Emphasis on vocations
by Nathaniel Scott
D E T R O IT -- D e tro it, M ichigan is the county seat
for Wayne County; which covers an area o f 605 square
miles and has a current population o f 2,337,240.
The county is m ultifaceted; autom obile m anufac­
turers; steel foundaries; salt mines; various support and
service corporations and businesses; and, education as a
business and service to the community.
Presently, there are 29 community colleges in the state
o f M ichigan, and Wayne County C om m unity Junior
College ranks as the largest in student enrollment.
Wayne County Com m unity College’ s enrollment is
sixty per cent Black, under the directorship o f President
Richard Simmons, Jr. - a Black man.
Simmons, the former Deputy Mayor o f Detroit who
had served on many prestigious boards and had held
educator positions with different institutions o f higher
learning, “ inherited a $2 m illio n budget d e fic it,
graduating students who weren’ t able to read’ ’ and
budget problems that made him “ bite the bullet” in or­
der to develop the kind o f program that w ill best serve
the community.
He said, “ I am now tu rn in g my a tte ntio n to
academics. When I first came here (January, 1981), it
was in financial shambles."
In Simmon’ s viewpoint, the community college as a
liberal arts college is a thing o f the past and in order to
compete in to d a y ’ s w o rld , it must embrace the
technological aspects o f society.
“ We are heading in the direction o f career education,
with emphases on vocational training,” he said. “ The
vocational part has to become self-sufficient. What we
have to do is make some real decisions about how we are
going to get in support systems.” He went on to say that
he will be looking at Miami/Dade and other community
schools throughout the nation that have made a lot o f
“ noise” in the area o f education. And at the same time
Richard J. Sim m ons is president of W ayne
County Community Junior College in Detroit.
Simmons is critical o f teaching techniques. “ In class rat)
sessions, one expresses one’ s own personal philosphy”
and any and everything that does not afford the student
an education.
He said, "D o we today have as much w ill and desire
to get our children an education as our elders did? I f we
(Blacks) are just the strong backs and are not getting in­
to using our minds, then we are useless to society.”
And, “ what is troubling me now is, have we developed a
welfare mentality?”
Simmons does not rest the burden o f education on the
shoulders o f the higher echlon o f education alone. He
includes the public school system as well. “ We (Wayne
County Community College) have gone into a lot o f ar­
ticulate programs with the public schools and will have a
lot more. We want to be able to work with the Detroit
public schools - from whence most o f our students
come.”
Simmons wonders about a lot o f things that are tran­
spiring within our lack o f Black solidarity. “ Has that
drive and that w ill to do slipped away from us?" And
also, he wonders about the lack o f a Black charismatic
leader to infuse “ Pride” and whatever else it takes to
make the words o f a Stevie Wonder song ring from the
lips o f every Black: “ You ain’t done nothing yet.”
Wayne County C om m unity College offers a broad
spectrum o f courses including: Aviation, commercial
vehicle maintenance and diesel engine repair, heating,
air conditioning and ventilation, building operations
management, numerous computer sciences and much,
much more that are designed to meet the challenge o f
tomorrow’ s world.
“ It is the instructor’ s responsibility to see that our
children get an education," Simmons said. “ Too many
people write books and never test the theory. One needs
to test the theory; we haven’t made it yet.”
C O M IN G SOON:
NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES
W ITH THE BUILDING OF
THE EAST PORTLAND
CABLE T V SYSTEM.
________ ____ i Pacific w ill soon be a house­
hold w o rd in East Portland W e are your n e w East
Portland cable com pany It w ill take time, about
three years, to build the system This TV cable sys­
tem w ill be the highest state o f the art in the
country w h e n com pleted—over 2,500 miles of
cable covering an estimated 126.000 homes in
East Portland Special equipm ent, district studios,
mobile production vans arejust some o f the co m ­
ponents to come
A n d jobs W e estimate a m inim um o f 100 n e w
jobs w ill be created over this three year period
These jobs w ill require a vast variety o f skills and
disciplines Opportunities w ill open in sales, m an­
agement. programming, technical w o rk —as well
as clerical, secretarial, and more
Strict Minority and Affirmative-Action
hiring policies will be followed.
Cablesystems Pacific is striving to fulfill our hiring
goals o f 18% minorities and 50% w o m e n
Again, the building o f this cable system w ill take
some time and jo b s w ill be filled as needs arise
While most positions are not yet available, w e
w o u ld like to start the process o f getting to kn o w
those o f you w h o are interested
Please respond In writing. W e w ill acknow l
edge all resumes and cover letters received
If yo u think yo u have an interest in cable tele­
vision. do w rite It is a promising career field, and
the industry is just beginning an exciting period of
g ro w th
An tq u .1 O pportunity (m p to y n
cablesystems pacific
317 S W Alder. Suite 750. Portland. Oregon 97204
Portland Obsarvar Thursday. July 16.1981 Saction II Paga
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