by Sam Hatch, Lodi
EDITOR,
Besides the budget crisis, the public should know a second storyline is unfolding at Delta College: the reshaping of the college’s mission without much reflection by faculty and staff.
The state budget crisis has become an opportunity to jettison support services for Delta’s most vulnerable students. This summer, the Economic Opportunity Programs and Services and Disabled Student Programs and Services suffered reductions of 31 percent because of cuts in state funding for the programs. Despite carrying over $10 million dollars from the most recent fiscal year, the college used none of that money to help students in these programs.
Although some funding has recently been restored, the college appears to be hedging on its commitment to ensure educational access to all students.
The current round of so-called “strategic” budget cuts have been focused on basic skills — reading, ESL, developmental writing — services for the college’s most vulnerable students.
Of course, judicious cuts to all programs are a financial necessity. However, balancing the budget by slashing these programs so deeply does a disservice to the majority of our students.
Roughly 38 percent of Delta’s students read at or below the sixth-grade level, and another 46 percent read between the sixth- and ninth-grade levels. Without a sound core of support services, many of our students won’t have a reasonable chance of success.
With more “strategic” cuts expected in the spring, the college will soon help many fewer students looking for an educational second chance.
• Sam Hatch is a San Joaquin Delta College faculty member.
Thanks for reading!
Tracy Press - News, events, classifieds and businesses in Tracy, Calif.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Candidates for Quote of the Week
Please vote for only "one" of these four IN THE POLL.>>>>
1. One of those in support [of cuts to basic skills], Delta Trustee Ted Simas wants the issue taken to the board for a vote once and for all.
"It just gets frustrating to hear the same thing over again," Simas said, referring to the parade of instructors and students who have protested the cuts in recent weeks. "I want this to become an action item so that this Board of Trustees can make a decision and we can get on with the business of the college."
Record, 10/09/09
2. “This public servant business is over-rated. And the voice of the people is the voice of God—gimme a break! The voice of the people is a dogfight in a back alley over butcher’s scraps. The guys with the juice decide what the public needs.” Boss Pendergast, Kansas City philanthropist and civic leader.
3. “Funny how everything sounds like ‘blah, blah, blah,” when you’ve already made up your mind and some sap keeps on talking when he never had a snowball’s chance in hell of influencing the decision.” Quoted in Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
4. “Who knew the business of a college wasn’t educatin’ people who need some learnin’? Sounds like déjà vu all over again. Tough decisions gotta be made, and I say when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra, philosopher and Hall of Fame catcher
1. One of those in support [of cuts to basic skills], Delta Trustee Ted Simas wants the issue taken to the board for a vote once and for all.
"It just gets frustrating to hear the same thing over again," Simas said, referring to the parade of instructors and students who have protested the cuts in recent weeks. "I want this to become an action item so that this Board of Trustees can make a decision and we can get on with the business of the college."
Record, 10/09/09
2. “This public servant business is over-rated. And the voice of the people is the voice of God—gimme a break! The voice of the people is a dogfight in a back alley over butcher’s scraps. The guys with the juice decide what the public needs.” Boss Pendergast, Kansas City philanthropist and civic leader.
3. “Funny how everything sounds like ‘blah, blah, blah,” when you’ve already made up your mind and some sap keeps on talking when he never had a snowball’s chance in hell of influencing the decision.” Quoted in Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
4. “Who knew the business of a college wasn’t educatin’ people who need some learnin’? Sounds like déjà vu all over again. Tough decisions gotta be made, and I say when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra, philosopher and Hall of Fame catcher
Basic Skills Program Violates International Non-Proliferation of Non-Feasible Learning Treaty
Sam Hatch, reporting
Stockton, CA 10/12/09
The college's aim has been to provide "everything to everybody," said Trustee Teresa Brown. "I don't think that's feasible. I don't think that's practical." Record, 10/09/09
Many students in Basic Skills courses have acquired knowledge and skills they could not possibly have learned through a practical and feasible course of instruction, Delta College officials revealed today.
Proliferation of impractical and non-feasible learning is a serious problem because many basic skills students have failed to transfer, earn an associate’s degree, or earn a certificate. Instead, they have left the college seeking better jobs or promotion in their current workplaces, thus straying from their appointed path and proliferating impractical and non-feasible learning. There is also anecdotal evidence that even more dangerous second-generation proliferation is increasing: former basic skills students are helping their children with homework. However, it’s
not easy to know what to do to stop it.
The Office of Destitutional Research is looking into the practical and legal ramifications of a region-wide effort to recover learning from students who acquired it under false pretenses because they later failed to meet any of the benchmarks of success recognized by the Chancellor’s Office. Former basic skills students, who declined to be identified, justify their bootleg learning with vague references to “improved quality of life” and “greater earning power.” In a telephone interview, Professor James Hartwig, who holds joint appointments at the UC Berkeley Schools of
Education and Business, observed that “Region-wide mental repo is basically unexplored territory. Way outside the envelope. Some attempts have been made using consultants trained in VMMT [for non-initiates, Vulcan Mind-Meld Techniques]. But the costs have been prohibitive.
You’ve got to admire the Delta leadership for thinking outside the box. They have a vision, and they aren’t shy about hiring consultants.”
A source at the college, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, commented, “The mantra here is that we can’t provide ‘everything to everybody.’ So I guess that means we’re still providing ‘something to somebody,' otherwise we'd be out of business. The students who are somebodies seem to be adapting well to getting some of the things they want.”
He lamented that “the real sticking point in our transformation of the college is really those balky former somebodies, the Basic Skills students. And of course, their myopic allies among the faculty. Under current policy these students are being phased out and must adapt to being nobodies. For some reason, they can’t seem to get with the reverse Jesse Jackson thing. You know, ‘I am--Nobody, I am—Nobody.‘ Hello, can’t they see it? It’s as plain as the nose on your face. In a down economy, in a
down budget year, these people just aren’t economically viable, they aren’t practical and most of all, they aren’t feasible, and unfortunately, they are going down, too.”
However, he said the college would “remain flexible. I mean, hey, enrollment. We need quite a few of them until the census date. We do the Emma Lazarus thing until the census date. It’s sad. They all have stories that tug at your heart strings--if you listen. But money talks, level 1 walks. We’ve got a responsibility to the long-term solvency of the college and the transfer and voc. ed. students.”
Stockton, CA 10/12/09
The college's aim has been to provide "everything to everybody," said Trustee Teresa Brown. "I don't think that's feasible. I don't think that's practical." Record, 10/09/09
Many students in Basic Skills courses have acquired knowledge and skills they could not possibly have learned through a practical and feasible course of instruction, Delta College officials revealed today.
Proliferation of impractical and non-feasible learning is a serious problem because many basic skills students have failed to transfer, earn an associate’s degree, or earn a certificate. Instead, they have left the college seeking better jobs or promotion in their current workplaces, thus straying from their appointed path and proliferating impractical and non-feasible learning. There is also anecdotal evidence that even more dangerous second-generation proliferation is increasing: former basic skills students are helping their children with homework. However, it’s
not easy to know what to do to stop it.
The Office of Destitutional Research is looking into the practical and legal ramifications of a region-wide effort to recover learning from students who acquired it under false pretenses because they later failed to meet any of the benchmarks of success recognized by the Chancellor’s Office. Former basic skills students, who declined to be identified, justify their bootleg learning with vague references to “improved quality of life” and “greater earning power.” In a telephone interview, Professor James Hartwig, who holds joint appointments at the UC Berkeley Schools of
Education and Business, observed that “Region-wide mental repo is basically unexplored territory. Way outside the envelope. Some attempts have been made using consultants trained in VMMT [for non-initiates, Vulcan Mind-Meld Techniques]. But the costs have been prohibitive.
You’ve got to admire the Delta leadership for thinking outside the box. They have a vision, and they aren’t shy about hiring consultants.”
A source at the college, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, commented, “The mantra here is that we can’t provide ‘everything to everybody.’ So I guess that means we’re still providing ‘something to somebody,' otherwise we'd be out of business. The students who are somebodies seem to be adapting well to getting some of the things they want.”
He lamented that “the real sticking point in our transformation of the college is really those balky former somebodies, the Basic Skills students. And of course, their myopic allies among the faculty. Under current policy these students are being phased out and must adapt to being nobodies. For some reason, they can’t seem to get with the reverse Jesse Jackson thing. You know, ‘I am--Nobody, I am—Nobody.‘ Hello, can’t they see it? It’s as plain as the nose on your face. In a down economy, in a
down budget year, these people just aren’t economically viable, they aren’t practical and most of all, they aren’t feasible, and unfortunately, they are going down, too.”
However, he said the college would “remain flexible. I mean, hey, enrollment. We need quite a few of them until the census date. We do the Emma Lazarus thing until the census date. It’s sad. They all have stories that tug at your heart strings--if you listen. But money talks, level 1 walks. We’ve got a responsibility to the long-term solvency of the college and the transfer and voc. ed. students.”
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