Australian educator visits KCKCC-TEC

Rich Piper, director of technical programs at the KCKCC-TEC takes Ray Cadmore, a teacher and project officer at the Sunraysia Institute in Victoria, Australia, on a tour of the TEC facility. A Fulbright Scholar, Cadmore is visiting several educational institutions and businesses in the Midwest this week in an effort to see how colleges and businesses work together to develop educational programs.(Photo from KCKCC)
Rich Piper, director of technical programs at the KCKCC-TEC takes Ray Cadmore, a teacher and project officer at the Sunraysia Institute in Victoria, Australia, on a tour of the TEC facility. A Fulbright Scholar, Cadmore is visiting several educational institutions and businesses in the Midwest this week in an effort to see how colleges and businesses work together to develop educational programs.(Photo from KCKCC)

by Kelly Rogge

The Kansas City Kansas Community College-Technical Education Center was host to a visitor from down under Wednesday, comparing the similarities and differences of the educational systems in the United States and Australia.

Ray Cadmore, a teacher and project officer at the Sunraysia Institute in Victoria, Australia, is spending the next few weeks in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. The Fulbright program is an international educational exchange program designed to increase the mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those from other countries.

Cadmore has spent the last five weeks in Winston-Salem, N.C. Kansas State University is the host of the Australian educator this week as he is visiting a variety of different educational institutions and businesses in the Midwest including KCKCC and Johnson County Community College as well as the K-State Olathe campus and the main K-State campus in Manhattan, Kan.

Cadmore will return to North Carolina at the end of this week, where he will then travel to locations such as Boston, Mass. and New York before returning home in November.

“I am interested in seeing how community colleges go about working with industry and government to develop new projects, especially those having to do with emerging technology,” he said. “This is the perfect place to have a look.”

Cadmore described the Sunraysia Institute as “a community college with a technical emphasis.” He started his day at the KCKCC-TEC talking with director Rich Piper about the differences in education and working with industry officials to improve curriculum and programming. The discussion was followed by a tour of the TEC facility including visits in the construction technology, major appliance repair and electrical programs, among others.

Piper spoke about the increased emphasis on technical education programs, in part, because of the large number of shortages in many of these highly specialized fields – a similar problem to what is happening in Australia. He said while there are just more than nine million Americans out of work, there are 4.5 million job openings. A lot of these job openings, however, are for skilled laborers meaning someone cannot walk in off the street and start working.

“A lot of young adults here don’t know what a CNC operator is or what a welder does. Those shop classes are no longer available to them in high school,” Piper said. “What we have to do is ask all of our counselors (at the high school level) to give students all of their options. High school graduates do have other options available to them than just a four-year college.”

Piper said only six percent of high schools in the United States have a four-year industrial arts program at the high school level. He said that is starting to increase because of the shortage of laborers. Piper said what needs to happen is to bring back the mentality of “Rose the Riveter and Wanda the Welder.”

“When they started to eliminate those shop classes (in high school), that is where you saw dropout rates of young men across all ethnic backgrounds skyrocket,” Piper said. “Some of our programs have 100 percent job placement. Businesses are searching for quality people, and they can’t expand their business without people to work.”

Cadmore was impressed with many programs in the United States as well as the Kansas City area that place a strong focus on technical careers and higher education such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and PrepKC, a local organization that works to improve the education of students who live in the urban areas of Kansas City.

He said he also found it interesting how colleges throughout the United States work together to provide quality programs that help students become successful after they graduate.

“There is a national debate going on right now. We are constantly talking about the school shortage we have (for some of the technical fields). There is a total lack of schools in some areas,” he said. “Industry (in Australia) is saying they need more employees, it is just about getting more people to come in.”

For more information on KCKCC-TEC, contact Rich Piper at 913-288-7808 or by email at [email protected].

UG to discuss highway projects, casino grants today

The Unified Government Commission is scheduled to discuss highway projects and casino charitable grant committee intent and process at a special session at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, in the fifth floor conference room, Suite 515, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

After the special session will be a closed session regarding litigation.

At 7 p.m., the UG Commission will hold its regular meeting in the Commission Chambers, City Hall, lobby level.

On the agenda for the regular meeting are a discussion of population and job growth forecasts; a review of the plat for the Family Dollar at 81st and Leavenworth Road; and a few other items.

The agenda is online at www.wycokck.org.

Flags to fly at half-staff today

Gov. Sam Brownback has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff from sunup to sundown on Thursday, Sept. 11, in observance of Patriot Day.

By a joint resolution approved Dec. 18, 2001, Congress designated Sept. 11 of each year as Patriot Day, and by Public Law 111-13, approved April 21, 2009, requested the observance of Sept. 11 as an annually recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance.

“On Sept. 11, we honor the memories of the men, women and children who perished that day,” Gov. Brownback said. “We remember their families and friends. And we remember the courage of our first responders who rushed forward in the face of extreme danger to rescue those who needed help. I urge all Kansans to take a moment today to pray for those we lost, their families and friends and to remember the bravery of first responders across the nation.”

Patriot Day is an annual observance to remember those who were injured or died during the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.