[Alumni-chat] Alternatives for co-op going forward...

[Jon Estes]

On 9/4/07, E. Daniel Ayres <eayres at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> The recent discussion about "how things have changed" with respect to
> co-op
> jobs is an important consideration, but.
>
>
>
> Restriction of co-op locations to Washington DC, some place out west, and
> Yellow Springs just so the college can have at least one full time staff
> member locally available to provide support seems pretty lame to me.  If I
> had a kid going off to college and interested in co-operative education,
> programs at other co-op schools might be more attractive.
>
>
>
> One of the most important resources from the '60s was the so-called
> "Moocher's Guide."  Reviving and expanding that process to include all
> "supportive of the college" alumnae who sign a commitment to preserving
> and
> resurrecting residential liberal education at Antioch College might well
> help address a lot of the "issues" which were raised during the "plot" to
> emasculate the Co-op program.  (irony/humor?)
>
>
>
> Elimination/reduction of support for "own plans" co-op jobs is a key
> weakness.  When I wanted to be near my girl friend/future wife, I was able
>
> to go out and find my own reasonably high paying and interesting
> employment
> as a swimming instructor so I could live in State College, PA for a
> semester.  The Antioch College of the early '60s did not encourage me to
> do
> this, but was accepting and supportive when I made it clear that I had the
> situation completely under control, the job lined up, my own apartment
> reserved, etc. some weeks before I left campus.
>
>
>
> Frankly, prior to graduation, possibly as a capstone requirement of the
> co-op program, "own plans" job creation for at least one co-op period
> would
> be a valuable and strength building requirement.  If a group of students
> wanted, like some in the thirties did, to create their own enterprise so
> that they could have meaningful work in a period of high unemployment,
> Antioch College extramural faculty should be right in there working as a
> catalyst.


Hey, can I ask for a  source on that?  Anyone know where I could find
documentation on this? Antiochiana? Anywhere else?

I mean, honestly - is this not the point? To prepare one for real life, as
lived out according to the struggle to win one of Mann's small victories?

I also find it baffling that something like this does not already exist.
This and bob's earlier (and accurate) synopsis of how environmental,
cultural and economic factors have altered the scape, the topagrahpical
environment within which one 'co-ops' are discouraging in that it seems
elements of our culture are not confronting certain economic, logistical and
tactical realities 'on-the-ground.'

My parents had an empty sleeping room option available when I became a
> student at Anticoh.  It didn't "go begging" for long because of the
> "Moocher's Guide."    A modernization of that tool might greatly reduce
> "house hunting overhead" and provide much needed social network support
> for
> co-ops in many of the "best places to work" in the US.  I never understood
>
> why so few extramural faculty seemed at all interested in the possibility
> of
> exploiting the Alumnae as a resource.   As a part of the "plan to save
> Antioch" how many graduates who are residents of major cities could make
> commitments to house or in other ways support co-op students?  How many
> could be instrumental in the creation and maintenance of new co-op job
> opportunities?  Most importantly, why did the college never put an effort
> like this on the agenda for the Development Office?


Not quite sure. In the works for antiochians.org (not tommorrow, you
understand - but in the works and on the to-consider or to-implement lists
in conjunction with the creation of the online 'community portal'):
A skills bank, a bartering board / resource sharing system, a B2B directory
to map out and encourage the relationships among both intra-alumni and
inter-antiochian elements, a fundraising and emarketing platform, integrated
volunteer activity and event planning coordination automation tools,
interdepartmental communication tools... plus all the fixins you'd expect.
You can find info on what we are doing at http://taskforce.antiochians.org

Hence we have been trying to collect the data elements you mention above in
an effort to expand the impact of the antiochian experience. Notably,
especially as it pertains to Rick's last press release, we've had no luck
aquiring even the most rudimentary set of demographic information and thus
are very limited in the speed at which we can implement solutions to the
problems you are addressing.

Our goals could thus be summed up as simply:
(temporal) To affect one's commitment to participate well beyond graduation
(spacial) to extend that participation virtually, into cyberspace.

We will have more news in the near future about this, but be assured we're
all thinking along these lines at least within the framework of online
community development.

E. Daniel Ayres '66
>
> Aka. ZundapMan
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~eayres <http://home.comcast.net/%7Eeayres>
>
>
>
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>



-- 
Jonny Estes
!=marketing
p: 603.767.6357
e: jonny.no at gmail.com