Cigar Man Graph / Identity
Thanks to Cigar Man for sending me an email that suggested I produce the graph showing total enrollment figures for the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. The graph reflects the solid data that public institutions are mandated to submit to the Department of Education. The counts reflect real students taking courses for credit.
As you can see from the graph, Pima College enrollment is growing at a rate faster than that of the University of Arizona, and it is generally felt that the harsh economic climate is causing students to choose PCC over the university to save money, either settling for two year degrees or using PCC and then transferring.
Folks should understand that the growing enrollment is occurring as public funding for both institutions has been cut dramatically. The impact hits both institutions and students. Class sizes are increasing. Faculty are being stratified to include lower paid instructors and lecturers. Use of graduate students as fully accountable teachers operating with minimal supervision (or none) is climbing.
This is but one of the countless consequences of the Bush administration, which set up policies that funnel all wealth to the richest 1% of the nation. They get everything. The rest of us do without.
Speaking of Cigar Man, I've received more than a few inquiries on his identity. He has granted me permission to let people know that he is in education and has been involved with workforce development for many years. He has taught classes himself and understands the front lines of what it takes to teach and develop people in the real world. What he and I share is the interest in REALITY versus the bullshit of empty rhetoric and the circus we know as the Cloth.
When SAIAT started to really take off in 2005 and 2006, training thousands of people in hundreds of companies, the cloth components of workforce development and economic development went crazy. Someone started to actually do something on the stage where they enjoyed their do nothing jobs. I owe him a lot for warning me that my days were numbered. As far as I can remember, he has been 100% correct in everything he has said.
SAIAT is long gone, and Nina Trasoff is being paid $5000 to tell us about training. We know the difference it will make. Things are back to normal.
posted by x4mr at 7:14 AM
5 Comments:
Great graphic. Besides cost and smaller classes, Pima also offers more flexibility in scheduling.
I listened to your video below on TREO, the Cloth, and workforce development. Fascinating. My son is going to Pima and taking specified training classes to earn a certificate. His classes easily fit into his work schedule; some classes are a semester long; some are a few days; some are offered over a weekend.
This is in stark contrast to the UA which teaches only semester-long classes (except in the summer). The UA is losing ground because it is not adapting to the new world.
Pamela,
If you really want to know all about it, consider reading x4mr's "Something Else." The link is to the left. It will blow you away what he did, and then what was done to him.
Regarding the UA, I don't know. You might want to read x4mr's chapter 15, which is all about this. He distinguishes between "education" and "training" and how different types of organizations can provide each.
PCC can provide one style. UA another. SAIAT was "Something Else." Yes, traditional higher education needs to evolve, but I would not want to see the classic "four year campus immersion" away from parents go away. Those are four very special years.
I had already figured out that Cigar Man worked in some kind of training organization. I can't remember his name (Hart?), but at one time a man ran an adult education organization. It wasn't the high tech rocket sled on rails like SAIAT, but it did a lot of great training for struggling adults.
I don't know, but he is a good candidate for Cigar Man.
This program was threatened by the earlier SAIAT run by the first executive director. Matt's Math Skills Enhancement program was far superior to anything they could do.
These people are the ones that went positively crazy about what SAIAT became after Matt took over.
The critical thing to keep in mind, and why SAIAT was so threatening, is that these people pay PCC ADJUNCT PAY RATES!!
So what kind of trainers do you really think you're going to get?
No, I'm not Greg Hart.
What is the source of the data that produced that graph? I'm not challenging it, because clearly x4mr and Cigar Man are the real deal when it comes to training and education. I'm just curious what you used.
I know people that have tried to use the PCC business training. It is pathetic. If you ask for anything that is truly fast track, it is a joke. They take forever. They can't find teachers, or they find one but then don't have the classroom, or don't have the equipment, or their quote is ridiculous because they are required to include an overhead fee (I think it's 40%!) in the quote.
It is tragic how the leadership of this town pays lip service to education and training and then does everything it can to destroy it.
I am almost positive Cigar Man is a PCC mid-level administrator.
I want to know who the hell Sirocco and Certain Person are.
Observer,
The data reflect the enrollment statistics that institutions using federal funds (Pell grants, federal loans, etc.) submit to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). I used the grand total student enrollments for credit during the fall semester.
Gads, CM. Those links brought back memories. Much like the current fiasco of birthers and assertions the President is a Muslim, I faced a "facts be damned" attack while running SAIAT.
Even though those people did NOTHING like what SAIAT did, they pounded and pounded that they already did what we did, that we were duplicating services, and that we were providing no value. They even lied about instructor pay, saying they could pay anything. Maybe they could, but in practice they never did.
If you ask the Mayor or others, you will be told that PCC can now do what SAIAT did.
That's why Raytheon spent millions on a training center after SAIAT closed.
You are more likely to dirty dance with Rania than learn the identity of Sirocco or Certain Person.
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