a process that can change daily as circumstances change. Thus life planning is not a once and done task. It is not something that is fixed at birth or in early adolescence. Put all that together and what do you have? An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Edition.

One of the most dangerous viruses to hit humanity in centuries stopped the world in its tracks with a deadly pandemic. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

Through January things were proceeding nicely. Then the world was turned upside down by a tiny bug, the coronavirus COVID-19. I had a draft of An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Edition finished and in the hands of an editor. Then the world literally stopped. Businesses were forced to close. Schools, churches and governments shut down face to face operations, and move to a virtual world. A whole new set of problems now faced the audience to whom I had addressed my book. Many of my suggestions may no longer applied to this new world. I will have to wait until summer or fall to see if any semblance of the world we knew returns or whether we will be facing a whole new set of challenges. 

I can still think and write. Although publishing a book addressing problems which no longer exist seems counterproductive. However, I have another avenue for expressings my ideas. By’s Musings is still available as an outlet for my ideas. With so many of them pent up begging to see the light of day, I will be publishing a new post at least weekly. My next post will provide my new insights into higher education and the medical enterprise. In the meantime, a words of wisdom for us all: Stay safe, take proper precautions, and pray for deliverance.  

 

By Leave a Comment

A Short Break from Business as Usual

Hitting a moving target is difficult, but sometimes necessary. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

It’s happened again! I start a series of posts here on By’s Musings and partway through the series I pull the plug. Usually, I’ve satisfied myself that I have a good reason to change directions. This time I am fully persuaded that I have a good reason. Nevertheless, I know that trying to hit a moving target is very difficult, for both author and reader. 

 

Hooray! The deal is done, but I still have work to do. I must deliver a rough draft of the manuscript to the editor by October 1, 2019. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

This past week, I signed a contract to deliver a rough draft of a book to my editor by Tuesday, October 1, 2019. Thus, for the next month, I must concentrate completely on finishing the rough draft of the book which I had tentatively titled A Field Guide to American Higher Education.

 

This is a very important date to keep. It could make a big difference in sales. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

This means that I will be totally engaged in working on my book through the proposed launch date of Monday, December 2, 2019. This date is specifically selected to take advantage of a number of market factors. It will hit the market of prospective college students and their families just before the prime college hunting season of the spring and summer prior to their junior or senior year of high school. It will also be available for the Christmas shopping bonanza. I think it would make a very useful Christmas present for that adolescent child or grandchild approaching high school graduation.

 

I need to launch the book in time for the Christmas gift-giving season. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If I miss the December 2 launch date, the next best launch dates are probably February 3, or September 1, 2020. If I miss a December launch, I miss the big Christmas gift possibilities. Adolescents aren’t interested in much of anything related to education in January. Most parents of prospective students have already made their summer plans prior to the official opening of summer. Thus, it is very important that I hit the target of December 2, 2019.

 

A Field Guide is a resource to help users identify tools, select the most appropriate tool for a specific task, and provide instructions on how to use that tool most effectively. The selection of a college should be a family decision. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Why am I writing  A Field Guide to American Higher Education? The typical field guide with which I grew up was a resource which provided important information to help users identify tools, select the most appropriate tool for a specific task, and provide instructions on how to use that tool most effectively. I firmly believe that American higher education is a tool. It is a tool that provides students with the means to better themselves and benefit society. It is a tool that is often misunderstood and misused. I saw this guide as a means to hopefully reduce the misunderstandings and lessen the misuses.

 

Celebrating my 73rd birthday was very special. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Unfortunately, I’ve found that the term Field Guide has lost its cache in today’s world. When I field-tested the term Field Guide with members of younger generations, many had no clue of what one was. Most had never seen or used one. I can use the term “younger generations” since I am only 18 months away from my semisesquicentennial birthday. For the non-Latin scholars among my readers: “My 75th birthday is just 18 months away.”

 

Good bait will attract a large number of fishes. For a book, the title and the cover comprise the bait that an author must use to hook readers. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If the title Field Guide to American Higher Education is meaningless to a large part of my intended audience and doesn’t provide a suitable bait to lure them into looking at the book, I think I need a new title. How would you describe a resource which is designed to help individuals understand and find their way through the maze of the career and college choice process? I am open to any suggestions. Please leave them in the comment section below. 

 

A photographic image of a competitor in the 2004 US national yo-yo competition in Chico, CA. This photograph was taken by Pretzelpaws and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Image courtesy of Pretzelpaws and Wikimedia Commons.

Working with an excellent coach from Chandler Bolt’s Self-Publishing School, I’ve come to the conclusion that on one hand I need to narrow the focus of my book, and on the other hand I need to broaden its scope. Using the terminology and processes from Ryan Levesque’s “ASK” methodology, I had to refine its niche. The book I first planned to write was scratching an itch that I felt. Unfortunately, few other people were feeling the same itch. My coach helped me see that I had more than enough material to satisfy the needs and answer the questions that thousands of adolescents and their families were facing as they traversed the bumps in the road during the difficult time of transition from child to adult. Many adolescents believe they have the world on a string. Although they have the string around their finger, they feel as if they are the yoyo spinning around.

 

I needed to return to the three questions that I used as a basis for all the courses I developed and textbooks I wrote earlier in my academic career. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Instead of focusing the book primarily on the complexities of American higher education, I needed to focus the book on what adolescents and their families should think about and do during those formative years of ages 17 to 25. How do adolescents find and define their calling? How can adolescents refine their calling into an intended vocation? How should they prepare for careers that fit in well with their calling and vocation? I needed to return to a process that I developed in the early 1970s, at the beginning of my academic career. I used three questions to guide the preparation of all course material I used when I taught. I employed the same three questions as the basis for the courses I designed and the textbooks that I wrote. 

 

The three-question path to success. Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I get from where I am to where I want to be? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Recently, I discovered that my three questions are very similar to questions used in the KWL Reading Strategy Design, which was released in 1986. The KWL questions are “What do I know? What do I want to know? and “What did I learn?” My variation took the form of “What do I know?” “What do I need to know?” and “How can I get from what I know to what I need to know?”

 

Another variation of the questions is “Where am I?” “Where do I want to go?” and “What route can I take to go from where I am to my intended destination? For my upcoming book, the questions will take the form: “Who am I?” “Who do I want to be?” “How do I get from my current state of being to my desired position?”

How are prospective students and their families supposed to make the right choice of a college? Get the right resources and discuss them. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

With so many choices, how is a student to choose an appropriate path? The first section of my book is meant to assist adolescents and their families first deal with the complexities of career selection. How does an adolescent pick an appropriate career field?

What keeps you up at night? What wakes you up in the morning? What keeps you dancing? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

As a Christian, I believe that God has a two-fold calling on an individual. The first call is an invitation to a personal relationship with Himself. The second call is a summons into a mission that God assigns that individual. For all individuals, I believe that we have an innate calling to a life’s mission. What are we meant to do with our lives? The first section of the book will help individuals find their calling. What keeps them up at night? What wakes them up each morning? What are they driven to accomplish? What keeps them dancing? 

Life preparation can seem like a complicated and perplexing maze. Help in solving the maze is available. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The second section of the book is a resource which helps readers find their way through the complicated and perplexing maze of finding themselves. It will help identify and differentiate the many different options in their preparation for their life calling. For some individuals, it will involve college. For others, it could involve career training or apprenticeships, or the military. In this section, I will help students identify and use the most appropriate preparation avenues for their future direction.

Are you or an adolescent close to you is weighted down with troubling questions about career and college choices? I can help you answer many of those questions. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

There’s another way in which you can help me. If you or an adolescent close to you wrestled with particularly troubling questions about career or college choices, I would love to hear from you. I have hundreds of stories about such struggles, but I can always use more real-life examples. If you would be willing to share your story with me, please leave a short description of it in the comment section below. Please, also include contact information so that I can communicate with you. I promise that your name, story, and contact information will never be divulged. If I use your story, all names and locations will be changed to guarantee anonymity. 

If you have some important, please call me. Leave a message, and I will respond when I can. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

My tasks for the next several months are well-defined. I will be writing, working with an editor, publishing and marketing my new book. These endeavors will leave little time for non-essential things. Thus, I will be taking a self-imposed hiatus from Facebook and Twitter to concentrate on the book. Please don’t feel slighted if I don’t respond to a Facebook or Twitter message. I’m not ignoring you! If something is important and you really need to reach me, please call me, leave a message, and I will respond when I can.   

By Leave a Comment

The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part III

Let me reiterate! Campus Housing is an auxiliary service because it is not central to our teaching mission and it is offered on a fee-for-service basis. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In my previous post The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part II I ran out of time and space to finish the argument proving that campus housing is indeed an auxiliary enterprise. 

In 2014, The Washington Post ran an article that reported that “there were 87 colleges across the country that require full-time students to live on campus their first year of college.” Interestingly, The Post did not indicate their source of information. I checked the catalogs of 86 of the 87 institutions. I couldn’t check the catalog of one of the institutions because it closed in 2016 due to low enrollment and lack of funds. It no longer maintains a website. What I discovered about the other 86 institutions was quite informative.

This photograph was taken May 18, 2005, showing Damage Controlmen aboard USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) instructing U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen on proper firefighting techniques in Belleau Wood’s Well Deck. The Midshipmen spent two weeks aboard Belleau Wood as part of their summer training program. Official U.S. Navy photograph by JO2(SW/AW) Chad A. Bricks. The image has been released into the public domain by the U.S. Navy. Image courtesy of JO2 Bricks, U.S. Navy, and Wikimedia Commons.

In their catalogs, all 86 of the remaining institutions stated that they required all full-time, first-year students to reside on campus. However, 56 of the institutions indicated that students could petition for an exception to this rule. The 30 institutions that did not indicate any policies for exceptions included two experimental colleges, the five federal-military academies, seven Catholic, male religious-vocational colleges or seminaries, and 16 Orthodox Jewish rabbinical yeshivas or seminaries. Students at the military academies are considered members of the armed services and are on-call 24/7/365 in case of an emergency.  Their training must take that into account. Catholic religious-vocational institutions duplicate the living conditions that their graduates must undertake in their church service, i.e., a celibate, monastic life. Orthodox Jewish Collegiate Yeshivas and Seminaries are restricted to young, unmarried males, who must dedicate themselves solely to their studies. Older or married Jewish students desiring to be rabbis attend a Kollel. The 56 institutions that permitted petitions for exceptions included one Tribal college, three public colleges, three state-related military academies, and 49 private institutions.

The Best College Editions of the 2017 U.S. News and World Report indicated that 13 colleges self-reported 100% of full-time, first-year students lived on campus. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In 2017, U.S. News and World Report published an article with self-reported institutional information that the magazine had gathered for their annual Best College Report. One item in the report was the percentage of full-time, first-year students who reside on campus. In 2017, they listed only 13 colleges which reported 100% of first-year students living in college housing. All but one of these 13 institutions were from The Washington Post list. When I checked the catalog of the one college that wasn’t included by The Post, I discovered that they require married students to live off-campus. Apparently, they either had no first-year married students or they misrepresented their data to the U.S. News and World Report.

The other 12 institutions were divided into two groups of six colleges each. The first group consisted of the five federal military academies and one experimental college which, accordingly to its catalog, did not accept petitions for waiver of the residency requirement.  The second group of six colleges consisted of five private institutions and one state-related military academy.  All of these six accepted petitions for waiver of the residency requirement, including the state-related military academy. Is it possible that they had no waiver petitions for 2017, or that they didn’t grant any that they did receive? I think “not.” Could the 100% figure be due to round-off error? How likely is that?       

Although campus housing has many benefits for students, the biggest benefit may be the fact that for years, it was almost always a moneymaker for colleges. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

As I stated in my previous post, the research is overwhelming. Students who reside on campus tend to do better on average and get a more complete educational experience than students who reside off-campus. Is there any other reason why colleges would want students to reside on campus? Prior to the year 2000, there was a very simple explanation. Many schools could make money on residence halls. This is why campus-housing outsourcing firms lined up at the doors of colleges to offer their services. There was money to be made in campus housing. As Mark Twain said in his 1892 novel The American Claimant, “there’s gold in them thar hills.” 

For many years, residence halls were the easiest and cheapest buildings to construct on campuses. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

For many years, residence halls were among the easiest and cheapest campus structures to build. The designs were fairly standard and construction was straight forward, not like specialized academic spaces. Once built, major modifications were not as frequent as updates to other campus structures. All of my full-time employment experience in the academy was prior to 2009. During the decades leading up to Y2K,  a college with a good credit rating could fund construction costs for residence halls through low-interest bonds.

The floor of campus housing has cracked under American higher education and is threatening to swallow it whole. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If you have been reading my posts about the 21st-century crises facing American higher education, you know that I believe, as a whole, it is in a state of turmoil and chaos. However, working on this post has made me realize that the once-solid ground under campus housing has cracked wide open. How deep into the resulting fissure have colleges fallen in the past decade? For the four decades, I was intimately involved in the planning aspects of campus housing and in the oversight of campus housing managers. During that time, if campus housing was handled properly, the institution did not lose money in this area.

A graph of the Median Cost per Bed in thousand $ from 1999 to 2015. The data is taken from the magazine College Planning & Management. Graph created by the author of this post using Libre Office spreadsheet.

This is no longer the case. In my research for this post, I discovered the Annual College Housing Report published by the Magazine College Planning & Management. Paul Abramson was in charge of the collection and analysis of the data for the report. In his 2008 report, he concluded that the “…cost of residence hall construction is rising and rising rapidly.” In the same report, he continued by stating that the median residence hall built in 2008 would cost almost $26M.

In subsequent reports, by 2013, the median cost of a new residence hall had risen to more than $39M. In 2019, it is estimated that the median cost of a residence hall will be close to $56M. Those numbers blow what we were doing in the 20th century and the very early years of the 21st century right out of the water.

In 2020, it is estimated that the median cost of a bed in a new college residence hall will exceed $100,000. Is a scene similar to this worth $100,000? Is it economically viable for the institution? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The last residence hall construction project which I helped plan was completed in 2006, two years after I left that institution. The planning process began in 2003. This residence was designed to house 192 students. The total cost was $3.1M. Our cost of $16,146 per bed was less than half of the median cost per bed of all new residence halls during the period 2003 to 2006.

According to Abramson’s data, our residence hall should have cost us approximately $11.5M. We built it for $3.1M. How could we build our residence hall for less than one-third of what other colleges were spending? There were two primary reasons.

The first was the fact that our whole institution had come together and adopted a Facilities Philosophy. Three of the main tenets of this philosophy were the following:

We guarded our available resources tightly. All financial expenditures supported the mission of the institution. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Enlightened frugality: [Our] University operates within a world of limited resources. All financial expenditures for the physical plant must support the mission of the institution. This requires that all solutions to physical planning be comprehensive, with nothing considered in isolation. Issues of building placement, traffic, and parking, engineering systems, natural systems, and aesthetics must be woven together to form a tapestry of buildings and spaces that foster a university culture. Buildings can and should be attractive, but not ostentatious. They should be functional, and not pretentious. They should be designed and built to last, but should not look or feel austere. Buildings and outdoor spaces should exhibit grace, dignity and elegant simplicity.

Form follows function! All campus spaces must be designed and constructed with an express purpose in mind. Planning comes before design or construction. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Form follows function: This expression is an architectural maxim that connotes the idea that all spaces, indoor or outdoor, should be designed and constructed with an express purpose in mind. Learning spaces should be designed and built-in terms of the learning that will occur in those spaces. Community spaces should be designed and built with community in mind. This tenet places the priority on the planning and the delineation of intended uses or purposes for given spaces. Planning comes before the design and construction of the space.

The campus should have a common architectural language that can be expressed differently in different venues. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Common language: [Our] University should have a common architectural language that should be readily seen throughout the campus. Although there should be common themes, these ideas may be expressed differently in different venues. Each new venue should tie into the existing campus vocabulary, but at the same time should be encouraged to bring in new expressions.

Building off these common tenets kept us on the same track and reduced the possibility of wild deviations in designs across campus.

We developed solid working relationships with vendors that understood us and worked with us. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The second reason we were able to hold construction costs in check was that we had developed solid working relationships with two architectural firms, three construction firms, and numerous vendors who understood us and worked with us.

The story of the 192-bed residence hall exemplifies how the tenets of our facility philosophy and working relationships helped us. This new residence hall intended for juniors and seniors was a deviation in design from our typical residence hall. Instead of central hallways with two- or four-person suites on either side, the interior was based on a new design. The exterior of the facility fit in with all of our other buildings on campus. The new vocabulary introduced was a series of balcony hallways overlooking central lounges. Six-person suites were accessed from the balcony hallways. This design answered the desire of our juniors and seniors for more communal, gathering spaces. 

We budgeted not only for the initial costs of buildings but for the ongoing costs of operating them. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In addition to construction costs, we normally budgeted annual maintenance, housekeeping, and utility (MHU) costs of 10% of total construction costs, or $310,000 in this example. Since this residence hall cost $3.1M, financing it with a 2% bond meant that we could pay off the entire initial cost plus accrued interest in eight years with annual payments of $450,000. We could also pay off half of the entire MHU costs for those eight years. By maintaining an occupancy rate of 95%, in another four years, we paid off the entire MHU for all 12 years. From that point on we were making more than $400,000 annual profit from this building.

Since we normally assumed a life expectancy on residence halls of 20 years before a major renovation was required, this profit accumulated for eight years. At the point we needed a major renovation, we would reset the clock and start the process over again. In my 40+ years in the academy, I only saw two residence halls decommissioned. One was converted to faculty offices and the other was condemned and demolished to make room for a completely new residence hall.

This photograph is a picture of the Niagara River, upstream from the falls. It is almost at the point of no return. The river is picking up speed as it flows toward the falls. The rapids start around the bend in the background. The photograph was taken by Yinan Chen on May 3, 2013, and distributed on www.goodfreephotos.com. This image has been released explicitly into the public domain by its author, using the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication. Image courtesy of Yinan Chen, goodfreephotos.com and Wikimedia Commons.

American higher education as a whole is speeding toward more white water ahead. The current is running too fast for anchors to work. Some colleges are “up the creek without a paddle” and heading for the giant waterfall. Other colleges have supercharged engines onboard that can possibly keep them out of harm’s way if the captain applies the engines at the appropriate time and turns the rudder in the correct direction.

It’s happened again. I’ve run out of time and space to finish my discussion of outsourcing, auxiliary enterprises, and the sale of institutional assets. I will continue my discussion of auxiliary enterprises next week in my post, The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part IV. 

 

 

 

By 1 Comment

The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part II

We’ve run out of money. Where are we going to find funds to continue operating in the manner to which we’ve become accustomed? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

My previous post, The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part I, ended with the majority of American colleges and universities languishing in dire economic straits. How can this be? What is wrong with this picture? The American higher education system is arguably the best educational system in the world. It is located in what is generally considered the wealthiest nation in the world. How could more than half of American colleges and universities have financial troubles? How could they not have enough funds in order to operate effectively? 

The fuel gauge is almost on Empty. What do we do now? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

I believe my previous post demonstrated conclusively that many colleges have run out of available funds. They have essentially depleted four of the major sources of resources that I outlined in previous posts. They have exhausted their ability to get more funds from tuition and fees, public support, donors, or endowments. They are operating on fumes. Their fuel gauges read empty or almost empty. Some switched to their reserve tanks years ago.  They are now facing the monster in the closet to which Derek Bok alluded in his book Universities in the Market Place: The Commercialization of Higher Education.

“Just sign on the dotted line and I’ll provide all the funds you need to operate. You don’t have to read the fine print. You can trust me.” Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Bok argues that American higher education struck a Faustian bargain with corporate America to sell its soul for the necessary funds in order to operate effectively. Is Bok suggesting that some of the smartest minds at some of the best colleges and universities in the world have been outwitted by Mephistopheles? Where’s Daniel Webster when you need him? For the past four decades, American higher education has faced an intimidating trilemma: 1) outsource some operations in an attempt to save money; 2) dive deep into the pool of auxiliary enterprises to make money; or 3) bite the bullet and sell off some of its valuable assets. 

Outsourcing is the practice of contracting with an outside vendor to provide goods or perform services. The intent is to increase quality, saving money, or make more profit. In any case, some money will exchange hands. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In higher education as in any business-like operation, outsourcing is the practice of contracting with an individual or company outside of the college or university to provide goods or perform services which had previously been done by employees of the institution. When it is applied to functions that are not considered auxiliary enterprises, the intent is usually to save money or provide increased quality or uniformity of service. When it is applied to functions that are considered auxiliary enterprises, the intent can be to increase the profits generated by these operations.

The process of subcontracting particular work and jobs to specialists dates back to the 19th century. Outsourcing did not appear as a formal strategy until after WWII. During my days as an undergraduate college student in the 1960s, several of my computer science faculty talked about it as the future of computing.

A shortcut through the maze of college operations is a figment of our imaginations. It is a mirage. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The term was not widely adopted until the 1980s. My first encounter with the word in an educational-related work setting was in the late 1980s. After 20 years of service in his leadership role, the president of our college went to his first conference of college presidents. He came back very enthusiastic and excited. He had heard a new word and learned of a process which had the “potential to revolutionize higher education.” The word was “Outsourcing”. 

Since I was Director of Institutional Research and Planning, he asked me to find potential functions and providers which could serve a college in an outsourcing role. In less than a week, I was able to come up with a spreadsheet with more than 100 different functional operations and appropriate providers for each. Even in the early days of outsourcing within higher education, I was not surprised to find such a large list. The possible functions and potential providers have only multiplied since then.

Uniform Campus Signage helps visitors and lost students find their way around campus. An outside vendor often helps identify locations where signs will do the most good. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

My list included operations such as Admissions and Student Recruitment, Bookstore, Campus Housing and Residence Life, Campus Security and Public Safety, Campus Signage and Wayfinding, Computing Services and Information Technology, Course Development and Instructional Design, Endowment Accounting and Management, Event Management and Ticket Servicing, Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Financial Aid Accounting and Management, Food Services, Fund Raising, Health and Nonacademic Counseling Services, House Keeping and Building Maintenance, Human Resources, Insurance and Risk Management, Lawn Services and Ground Maintenance, Marketing and Public Relations, Payroll, Procurement, Recreational and Fitness Center Management, Student Accounts and Receivables, Transportation and Vehicle Maintenance, and lastly, Vending Operations.

Notice how plants enliven the Main Lobby of the Sovereign Building in Allentown, PA. This photograph is the work of atwngirl who has licensed its use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Image courtesy of atwngirl and Wikimedia Commons.

One fascinating function on my list was a local firm which advertised that they would “service” live plants inside your public buildings. They would place their plants in strategic locations, guaranteeing to beautify and spruce up your facilities. They would come once a week to check on their plants. They would water and feed them as necessary. If their plants started wilting or dying, they would replace them with healthy ones to keep your buildings green and clean. This definitely seemed to be a candidate for outsourcing.

Although everyone knew that beautiful, live plants created a welcoming atmosphere to visitors, most office staff paid little attention to the plants just outside their offices, except to complain about how bad they looked when they were wilted or dead. Those staff members who did water the plants often over-watered them, creating a mess on the floor, which housekeeping had to clean up.

Does the idea of a Culture of Excellence only dwell in Fantasy Land? This image is a photograph of Cinderella’s Castle in Fantasy Land at Disney World, Orlando, FL, taken in December 2014 by Fhoenix07, who has licensed the image under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Image courtesy of Fhoenix07 and Wikimedia Commons.

There’s a common maxim in organizational theory: “When everybody is responsible, then nobody is responsible.” The Disney Corporation’s ubiquitous Culture of Excellence is the most obvious example of an organization that has instilled a pervasive sense of responsibility in all employees. If an institution is not ready to go “full-speed ahead” with the adoption of the Disney approach to all operations, then functions which are mission-marginal become prime candidates for outsourcing.  

I added notes to my database indicating what I saw as potential red flags for some of the possible functions. I believed some activities such as Admissions, Course Development, Faculty Recruitment, Fund Raising, and Residence Life, were too close to the center of our educational mission as a Christian college to relinquish any control over. No matter how well the outsourcing contract is written, when you turn over a function, in total or in part, to an outside vendor, you lose some control over it.   

Decision Chart for Auxiliary Enterprises. Chart created by the author using Click Chart Software

Before we turn our attention to auxiliary enterprises, remember that in higher education accounting parlance, auxiliary enterprises are operations that must satisfy two criteria. The first criterion may be the most important. Auxiliary enterprises must be outside the primary mission of the educational institution. In American higher education, it is usually assumed that the mission of a college or university revolves around the triad of teaching, scholarship, and public service. Anything outside all three of those areas is a candidate for classification as an auxiliary enterprise. Anything inside one or more of the areas cannot be considered an auxiliary enterprise. The second criterion which an auxiliary enterprise must satisfy is that it provides goods or services to individuals or groups on a fee-for-service basis. As an accepted consequence, these enterprises are meant to be profit-making or at least self-supporting. They are definitely not intended to be a drain on the institution’s resources, particularly its general and education budget.

The classification of some operations as auxiliary enterprises is obvious, while the classification of other operations is debatable. The key to the classification of an operation as an auxiliary enterprise is the satisfaction of the two criteria. Firstly, the enterprise must reside outside the primary mission of the institution. Can the institution fulfill its mission of teaching, research, and public service without relying on this operation? Secondly, does the enterprise charge on a fee-for-service basis with the intent of making a profit or at least breaking even?

The first example of an auxiliary enterprise which I want to consider is campus housing. For many years, it had the highest, consistent profit potential of any auxiliary enterprise. I can already hear the catcalls from the proponents of residential education yelling, “Residence life is an essential component of the teaching mission of our college.” However, with the exception of a handful of special mission institutions like the military academies and experimental institutions like Deep Springs College in California, almost all colleges and universities can fulfill their teaching mission without requiring students to reside in campus housing.

Almost all of the colleges that “quote” [air-quote] require students to reside on campus make exceptions. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.
I say this in spite of the overwhelming educational research which proves students who reside on campus do better on average than students who live off-campus. I think that most institutions which have campus housing will quote this research to encourage or “require” students to reside on campus. I put the word “require” in quotes because when the rubber meets the road, almost all of the schools which say they require students to reside on campus make exceptions.

Why do colleges which claim campus residence is a requirement make exceptions? There are two primary reasons. Firstly, although to my knowledge the requirement has never been tested in a court of law, many legal scholars believe that it would be a very difficult for most institutions to prove that residency is a real necessity in order to meet their educational goals for students. The only exception would be schools like the military academies which actually demand a 24/7 living-learning experience as a part of their educational requirements. Secondly, most institutions need students. Bending on the residency requirement is one way to enroll more students.

I would like to call College A to the stand to testify. However, I can’t require the college to testify against itself. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In order to establish the fact that campus housing is an auxiliary enterprise, I have the following evidence to present. I would like to call to the witness stand the colleges that “require” first-year students to reside on campus. I realize that in any trial situation, I cannot require defendants to testify against themselves. I can use their publicly communicated words against them.

It’s happened again. I’ve run out of time and space to finish my discussion of campus housing as a prime example of using auxiliary enterprises to provide a buffer to a college’s budget woes. I didn’t even get to a discussion of other auxiliary enterprises, examples of how outsourcing could help colleges, or examples of the positives and negatives of the sale of institutional assets. My next post The Commercialization of American Higher Education – Part III will continue the discussion of campus housing. I will consider other auxiliary enterprises in Part IV. I will deal with outsourcing in more detail in Part V, and sales of assets in Part VI.