7th Annual Academic Advising Conference

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7th Annual Academic Advising Conference

• Other Ways to Win Is Baccalaureate Education
  Right for Every Teen?
• Ken Gray
• Professor Emeritus, Penn State
• gty_at_psu.edu

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Presentation Objectives

• Increase effectiveness of academic advising via.
• Challenging the One Way to Win mantra
• Demonstrating Other Ways to Wins
• Stressing the importance of career maturity and
  tentative career planning.
• Providing a six step framework for
  career/academic advising.

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Todays Freshman

• 66 Say that the chief benefit from college is
  increased earnings.
• 64 Have some or major concerns about the
  cost of college.
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/norms06.php

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24 Ninth Graders

• 7 drop out (29)
• 5 graduate go to work (21)
• 12 Enroll in college (50, not 70)
• 4 Drop out freshman year
• 7 Graduate in five years
• 3 Take gray collar jobs, nationally
• 4 Win the one way to win game

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The fact is that large numbers of college
graduates leave school as unsure of what they
will do when they grow up (except perhaps
continue to go to school) as they were when they
started.How CA Postsecondary Education Systems
Address Workforce Development (2007). CA
Postsecondary Education commission
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Uncertain Times

• Inflation adjusted earnings for 4-year college
  graduates are less today than in 1972.
• The average student loan debt is 20K
• Growth of Gray Collar workers
• Top 1 pay 40 of income taxes in U.S. 30 of
  highest income earners do not have a degree
• One third of young adults lack health insurance.
  Almost half of temporary workers are age 18-34.

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Uncertainty in the Information Age

• General Labor market implications
• .
• Few new occupations.
• Electronic/IT work is the easiest to off-shore
• Volunteerism
• Certifications more important than degrees
• Less than fulltime employment
• Telecommunting

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Problem 1The One Way to Win Paradigm

• Get a four year college degree
• 98 agree, 72 plan on grad school
• In order to insure economic success
• Three of top 4 reasons for going to college
• In the professional ranks
• Professional/managerial 65 Technical 6

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University Graduates Employment 2000-2012

• Supply Demand Employed
• University Grads 1,439,264 670,000 47
• Only 13 of all jobs will require just a BA
  degree (Dept of labor projections to 2016).

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The Other Way to Win Message

• The one way to win philosophy is nonsense. It
  insures the majority of teens will fail.
• There are Other Ways to Win. Technical
  education is a better way for many from the
  academic middle.
• All students should go on to postsecondary
  education when and if they can benefit from the
  experience.
• Career maturity is as important today as academic
  maturity.

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The Other Way to Win

• Technician and Middle Skill Employment.

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The High Skills/High Wage Workplace
40
30
Ratio 1-3-2-4
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What Types of Employees are Expected to Be in
Short Supply Over the Next Years?
Source 2005 Skills Gap Report A Survey of the
American Manufacturing Workforce by National
Association of Manufacturing
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Aerospace Career Technical Positions (partial)

• Inspector
• Technician, Electronic Research Calibration
• Technician, Industrial Electronic Systems
• Technician, Instrumentation Controls
• Fabricator, Plastic, Senior
• Electrician, Maintenance Industrial
• Laboratory Assistant
• Mechanic, Heavy Duty Truck
• Mechanic, Solid Propellant Development
• Operator, Solid Rocket Motor
• Tool, Jig and Fixture Builder
• Technician, Vacuum Braze Furnace
• Technician, Test and Assembly
• Technician, Rocket Test "A"
• Operator, Solid Rocket Motor "A"
• Operator, Solid Rocket Motor B
• Technician, Primary Standards - Mechanical
• Technician, Inertial and Telemetry Systems
• Sheet Metal, Journeyman

• Process Camera Technician
• Photographer, Technical
• Photographer, Still
• Photographic Laboratory Processor
• Photo Etch Processor
• Metalsmith
• Metalsmith, Experimental
• Mechanic, Plastics
• Mechanic, Maintenance
• Mechanic, Crane
• Mechanic, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
• Machinist, Journeyman
• Machine Operator
• Machine Tool Repairer Rebuilder
• Inspector, Tooling
• Inspector, Radiographic/NDT
• Grinder, Tool and Cutter
• Firefighter
• Fire Service Technician

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Occupational Skill not Degrees Provide Labor
Market Advantage
High Skill/ High Wage

Occupational Skills
Academic Skills
Work Ethic Work Ethics
Low Skill/ Low Wage
Other Ways to Win
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Problem 2Widespread Career Immaturity

• The Need to Help Teens
• Get Real

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All my life Ive always wanted to be somebody,
but I see now I should have been more
specific.
Wagner, 1986
Other Ways to Win
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Women and Career Choice
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Men and Career Choice
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Old Advice that is Now Bad Advice

• Postpone career choices as long as possible - You
  dont want to close any doors.
• Do not worry about career/college major
  indecision - you will decide that in college.

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Student Outcomes Goals of Career Development
Programs

• Help teens make the best career decision they can
  based on what they know now about themselves
  and the world of work.
• If this is a good decision, the next decision
  will be even better.

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Six Steps to Postsecondary
Success

• Step One
• What is your goal
• Why are you here
• Graduation or graduation and a job?

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Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Two
• Have a Back-up Plan
• Plan A Plan B

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Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Three
• Reach a Shared Decision

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Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Four
• Develop at least a
• tentative
• career plan

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Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Five
• Be willing to consider all
• the options!
• Prep year
• One Year Technical Certificate
• Two Year Technology Degree
• Four Year College
• Military, Apprenticeship, Employment

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Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Six
• Be Realistic
• Revisit Plan A B

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Wake Up Calls. How to know when plan B should be
plan A.

• The Obvious Wake-Up Calls
• High School Grades Attendance
• College Admission Test Scores
• Lack of any Career Direction (I dont know what
  I want to do.)
• School has always been a source of conflict (I
  hate school.)

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• The Not So Obvious Wake-Up Calls
• Generally evasive about after high school
• Avoids taking the college entrance test (SAT,
  ACT)
• Never gets around to filling out College
  applications.
• Applies to colleges based on the difficulty of
  the application, where friends are going, nice
  climate, good skiing, etc.., etc.., etc..

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The Ethical Dilemma

• Institutional goals versus what is good for the
  client.
• Nutritional lies or reality check.

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References

• Allen, D. (2008). Career Maturity and College
  Persistence. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
  Penn State University.
• Gray K. Herr, E. (2006) Other Ways to Win.
  3ed. Corwin Press Thousand Oaks, CA.
• Gray, K. (2008) Getting Real Helping Teens Find
  Their Future. 2nd. Corwin Press Thousand Oaks CA
• Visher, M., Bhandari, R., Medrich, M., (2004,
  October). High school career exploration
  programs Do they work? Phi Delta Kappan , 86(2),
  135-138.