[Alumni-chat] What will the BOT do?

[bdevine (bdevine at antioch-college.edu)]

Sally writes:
 
I think the commentary on "meaningful" jobs and the cost of living in New
York City is pretty bankrupt.   


Sally,

That's why you're neither a college administrator nor a Co-op faculty member.  Cost of living in urban centers where there are concentrations of jobs, housing, alums, transportation, etc. has skyrocketed, whereas entry-level wages have not. And remember, the Co-op program is not for you, but for 18-22 year-olds in a culture that encourages them to seek meaningful engagement through community service and a host of other activities that are far in excess of anything that might have been available to me in my high school years.  You may scoff at "meaningful", but I can assure you that students (a) are far more worldly than college-aged students of the 50s, (b) are more engaged in the civic life of the community (see Nie and Hillygus' study in Ravitch and Viteritti's "Making Good Citizens: Education and Civil Society", and Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont and Stephens, "Educating Citizens") and (c) are indeed interesting in investing energies in ways that will make a difference.  So I guess
you'll just have to scoff at 18 year olds and the culture that produced them. 


Sally writes:
Today is Labor Day -- we celebrate something  of
the contribution of the great American Workforce to the country, and it
should be "meaningful" to have an experience out of the college culture as a
fairly short term participant observer in that workforce.  Moreover there  are
hundreds of communities in the US that have a great deal of interest to  offer
that is "meaningful" that are not the Big Apple.  Many of these  places are not
all that expensive.  And as things go, many are fairly  safe. 

Sally,

I wasn't confining my comments to New York.  I mentioned NY co-ops because I've done a lot of work in New York and have interacted a lot with students on co-op there.  I think the circumstances are similar in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, St. Louis, etc.  The costs are there, the dangers are there.  Sadly Antioch students have, from time to time, had bad things happen in a variety of large to mid-sized cities.  Obviously parents are concerned about the cultural changes that have impacted co-op over the years.    

Sally writes:

The college should be focused on developing  the entry level
jobs likely connected with career interests, and then increasing  the value
the student can add to the employer's mission job by job.

Sally,

And what would those entry level jobs be?  The sciences require a threshhold of knowledge and skill, a lot of entry level social service jobs require theoretical and practical background, maturity and good judgement.  A lot of entry-level jobs in business require a strong skill-set in IT, networking, etc.  What entry level jobs are you talking about?


Sally writes:

In the late 1950's we had 14 PD staff advisors each responsible  for about 100
students and about 50 to 60 jobs.  Three weeks out of a  quarter they traveled,
meeting with employers, developing new jobs and the like  -- the rest of the
time they were involved with reading post job papers and  reports, and dealing
with the students bids for listed jobs and making  placements.  It took that
level of support to do it properly. 

Sally,

Yes, and I had to walk five miles through the snow with bare feet carrying my own desk and chair.  How much did these staffers make, Sally?  How was the College able to provide a living wage to so many faculty and staff?  How much did it cost to travel, how much of it was by car, train, plane?  I left Antioch at the end of 1981 because i could no longer support my family on an Antioch salary.  I was a tenured Associate Professor making $11,000/year.  You can afford a lot of co-op and classroom faculty if you can get away with paying them starvation wages.  If you are able to achieve "that level of support to do it properly" it is at the expense of the students who must pay higher tuitions, no?  
 
Bob