Sounds like a Government (taxpayer) funded nightmare to me. Plus another venture to attract any kind of student to UNBC to try and keep their numbers up.

One of the reasons that we pay Municipal Administrators such big bucks, is because Municipalities (especially Prince George) always state that we have to pay this kind of money to attract the best people.

If we are training people locally in the University and with tax dollars from the NDI Trust, does this then mean, that we dont need the high priced imports and we can hire the locals and pay them less???

There is a real shortage of these kinds of folks in BC, and the majority of the ones in this field are approaching retirement.

Looks like Soltis is here to stay as the aministrater for Prince George.
Cheers

What does the local taxpayer get from the funds from NDI Trust. Maybe they should have a years paid internship for other trades like Welders, Carpenters, Machinists, etc;

In fact lets all get paid one year intership in a vocation of our choice, and have a good time until the money runs out.

Perhaps we could use some of the NDI money to intern with the Provincial Government to learn about transparency, and we could look into the sale of BC Rail, the operations of BC Hyro, BCTC,Powerex, BC Ferries, BCLC, BC Transit, ICBC, and other Government entities that are taking us to the cleaners on a regular basis.

“In fact lets all get paid one year intership in a vocation of our choice”

If we really are short of qualified people and business is no longer ready to train people after they graduate the way they used to, then that is exactly what we may have to do …..

Or, just let businesses give lousier service; maybe eventually die; with even worse run businesses taking their place since the new oners will likely have less experience.

Sort of a gradual downhill slide into a third world country.

Whose job is it to prevent that?

“There is a real shortage of these kinds of folks in BC”

What exactly are these kind of folks? What makes them different from other administrators who have feduciary responsibilities?

“government administration” = bureaucrat, paper pusher ….. I would love to see the material used to teach them.

From the recent charade at this City, even the people one would have thought would have been able to direct a Councillor to the right individual who would be able to answer questions without even opening up an electronic file are not capable of doing what a government administrator should be able to do on a daily basis.

Gus, this is what I’m observing. I’m in the 50 year old category, and I, and many others like me have come to some conclusions. We will not get the pensions we’ve paid for due to the inverted population growth – so we will have to work longer into our lifespan. Today’s generation has a sense of entitlement – they think we must make it as easy for them as possible, adapting to their needs. So they aren’t a joy, but a pain to train. So, why train them at all. Why not just keep on working and get a paycheque because there won’t be much of a pension. It’s easier for us to do something, than teach it.
So you are right, because one day, the generation below us will be best suited to Barista at Starbucks, and the number of truly qualified professionals, tradespeople etc, won’t be enough, and our national productivity will implode. Or, we will have to import willing young people from other countries that others like myself will want to train, and our kids will become a servant class to them. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before in history.

ski50. couldn’t agree more. I’ve recently gone back into the workforce after being self employed for 18 years. A real eye opener.

Possible titles of some of these courses:

– How to Push Paper 101

– Red Tape: What you can do with it!

– Funding: Not your worry

and so on :)

Hey ski50 ….

I’ve got you beat by a few years …. and I have been in the enviable position, after many years in industry, of trying to teach the younger, as well as some of the middle aged folks a vocation at the post secondary level. To say that THAT was an eye-opener is an understatement.

There were some excellent students, several of whom went on to take additional programs and several of whom got absorbed by industry and have done very well since, both vocationally as well as monetarily.

But some others were really not prepared from HS. They did not have some of the knowledge and skills, but in the end, the thing many of those was lacking is the attitude. They did not have the tools to be where they were when they were let into the programs and they were not able to pick them up along the way. Some of them most certainly had that entitlement attitude instead of the sponge attitude of being ready to soak information up and put it to good use.

Is it any wonder when one considers that people get passed from one grade to the next even though they should not be? Passing is the expectation. If they do not pass, it is the teachers fault. They seem to forget about the responsibility of the learner. The simplest indicator, of course, happens almost daily when you have to pay $12.53 and you give the cashier $15; it is rung in and shows a return of $2.47 … then you offer the cashier 3 pennies …… and they look at you dumbfounded.

There are some valid comments here about the weaknesses of a significant portion of our high school graduates. However, the discussion has been focused primarily on the effect(s) and not the cause.

We should not surprised by the “attitude”. Not that long ago, I had the misfortune to be involved with a Grade 8 Math class at Heather Park. In one of the discussions, it came out that 25% of the class had not passed a Math evaluation in their past 4 grades. Just think about the effects on the classroom and beyond:

The teacher becomes demoralized as s(he) realizes that at least a quarter of the students will not have a chance to master the material before the course even starts but will receive a Pass.

The weak students know before they attempt any evaluation that they will fail and nothing will be done about it.

The skilled students get short-changed because the teacher is not covering the material at the depth that a group of proficient students could hndle.

And then:

Gus gets these graduates at the College with inadequate Math skills and an attitude based on now 8 years of ecperience that says it doesn’t matter

and ski50 gets these folks in the workplace with inadequate skils and an attitude based on the acceptance of repeated failure.

And it all starts in Grade 4 when we say to Jack and Jill students that we will pass you regardless of your knowledge and skill level. What we need to say to each student is that we care enough about you (and the importance of a good education) that we will work with you to suceed and master the materials before we expect you to move on to the next set of material.

Good grief .. all because the implications of the word Fail has such a bad rap. Like we all learn at the same pace and level like a military marching band.

Can’t really blame the young folk. Many of them were never given a chance.

As an aside, both of the UNBC profs behind this proposal are reasonable people. Does it strike anyone else unusual that the proposal has been developed by a political scientist and a geographer. Where are the economists and business faculty?

“What exactly are these kind of folks? What makes them different from other administrators who have feduciary responsibilities?”

The ones that work in Local Government and know it well. Not all of them should be painted with the same paint brush. We have some excellent local gov’t administrators in the north. This forum tends to focus on just PG – but all across northern BC each community has an administrator. (I’m not one). The majority of them have come up through the ranks, but with all the of red tape and legalities that have to be taken into account, if there is training available, I’m all for it.

Folks, part of the UNBC public relations effort is to put positive news in the media to create a positive image for UNBC. But the cheapest and most cost effective publicity for UNBC is to make sure that it treats its employees nicely and resolves the grievances fairly in a timely manner, so that we don’t see these grievances and concerns turn into legal issues and dragged into the courts and tribunals and boards and strikes and demonstrations in the streets.

A GOOD manager uses carrots, not sticks to achieve higher productivity.

“But the cheapest and most cost effective publicity for UNBC is to make sure that it treats its employees nicely”

What a unique perspective …. so what about the students, the quality of the programs, etc.

I mean how about this: But the cheapest and most cost effective publicity for the City of PG is to make sure that it treats its employees nicely.

I think the cheapetive publicity for the City of PG is to make sure the City is run effectively, efficiently, economically to the expectations of all its citizens and interest groups. THAT is the type of end product upon which a City as well as a University should be measured.

One of the ways to achieve that may include treating its employees well ……

The employees and staff are those who are in the front line and dealing with the customers in city of PG, university or any other business. If the management mistreats the employees, it will damage the team work and the productivity.

The difference between the city of PG and UNBC is also “the amount of accumulated trash” in the two institutions. Literally, in one, the trash and garbage has been accumulated and the public can now see it, smell it.

No amount of marketing and publicity can attract customers to a dirty place. Clean the garbage and deal with the trash and you will attract more customers. It is obvious.

Yeah..more managers..exactly what we don’t need..
Should be standard of 1-100 managers to employees.