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Students Are Paid To Not Attend College

The Chronicle of Higher Education posted an e-version of an article written by Ben WIeder, entitled Thiel Fellowship Pays 24 Talented Students $100,000 Not to Attend College. The Thiel in the title is Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal. The $100,000 Fellowships are meant to encourage 24 very talented students to spend two years developing their business ideas instead.  The whole idea has created a stir in higher education circles.

The whole article may be found at http://chronicle.com/article/Thiel-Fellowship-Pays-24/127622/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

One of the fellowship winners highlighted in the article is Jim Danielson, who was an electrical-engineering student at Purdue. Mr Danielson is quoted as saying he “learned more about his field on his own than in the classroom.”

This comment from Mr. Daniels  reminded me of a portion of Mike Rose’s story, that he tells in his autobiographic book “Lives on the Boundary.” Mr. Rose’s related an incident from his graduate education in creative writing when he became overwhelmed with hour after hours, day after days of studying in the UCLA library, reading essay after essay about the poems they were reading in class. He finally gathered up all his courage and went to see the chairman of the creative writing program. Mr. Rose told the chair that we was learning more about the poems they were reading and studying in class by writing his own poetry. The chair shook his head,smiled and said in effect, “That’s not the way we study poetry here.”  Some institutions will permit and encourage students to learn by doing, others do everything they can to discourage that type of learning activity.

I find this ironic since Aristotle said all free men should be educated in the three forms of knowledge, theorica, poeises and praxis. Theorica was the reflective contemplation of knowledge received through all of our senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching); poeises was the production of objects of value (such as writing poems or painting a picture–poeises is the word from which we get our word poetry); praxis was learning by doing (praxis is the word from which we get our word practice – More than once people have said the only way to learn to teach is to teach, and that you really never learn medicine until you practice medicine.) It seems that poeises and praxis are both learning by doing. What’s the difference? I believe the primary difference is that the goal of poeises is to produce a product of value. It is to create an inanimate object of value; while the goal of praxis to enable the individual to affect changes in people whether oneself or others.

In many of our institutions, particularly liberal arts institutions, the primary, if not the only emphasis, seems to be on theorica. We also tend to restrict our sensory intake to seeing and hearing.  In Ancient Greece, the full orbed theorica was held up as the pinnacle of knowledge. However, beyond a rudimentary introduction to it, further study in  it  was reserved only for superior students, the best of the best. Does this have any implications for our higher education system of today?

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Michigan Community Colleges Make Push for State Lawmakers to Allow Them to Offer Some Four-Year Programs

A recent article in the Jackson Citizen Patriot was picked up by and featured in the February 23, 2011 e-edition of University Business: http://www.universitybusiness.com/newsletter/daily/dailynewssummary.aspx?newscontenttype=1&newsid=42 .

This article sets the stage for an upcoming fight in the Michigan legislature.

What’s at stake in this battle?  The answer depends upon who is answering. Four-year institutions will argue that academic quality and integrity are at stake. They will argue that two-year institutions are not equipped or staffed to offer “legitimate” four-year programs. The four-year institutions will argue that four-year programs are our forte. That’s what we do. Shouldn’t students get the best education available?

That last question is an interesting question, because students will agree and then say the education that four-year institutions are offering are not available to them. The JCP interviews one such student. Her statements are telling.

Registered nurse, Stephanie Palmer wants to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Jackson Community College. What are the three reasons she gives? 1) Convenience: It’s close to her home.  2) Cost: It’s…”less expensive than a four-year college.” 3) Flexible schedule: JCC offers greater scheduling flexibility for working parents like her.

At this point, the four-year institutions jump up and ask the public:”When you’re sick, do you want a nurse treating you who hasn’t received the best education possible?” I’m sorry but this is in no way meant to disparage Stephanie or any other registered nurse. But all registered nurses have already taken the required clinical courses and passed all the licensure tests to permit them to practice nursing. I would dare say that if you have visited a clinic within the past five years, you have been treated by at least one registered nurse, and that you probably didn’t notice any difference in your treatment.

So why would Stephanie or any other registered nurse want to get a four-year BSN degree? The BSN opens new opportunities to nurses, including specialty training, higher pay and more responsibilities. Many hospitals hire registered nurses but restrict their duties. A recent study by done by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that surgical patients treated by more nurses with bachelor’s degrees had a greater chance of survival than those treated by fewer bachelor trained nurses. Results like this have led some hospitals to require the BSN as a prerequisite for service on post-operative patients.

I have spent more than forty-years at four different institutions overseeing and studying non-traditional adult education programs along with the traditional educational programs at those institutions. During those years, the three reasons given by Stephanie were always the primary reasons adults gave for selecting non-traditional educational programs over traditional academic programs. Interestingly, at one of those institutions, the three primary reasons given by commuters for selecting the on-line alternative over a residential program were: 1) Convenience; 2) Cost; 3) Flexibility of scheduling. For both categories of student, non-traditional learners and commuters, these three characteristics outweighed any perceived difference in program quality when it came to program choice.

The next three most frequent reasons given by adults in program selection were 4) Program meets students’ needs. The curriculum and examples are related to what the students do or want to do. The students see the immediate usefulness of this learning. The students can apply the learning immediately. 5) Program uses pedagogical methods that the students understand and help the students learn. 6) Prospective students believed that the alternative programs provided excellent learning. The students and others who have gone through the program have received work place or other external recognition for things learned through the program.

Four-year programs respond with comments stressing the real worth of a program is not immediate gratification, but long-term usefulness and that students are not the best judges of long-term usefulness. That may well be the case but the four-year institutions have not done enough to convince students of these arguments.

The one argument that is almost never heard in public venues is that if enough students switch to the two-year institutions or alternative learning style programs, the traditional four-year programs will be hurt financially. For public institutions, the second biggest source of income is from the state, county or city, and that is currently based on enrollment. The more students that go elsewhere, the less money these institutions receive. Generally tuition is the main source of income in all institutions, and the fewer the number of students, the less income is available for anything the institutions want or need to do, such as hire or pay faculty. The fewer faculty members hired and the less they are paid, the more unhappy they will be.

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After hundreds of years of debate, we finally have a defintion of a religious institution of higher education

What is a religious institution of higher education? After centuries of arguments and debates, finally, we have a definition. It comes to us from an impeccable source. An Acting Regional DIrector, of Region 2, (NYC, NY) of the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB was forced to define a religious institution because of a suit brought against Manhattan College by it Adjunct Faculty Union, supported by the New York State United Teachers, AFT?NEA/AFL-CIO.

The core of the matter was that the adjunct faculty of Manhattan College sought to unionize, but Manhattan College argued that because they were a  Catholic institution, they did not have to recognize an employee union.

After listening to the arguments from both sides and reading hundreds of pages of material published by Manhattan College, the NLRB ruled that Manhattan College was really not a Catholic institution. Manhattan for its entire existence has claimed to be a Catholic institution in the Lasalian order.

However, the NLRB based its ruling on evidence provided by Manhattan that attempted to described it religious ties in wording so vague that most secular institutions could use to describe their missions. Manhattan described the Lasalian philosophy as a belief in “excellence in teaching, respect for individual dignity, and commitment to social justice.”

The Regional NLRB continued by stating that  the primary hallmarks of an authentic Catholic college or university are exclusionary hiring, a proselytizing atmosphere, and dogmatic inflexibility in the curriculum. If this ruling stands, these could become the guidelines for judging whether an institution is a religious institution or not.

Why do I believe that this is not the final word on this issue?

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What Can Faculty Learn From A Broadway Musical?

An article that first appeared in the July 4, 2010 e-edition of the Technology Section of The Chronicle of Higher Education was repeated in the July 9, 2010 e-edition of Academe Today. The article was entitled “Linked In With: A Writer Who Questions the Wisdom of Teaching with Technology.”  Because I was familiar with Carr’s writings, this article caught my attention and I had to read it, even though I was confident of what I was going to find. The author of the article, Marc Parry, was talking about and interviewing Nicholas Carr, the author of a book entitled, “The Shallows,” and many articles, including “IT Doesn’t Matter” and “Is Google Making Us Stupid?“As usual, Carr was questioning the efficacy of technology in assisting in the teaching and learning process. This article was vintage Carr.

I believe education is meeting students where they are and helping them to get to where they want and ought to be. If where they want to be is not where they ought to be, then our first job in education is to help them see where they ought to be. I believe every prospective teacher should watch the musical, “My Fair Lady.” Can teachers learn anything from a Broadway musical? I think they can if they are paying attention, especially if they are asked to reflect on one particular scene. The scene takes place in the Professor’s study, when he and the Colonel are celebrating Eliza’s triumphant debut at the gala. Colonel Pickering keeps saying, “You said that you could do it, and you did it.” Professor Higgins replies:”Yes I did it.” But did you see Eliza in the corner of the room crying and sobbing, “What have you done? “ They replied:”We made you a lady.” Eliza responded, “I never asked to be a lady. All I wanted was to be able to speak well enough to sell flowers at the corner shop. Now that I am a lady, there is nothing left for me to do, but to sell myself and marry a gentleman.” The Professor and the Colonel used good pedagogy and “taught her well”, but they didn’t listen to what she wanted, and they definitely didn’t help her understand what it was to be a lady and why that was important.

The following exchange between Perry and  Carr reminded me of that scene from “My Fair Lady:”Perry asked Carr: “If the Internet is making us so distracted, how did you manage to write a 224-page book and read all the dense academic studies that much of it is based on?” Carr responded, “It was hard. The reason I started writing it was because I noticed in myself this increasing inability to pay attention to stuff, whether it was reading or anything else. When I started to write the book, I found it very difficult to sit and write for a couple of hours on end or to sit down with a dense academic paper.” I have found that most of our students today don’t know how to sit down for a couple of hours to read or write. They mentally and physically can’t sit for a couple of hours to read or write. They definitely don’t know how to sit down and read a dense paper. They also don’t know why that should be important. It is not enough for us to tell them just to do it, because it is important and it is good for them. How often to our question of why, do we accept the answer, “Because I told you so; besides it is good for you; or you ought to do it.” At one point in the article after renouncing the use of the internet, Carr says, “my abilities to concentrate did seem to strengthen again. I felt in a weird way intellectually or mentally calmer. And I could sit down and write or read with a great deal of attentiveness for quite a long time.” Our students don’t know why that is important for them unless we help them learn that. Just telling that it is good and that it works for us is not enough. If we want to reach these students, we need to meet them where they are and help them see the benefits of the reflective pursuit of knowledge and truth for them. If we don’t do that, these students might well be like Eliza, sitting in the corner crying that we didn’t listen to them, and we haven’t. The other more likely possibility is they will give up, walk away and never engage in the reflective pursuit of knowledge.

My next question may sound like heresy coming from someone within the academy, “Is the reflective pursuit of knowledge the only way to obtain knowledge? The ancient Greeks allowed and even encouraged at least three different ways of knowing, theoria, poiesis and praxis. Theoria is the word from which we get our words theory and theoretical. In ancient Greece, it meant contemplation or seeing by observation. It developed into the idea of the theoretical pursuit of knowledge and truth through contemplation or reflection. Poiesis is the word from which we get our word poetry. It meant to make or produce. It developed into the idea of creating something of value. Praxis is the word from which we get our words practice or practical. It meant action. It developed into the idea of knowledge applied to one’s actions. The goal of theoria  was truth. The goal of poiesis was a product. The goal of praxis was action.

I challenge those of us in the academy, are we open to different ways of knowing and learning? Are we willing to meet our students where they are, listen to where they want to be, and help them see where they could and ought to be? Are we willing to help them get there, even if it means using multiple ways of knowing and learning that may not at first seem comfortable to us?

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Principles of Leadership Part I

This is the first installment of a series of three posts of principles of leadership that I have gleaned from forty years in administration in Christian higher education. Although they come from that setting, many, if not most are applicable to any management situation.This post concerns one’s own personal traits and characteristics.  Post Two concerns how one deals with people. Post three will deal handling processes within the organization.

Personal Traits and Characteristics

  1.  Trust God Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3: 5-6 (New Living Translation) 
  2.  Be dependable If you say you are going to do something, do it. Be a person of your word.
  3.  Tell the truth Scripture exhorts us to “Tell the truth in love.” In addition to being the right thing to do, there are pragmatic reasons to do so. I recall one dean who said, “Always tell the truth. It’s easier to remember what you have said.”
  4.  Love learning People need to feel a passion to know…to know oneself, to know the world around us. Knowing brings understanding and a sense of fulfillment.
  5. Work hard; play hard; rest well Be diligent in your work ethic; be conscientious in your recreation; take time for yourself.
  6.  Persuade, rather than coerce If a case can’t be won by logical, rational arguments, is it worth winning?
  7.  Know your own limitations Every one has limitations. It saves you and others a great deal of time and energy if you know what your own limitations are and you operate within them.
  8.  Listen well The most overlooked communications skill is listening. People expect you to “hear” what they are saying. If they believe that you have really listened to them, they will respect your decisions more, even if they don’t agree with them.
  9.  Read Develop the habit of reading. Determine the best journals related to disciple and job. Read those religiously. Keep at least three books on hand that can be read in those spare moments…one related to spiritual development; one related to job; one just for fun.
  10.  Keep a record of your decisions Always keep a paper trail, especially of all decisions, promises and warnings
  11. Respond to people Respond to people in a reasonable time frame in an appropriate manner, letter, email, phone or personal visit.
  12. Know your enemies. First, you need to know who your enemies are. Second, you need to know why they are opposing you. Third, you need to know their battle plans and modus operandi.
  13.  Understand the power and limitations of technology If you know want technology can do and what it can’t do, and you know where it can help you achieve your ends, use technology appropriately.
  14.  Be a scholar Scholarship is the art and science of creating, organizing and disseminating knowledge. As an academic, the academic administrator must be committed to scholarship.
  15. Be engaged The essence of engagement is to know and be known. Within the academic realm, individuals need to be engaged with their disciplines, with their colleagues, with students, with their community and with their churches
  16.  Pray Pray without ceasing. Pray with thanksgiving. Pray fervently

 

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Principles of Leadership Part II

Principles of Leadership Part 2: Dealing with People

 This is the second installment of a series of three posts of principles of leadership that I have gleaned from forty years in administration in Christian higher education. Although they come from that setting, many, if not most are applicable to any management situation.This post concerns how one deals with people.  Post One dealt with personal traits and characteristics. Post three will deal handling processes within the organization.
  1. Be hospitable. Have respect for all people; be hospital to everyone; demand an aura of hospitality everywhere within the institution. Make everyone, both members of the organization and guests,  feel welcome.
  2.   Value people The most important resource in any organization is people. They need to know that you  appreciate them, not for what they do or can do, but who they are.  
  3.   Reward people Individuals appreciate psychological and emotional rewards. However, it is equally important to reward people materially, at least as much as the organization is able. People need to believe that you are trying to reward them materially.
  4. Invest in people If people are the most important resource of an organization, it is not enough to value them as persons and pay them appropriately, you must show them that they are important by challenging them to better performance and providing the necessary support in terms of training, facilities, equipment and help.
  5. Empower people I believe the best decision-making strategy for an organization is to push decisions down to the lowest appropriate level within the organization. Give people a job and responsibilities, and let them do the job.
  6.   Respond to people appropriately and in a timely manner Respond to people in a reasonable time frame in an appropriate manner, letter, email, phone or personal visit. Know when to say “No.” Also remember that “Because I said so.” is not a sufficient answer to the question “Why?” Be prepared to freely share your reasoning behind the response to any request Learn to use the answer “I will think about it.” responsibly. If you don’t say “No” many will hear that answer as a “Yes.” 
  7.    Hire the best person for a job opening The “A-level leader” will hire “A-level” people. The “B-level” leader will hire B-level or C-level people. A good subordinate will improve your organization and eventually make you look good. Don’t worry about that individual challenging you for your job. If they are a better choice and could do a better job than you, then that’s so much better for your organization. A poor subordinate will sabotage your organization and make you look bad.  
  8.   Develop your successor It has always been my intent and general practice to begin on the very first day of a job to help someone prepare him or herself to take over my job. I have mentored more than a dozen people who have gone on to serve in the position I held at my institution after I had left or at another institution after they left. 
  9.   Don’t shove a square peg into a round hole It is physically possible to put a square peg into a round hole, but only if the square peg is smaller than the hole. Try to match the skills and attributes of the individual with the demands of the position. Don’t over-match or under-match. 
  10.    Know and appreciate your students. Education is meeting students where they are and helping them to get to where they want to be and ought to be. If where they want to be is not where they ought to be, the first job of the institution is to help them see where they ought to be. This means that you must study your students and help your faculty members understand and appreciate their students.