from VCCA Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 1988, 43-46
© Copyright 1988 VCCA Journal
As we move toward the 21st century it seems clear that changes will make the year 2000 as different from 1980 as 1980 was from 1920. Vast changes are predicted worldwide as the population in most underdeveloped countries continues to grow at alarming rates while that of the U.S. is somewhat stable and as economic power shifts to other nations, often at our loss of power.
Our nation's population is not growing but it is changing. In the decades ahead increasing proportions of our population will be represented by older people, more minorities, but fewer who speak English as a first language. The number of 14 - 24 year olds who constitute the nation's entry-level labor pool is expected to decline from 25 percent of the total population to 16 percent by 1995 (ECS). As the proportion of youth declines, substantially during the next 10 to 15 years, our nation will experience increasingly fierce competition between educational institutions, the military, and the labor force, for young men and women to fill needed roles. Because of our failure to plan properly for the elderly, our weakened social security system and embarrassing health care system will force many elderly back into the labor market, but they will fill primarily part-time and relatively undemanding jobs.
We know that the U.S. will not regain preeminence in heavy production industry and that our nation will face rapidly increasing economic competition throughout the world. The "information economy" will place increasing demands on many to be computer literate but despite (or perhaps because of) the rapidly growing applications of technology in the workplace, the majority of new jobs in the years ahead will be in service occupations, not in science and engineering. According to recent reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the occupations that will have more than 300,000 new positions between 1984 and 1995, are retail sales, cashiers, engineers, registered nurses, janitors and cleaners, truck drivers, waitresses and waiters, wholesale trade, nurses aides, and accountants. It is important to note that although the high growth is not in "high-tech," significant decline is projected for low skilled jobs; the growth is in the middle, the area requiring education beyond the high school.
Increasing demands for literacy in general will make the 23 million Americans who are now illiterate even more disadvantaged. Our nation will demand that much higher proportions of the population achieve higher levels of education. In 1980, only 66.3 percent of the nation's adult population were high school graduates. Of course there are regional differences with most of the South trailing the rest of the nation. Fewer than 60 percent of the adults in ten Southern states were high school graduates in contrast to 76 percent, or more, of the over 25 population in five states outside the South.
Of course, the proportion of adults who graduated from high school reflects past performance of students and schools. Sadly, we are not doing much, if any, better today. In 1932, slightly more than 30 percent of the students who had entered the fifth grade seven years earlier graduated from high school. By 1958, that figure had risen to just under 60 percent, and by 1968 it was a little more than 70 percent. Between 1968 and 1980 there was little more progress. Today, an appalling 25 percent of American youth fail to complete high school and that figure is a staggering 50 percent in urban America. As you would expect, those who dropout are more likely to be men than women, more likely to be poor than rich, and more likely to represent minorities than whites.
These and other pressing problems will require the best from all of us to cope with the 21st century. Community colleges will be called upon to perform increasingly complex tasks and every member of the college community will be called upon for high quality work. We did not need Peters and Waterman to tell us that we had problems with the quality of much of what is done in America because we all have been victims of poor quality work in virtually every facet of our lives. We have been victims of a decline in "professionalism" throughout the workplace in America. Community college students have been victims of a national lack of professionalism.
What is professionalism? What do you think of when you think of a profession? Medical doctors? Lawyers? Teachers? Ministers? You have known professional doctors, lawyers, teachers, and ministers but you also have known unprofessional doctors, lawyers, teachers, and ministers. As important, you have known professional automobile mechanics, carpenters, shopkeepers, and even housewives. Is professionalism associated with the kind of work we do or the way we do that work? I believe it is the latter!
When we think about the characteristics of the professionals we have known in any particular walk of life, specific characteristics come to mind. First, and probably foremost because it drives the rest, is a strong belief that what they do makes a difference; that what they do makes life better for others and that the better they do it the better it makes life for others. You do make a difference! You are often the first contact that students have with your community college. A secretary can close the open door for a student who rushes to the campus to register during her lunch break only to find you posting a sign "Closed for Lunch." Or a member of the security force can close the door by ticketing or locking the wheels on that prospective student's car because she could find not proper space while she rushed in to complete the registration.
People who know that what they do is important cannot help but strive for perfection. They know that the quality and timeliness of their work does have an impact on the quality of instruction, counseling, advising, registration, and other important activities of the college. The extra effort that insures timely purchase and delivery of instructional equipment, that causes a student to get a tuition refund more quickly after a class is cancelled; that insures that classrooms, laboratories, and shops are clean and ready for instruction; that aids students in finding instructional materials and references in the library; or that insures that audio-visual equipment works every time and the instructors know how to use it, really does make a difference. The true professional strives for perfection. Would you go to a doctor who was satisfied with a 75 percent cure rate? We do not expect "suicides" with every failure, but every time a professional fails he or she should be seriously concerned and recommitted to doing a better job next time.
A commitment to perfection requires a commitment to professional growth, to staying current and growing. That means that professionals read journals, books, and other materials appropriate to their work. Professionals seek opportunities to attend workshops, conferences, and courses in their fields. Secretaries should always know more than their bosses about new developments in equipment, software, and techniques. Custodians should always know more about cleaning materials, methods, and equipment than the dean of administration. New approaches to work, techniques for doing work, and equipment and materials available for work at your colleges should be there because you recommended them, not because a president or dean learned about them at a conference or while visiting a neighboring college.
Commitment to perfection also means that professionals seek criticism. Most colleges have flimsy evaluation programs at best, and those evaluations usually are completed only once per year. That is not much help for someone who is seriously concerned with building strengths and remediating weaknesses. Professional secretaries, library assistants, custodians, accountants, or other support staff will seek regular constructive evaluation of their work from immediate supervisors and students, peers, or others, and will use that information to make improvements in their performance.
Professionals are so aware of the importance of their work that they help each other succeed. They know they are diminished by the failure of one of their peers in the college so they make every effort to instill professionalism in others. On the other hand, professionals police their own ranks. They do not tolerate shoddy work, hide their peers' failures from supervisors, or support those who show consistent disregard for quality in their work.
Professionals love their work! If they know what they do is important and that they are current and successful in their work they cannot help but feel good about what they are doing. Professionals look forward to work each morning and feel some regret at the end of each day over what they did not get accomplished as well as they would have liked. One cannot be professional in a job they do not like!
Professionals live their work! I have always heard that one should leave work at the office. If you are proud of what you do, if you know what you do is important, if you believe that you really make a difference in the lives of others, you cannot leave your work at the office. You will have to tell others about it!
Are you a professional???
W. Robert Sullins is Professor of Education and Program Area Leader for Community College and Higher Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is also the editor of the Community College Catalyst, the professional journal of the National Council of Community Services and Continuing Education.