Wednesday,
April 23, 1997
Visitors from
U.K. enjoy visit
John Harvey
Sheffield, England
Fulbright exchange
family enjoys America
Laney Fouse
Editor-in-Chief
ohn Harvey, retired dean of students,
Sheffield College, was instrumental
in the partnership for the Fulbright Ex Imagine for a
change program with Clackamas.
moment you’ve
been asked to
pack up your
family
and
move several
thousand miles
Andy Tickner
away
from
Isle of Wight College
home to live in
ndy Tickner is Student Liai-
someone else’s
on Officer at the Isle of Wight Col
house and work
lege, located on the south coast of En
at their job.
gland.
“I wish we had another week or two.
For the past
We’ve had such a busy schedule. I think
seven months
it will take me a week to go home and
this is exactly
sort this all out. The first week was a whirlwind. I think
what
Ged
I’m just now settling in. But we’ve got jobs to go back to
Desforges, his
and desks with piles of work waiting for us,” Tickner said.
wife Jan and
J
A
daughters
Nancy
and
Peggy
have
’his is the tenth visit to the U.S.
done.
or Lynda Dix, manager of student
Desforges and
JOEL CORESON / Clackamas Print
services at Neath College in Neath, his wife Jan are
Wales.
part of the Ged Desforges is a Fulbright Exchange
“ It has been a wonderful ex
Fulbright ex administrator from Sheffield College in England.
perience for me because I never spent
change pro Des forges exchanged positions with Debbie
time with a family,” said Dix, “it’s al
gram
con Baker, continuing education director for
ways been as a tourist. What I love about this college
ducted between Clackamas.
[Clackamas] is that student’s are really number one. I have
Clackamas and
it’s never really affected me,”
really enjoyed my stay and I would really love to come
Sheffield College in England.
back.”
DesforgeSi who exchanged posi Desforges said.
Lynda Dix
Neath College
T
tions with Debbie Baker, is the di
rector of continuing education at
the Harmony Center. His wife Jan,
who did research in parallel com
puting, is sharing her expertise in
ohn Fontaine, head of student ser
the instrumentation of Datatel into
vices, had some rather interesting
student services at Clackamas.
events happen to him during his first
“There are some things about
visit to the States.
going home that I’m looking for
"This was my first experience with
ward to. But I really like it here
U.S. public transport. It took me 20 minutes to work out
and I really enjoy it here. I like
the route, the timetable and where to put the money in. I
the people, ! like the country, I like
put in a folded dollar bill that didn't work and I had to find
the work and I like the college,”
another one and find the right ticket validation. I got on the
said Desforges.
Max and it went one stop. Then there was an announce
Even though his homeland is
ment that this was where it was terminated because of road
several thousand miles away, he
work in downtown Portland."
does not feel homesick.
Despite this, Fontaine is looking forward to returning to
“I’m not desperate to get back.
Oregon on a home exchange sometime in 1998.
Most ofjhe ties I have are move
able ones. People come to see me
Ian Yarrell
here. My brother and my sister
Mid Cheshire College
have come to see me and that’s
quite nice,” said Desforges.
an Yarrell, student services manager
Traveling to England is no
at Mid Cheshire College, said
longer a one-year trip. A flight out
"Coming on a trip connected with
of Seattle, according to Desforges,
work provided a whole different per
would put him home in just a few
spective than coming as a tourist. You
hours.
get a much better feel for what a coun
“The distance might seem like a
try is like. What impressed him most about Clackamas was
long, long way from home but it
how students' needs come first.
just seems very comfortable here.
I feel very much at home here,”
Dith Danbury
admits Desforges, “and I think it
Lewisham College
suits my personality. I think I’m
much more suited to here than in
some ways to England.”
The Fulbrighter acknowledges
Dith Danbury is the guidance team
he
sometimes felt as if he was
leader at Lewisham College in London.
swimming against the tide in En
"I will walk away with the feeling that
gland whereas here, he feels much
anything is possible," said Danbury after visiting Clackamas
more comfortable.
and some other local community college campuses.
“I’m not the sort of person who
"Even when you can't get exactly what you want, there is
looks
back and thinks, oh gosh, I
a way to get you as near to where you want to be," Danbury
wish things [were different]. I’m
said.
happy wherever I am really and
John Fontaine
Tamworth &
Lichfield Colleges
J
I
Wednesday, April 23,1997
Working at Sheffield College
His work at Sheffield College in
volves working with students rang
ing in age from 16 to 18. Desforges
is the founda
tion studies
manager at
one of the six
To come
Sheffield
sites.
here and see
“ The
how well an
foundation
organization
studies man
ager looks af
can run...
ter students
it's just
who come to
the college
fantastic.
with no quali
fications and
puts together
a program of
Ged Desforges
study for them
Cont. Education
which will
director
hopefully get
them in a po
sition where
they can move on into either work
or further qualification or what
ever,” said Desforges.
In England, everyone is required
to stay in school up to the age of
16. If they do not have a job they
cannot access any social security
payments.
“What tends to happen is that
kids leave school at age 16 and dis
cover they have no money because
they are not working. In Sheffield
the unemployment rate is quite
high,” said Desforges, “And so
there are no jobs for young people
with no qualifications to go into.”
Sheffield’s economy was built on
the steel and coal industries, which
were dependent upon each other.
99
According to Desforges, “these in
dustries have become desiccated
over the past 10 to 20 years.”
Therefore, these teenagers must
seek further education in order to
be employable.
“[For some] this tends to be a
new start. They might have had
difficulty in school for different
reasons. They might be late devel
opers or they might have had all
sorts of problems which is why
they don’t have qualifications,”
said Desforges.
Many of them end up in
Desforges’ program at Sheffield.
Once there, a curriculum is devel
oped based on what they are inter
ested in, what sort of career they
might want in the future and per
haps most important an opportu
nity to build their confidence.
“Through a program of voca
tional qualifications they can move
through to becoming a successful
student and move into a job. It’s a
program that really doesn’t fit any
thing over here,” said Desforges.
Building student confidence
Besides developing new skills,
much of Desforges’ work with stu
dents lies in personal development.
“What we tend to do is literally
build students’ confidence with the
fact that they are able to do lots of
different things. Desforges admits,
“it’s a real hard job because you
tend to find that a lot of the vio
lence and the real hardships stu
dents face and produce in them
selves are caused by a lack of es
teem.”
There is, according to Desforges
somewhat of a “futility touch” to
helping students succeed. He ex
plains it like this.
“I don’t know if it’s quite simi
lar to here but a lot of the small
businesses, corner shops, restau
rants, will be run by the ethnic mi
norities. [This is because] they will
work for long hours for nothing.
The second generation of young
kids between 10 and 20 just don’t
want that. They see what’s around
and they want a part of that. And
yet the prejudices stop them from
getting it. There are some real
problems caused by that,’? said
Desforges.
So how does an educator help a
student understand education is
one way out?
“The only way I have found to
work is to really value the indi
vidual and try to get people to be
aware that every individual is a
real value. It’s not just words.
They only way I think you can do
that is by action. That’s where I
start,” Desforges said.
“In England, you would very
rarely hear anybody say ‘You’ve
done a really good job’ or ‘What
you’re doing is really worthwhile.
You never get any feedback. If no
ones saying anything to you, you
must be doing a good job. And
See Desforges, page 5
Volume XXX, Issue 22
3