“This project will, indeed, provide the knowledge and skills necessary for individuals to be successful in establishing a meaningful career and a promising future” says Dr. Ray Sanders, TRU executive director Community U and director of Williams Lake campus. “

He does not really believe that, does he? If he does he must believe in Santa Claus as well.

Those who are excellent teachers know full well that the good doctor has left out THE main ingredient for anyone to be successful at a vocation – ATTITUDE.

KSA – Knowledge, Skills, Attitude – are the three components which good teachers address over the many years the students are in the public education system.

While parents, extended family, the community and others who touch a child’s life may not have all the knowledge and skills required to move the child and young adult into a “meaningful and promising future”, they do have the responsibility, in partnership with the public or private school system the child attends, to nurture an attitude which promotes an interest in learning and moving through the progression from child to adult with the capacity to take on the responsibility of becoming self sufficient and reliant to the point of being able to raise a family and continue the cycle of living.

So, while knowledge and skills are essential, they are not adequate for success. A Harvard University study found that people are employed 85% of the time because of their attitude and only 15% of the time because of how smart they are and how many facts and figures they know.

When one looks at curricula and planned learning outcomes, almost 100% of educational dollars goes to teach facts and figures which account for only 15% of success at work.

Attitude – motivation, work ethic, integrity, self-confidence, cooperation, expectations, energy levels, optimism and so on – is critical for career success.

Every few years such programs are resurrected and the cycle repeated because some people have failed to develop the attitude required to be a supportive member of a sustainable community. I have been aware of that cycle for over 30 years now. We have not been able to make any headway over that time. In fact, it is not only First Nations who suffer from this.

There have been so many studies over the years such as the one linked here
http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF09-29-06.pdf

“Are They Really Ready to Work”

A quote from that report: “We have experienced horrendous turnover rates among high school graduates we hire,” says Chyrel Fortner of Pan Pacific Products. “We hire these young people, and then they don’t come to work. And they don’t see a problem with being absent. And when they do come, what they seem to care about is when they can leave work.” Within one month, half of those hired and terminated were recent high school graduates for whom this was their first full-time job.

“Yet, at the same time, a sense of entitlement prevails. “Kids want to get that top job right away, the nice air-conditioned office with the computer—never mind that the way managers achieved those jobs was by starting at the bottom and working their way up.”

The question then becomes are colleges any better than elementary and high schools to address attitude and motivation.

From the same report linked above.

“The employer respondents report “deficiencies” in Professionalism/Work Ethic among two-year and four-year college graduates, although not nearly as significantly as with high school graduates. Almost one-third of employer respondents (31.3 percent) report Professionalism/Work Ethic as a “deficiency” among two-year college graduates, and 18.6 percent of the employer respondents say the same for four-year college graduates. Several Business and Educational Council members commented on college-graduate hires’ attitude of entitlement, particularly related to unrealistic salary and promotional expectations.

“We’re seeing a conflict in young people who arrive in our workplace today, in terms of what they expect and the reality of what occurs,” notes Diane Barrett of USA TODAY. They come with their college degrees polished and are ready to move up the ladder. But much of what they have learned in school is not applicable. They get disillusioned after a short time on the job.” In some cases, college graduates expect to move to a senior position in one or two years, “a totally unrealistic view of what it takes to move up the corporate ladder,” she added.

I suspect that as students mature and realize the responsibilities they have, some of them will adjust in order to survive. Perhaps college life will help them along with that. However, even after college, there is a significant number who are still not ready to become part of the workforce.

So, are colleges in a position to get students work-ready? I really do not think they are. That process has to be multifaceted with family, friends, community and companies willing to provide on-the-job learning experiences designed to adjust attitude and motivation as the primary initiative.

By missing ATTITUDE in the objectives of the program, TRU has shown they are not about to change a perpetual and growing problem.

Their sense of entitlement will hold them back.

When I was a kid the only way I’d get toys was from my paper route and collecting the family pop cans. Even small task like that instills work ethic in children.

Carpenter you got it.

It’s a pretty simple concept that the work ethic is taught by the parents at a young age.

There are way too many children in this day and age that have no chores in the home but are instead are allowed free reign in what they choose to do. I’ve got a 16 yo boy who isn’t happy with his chores and has told me he is the only kid in school who has to do them.

Why is nearly all child rearing being blamed on the school system? It’s time for the parents of these kids to hang their heads and admit they screwed up instead of blaming schools or the boss etc.

The employers can share a little bit of blame here as well. If they don’t wanny work or are slacking it’s time for them to go, pretty simple concept isn’t it. Maybe change the hiring policy to look at applicants who maybe are a little older and have a mortgage etc.

Maybe the ‘improper’ attitude comes from the realisation that all that’s ahead of them is a lifetime of indebtedness.

By the time they’ll ever really ‘own’ anything worth having they’ll have probably paid for it at least twice and it’ll be worn out. And it’s replacement will be more expensive again.

You can blame the sense of ‘entitlement’ all you want, but just who was it that created that sense of entitlement? Without properly ensuring that it was being adequately funded in the first place?

Instead of putting in place a system that enabled us to pay FOR what we’ve done FROM what we’ve done, we’ve continually mortgaged the future. And now have to pay for what we’ve done from what we’re DOING, or are GOING TO HAVE TO DO. And that’s becoming harder and harder to do.

socred: “You can blame the sense of ‘entitlement’ all you want, but just who was it that created that sense of entitlement? Without properly ensuring that it was being adequately funded in the first place? “

It really doesn’t matter how the entitlement got there, it’s there. It’s not just young people with this attitude either. For some reason, there are a huge number of people who actually believe the world revolves around them.

Yes, JB, it’s called ego-centrism and it is definitely not the exclusive domain of the young. However, those who work in post-secondary education see so much of it in the young that it is understandable to conclude that it is a malady of youth.

Gus, that’s a very interesting article you cite and I’ve bookmarked it for full review later. But I would encourage you to not look at such training efforts as the one in W. Lake with such a jaundiced eye. Are the they pefect, the answer to the ills you list with our youth? Not entirely, but I don’t believe any training effort is totally wasted. All education changes the person, encourages growth and self-understanding, emparts a usefull skill-set.
On the other hand, I’d sure like to see a return to the co-op formula where it may take a little longer to achieve the credential, but you acquire some pretty meaningful and practical skills, such as attitude, along the way.

Years ago I found out why others have the Jobs at the Local Mills ” They show up every Day for Work” and the locals complain they don’t hire us. I worked in many so called Mill Town and the story is all ways the same. I has nothing to do with Education and you cant teach Trades at the University Level! I do agree with Gus “Attitude and reliable is the Number 1 thing to get and keep the Job”

The program is designed to provide First Nations communities and local employers with group literacy and essential-skills level assessments, as well as individual literacy and essential-skills assessments.
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I understand the pre-occupation with youth and attitude (something maybe about the writers maybe being old with attitude ;-) ) but the statement in the article doesn’t say anything about youth being the target audience .. although I am sure there are some unemployed youth in First Nations communities along with rest of the unemployed.

If I was a kid and I knew a “great white father” in Ottawa will support me when I grow up, where’s my incentive to look after myself? Just sayin’. Ethnocentric? Can’t help it.

It is offered by Thompsons Rivers University (TRU) headquartered in Kamploops. TRU is expanding north and it means UNBC is loosing more student market share.

I am not sure if UNBC administration is looking at all its options. I haven’t seen much enthusiasm from UNBC when the last time I wrote them about increasing the student numbers.

It is offered by Thompsons Rivers University (TRU) headquartered in Kamploops. TRU is expanding north and it means UNBC is loosing more student market share.
=============================================
Williams Lake has been part of TRU’s service area since the 60s (prior to TRU, Cariboo University College, prior to CUC, Cariboo College) .. well before UNBC’s time … part of the College service areas, the official dividing line is about Soda Creek .. I am not sure if trying to offer services directly at the First Nations community level in other regional service areas is the most effective way to increase enrollment numbers

in the last post .. Cariboo University College should read University College of the Cariboo or UCC .. it is late or early depending on your day :)

(u r an early bird :)

“Some of the points Dean Madak raised were that applications from the lower mainland have decreased by 34%,”
[UNBC senate, 11 June 2008]

I recall that in one study in UNBC, the no of UNBC students from Northern BC has not decreased and the decline was mainly due to lower mainland undergraduate students (I don’t know of recent data). Note that the no of graduate students in UNBC have been increasing in contrast to undergraduate numbers which is managed by Dean of enrollment reporting to the UNBC provost.

“Dean Madak noted that the presentation would focus primarily on undergraduate
recruitment, as the Office of Research and Graduate Programs was responsible for graduate recruitment, and the Director Regional Operations, Senator Macknak, was now responsible for international
recruitment.”

QUESTION: Why UNBC did not use/apply the successful strategy of dean of graduate programs? Why UNBC did not duplicate his work or use his experience?

This is the $6 Million question.

If I were the dean of enrollment, I would analyze the no of students from the lower mainland in TRU and see if TRU’s new research univ status is further hurting UNBC. I am not sure if UNBC has looked into it.

“Before you can fix a problem, you really have to control it.” [Lewis Brinson, a team player]

a couple of observations on univ’s posts ..

the 2008 data reflects the decrease in enrollments from the lower mainland .. since then, the number of northern applications have declined also .. a direct function of fewer students enrolling in the K-12 system .. also provincial institutions (UBC, SFU, BCIT, etc) are are easier to get into now that the pressure has been relieved somewhat at the coast and they are recruiting northern students more actively.

comparing undergraduate to graduate recruiting approaches is awkward .. the two groups are quite different .. a grad student will travel across the world to get into the right situation whereas an undergrad will be more concerned about proximity to home, expense, etc. SO the recruiting approaches will need to be unique to each group

I agree with you that more effective analysis would be helpful .. however, I would suggest that analysis needs to focus on internal processes more than what the competition is doing .. for example, the current International students will have more effect on future International student enrollments through word of mouth than any comparative Marketing approach … based on recent student-faculty based events and experiences, I anticipate UNBC may encounter decreased interest from International students also ..

The reason UNBC cannot compete and “score goals” is also due to its internal processes. There is definitely a big problem in internal process of rehiring the deans. The dean of graduate programs who implemented a successful strategy (increasing the grad students by 6 times) is sitting on the bench and in his place the dean who reduced the enrollment numbers and didn’t score a single goal is in office. If you want to score goal, you don’t replace the one player scoring goal after goal with one scoring no goals.

Should a very successful dean – NOT affiliated with environmental and natural resources – be replaced by a very unsuccessful dean – affiliated with environmental and natural resources? Internal politics?

QUESTION: Should success and performance be criteria for deanship in UNBC or affiliation with environmental and natural resources?

“One can conclude that Environmental programs have gradually dominated the ecosystem of UNBC and in some cases this progress has come at the expense of other engineering programs and research areas and unfortunately at the expense of UNBC enrolment.”
[univ 13 Nov 2010]

see blog/view/18284/1/boost+minimum+wage,+look+at+engineering+for+unbc+-+recommendations+in+budget+2011+report?id=143&st=7815

Failure to Differentiate Sin:
“But leaders who don’t differentiate do the most damage when it comes to people. Unwilling to deliver candid, rigorous performance reviews, they give every employee the same kind of bland, mushy, “nice job” sign-off. Then, when rewards are doled out, they give star performers little more than the laggards.”

[Jack Welsh, NBC]