(Taken behind Paul Smith's College, Check out the VIC center there!)
Like the picture above and the title, Student Affairs as a profession is similar to that mountain (St. Regis Mt. ADK) in the mist, until your there it seems unheard of, or far off. Its a familiar story, round about career paths, twisting and turning roadways, highs, lows, and in between's, yet somehow if you ever asked a Student Affairs professional if they always want to do their job (or even knew it existed) most would likely say no. How is it that growing up we are so stifled in our career knowledge. Police officer, Doctor, Lawyer, Bus Driver, Janitor, Teacher, Mechanic, Cashier, etc. (and in no particular order) are commonly named, occasionally you get Counselor, Professor, TV Person, Radio Show Host, Clown (past profession here) but seldom does Student Affairs fall into the common lingo of kids.
My question becomes how can we expand our profession to find a place to fit within the concrete walls of a soon to be drastically shifting education system? Will moving towards certification help? What about visiting schools for a career day? A great book by Sir Ken Robinson talks about finding "The Element," the place where it all comes together, how is that possible without creating options? Most of us came to this place because it just felt right when we were here, shouldn't we be sharing this more? What are you thoughts? #thinkingstudentaffairs
My thought is that most people gravitate to these professions because they have interacted with them in some way, shape or form, whether it be the cop, the clown and of course, the teachers. Ultimately, in some way or another, a child has been exposed to any one of these common professional aspirations. Unless, a student's parent is a higher education professional, they may not interact with one until they actually go into the college setting. Even so, while at the university level, it is those that get involved or find solace in a higher ed professional, group, organization, or event that end up being drawn to a potential career in the field. For many students, the thought of being able to work or, in my case, live at a college never crossed their mind until they took on involvement or a leadership role within their respective institution (RHA, SGA, Orientation, RA, etc ...)
ReplyDeleteFinally, to your point, there needs to be more publications of the SA field, what it aims to do, and how aspiring (whether they know they are or not) professionals can make the transition to it, especially when becoming a heart surgeon or rocket scientist seem to be long shots at best. How do we do it? Who knows if there is one concrete answer, but I think the job fairs and high school visits are an excellent place to start. Remember, the key is that students need to be exposed to Student Affairs in the same way they are exposed to the doctor who checks their temperatures, the police who talks to them about drugs and rules, and the teachers who educate them about the importance of academic and personal success. If there is one thing we can learn from mass media and technology, it's that exposure is essential.
Your point about exposure is well made, a larger purpose of this blog is to increase that exposure as looking around Student Affairs appears to lack it to those that are not involved currently or looking to get involved in the profession. (So feel free to add insight into conversations and share with others)
DeleteThe additional piece that is in play here was recently discussed at an ACA-NY mini-conference at SUNY Plattsburgh. The topic involved a round table about how as a profession, Counselors (whether LMHC, LPC, Student Affairs, School Counselors, etc.) are poor at "selling" themselves and advocating for their profession. Highlighting a general example when you look at Mental Health, Social Workers are far more accepted and sought out in many places. Beyond this, and possibly because Student Affairs has such a large umbrella (though I would argue so does Mental Health) it seems that the profession can get "lost in the translation" so to speak. Making the transition from "job" to "career" needs to be highlighted and explored.
My last point here is from a colleague and mentor who has worked in the field for many years and plainly puts out the argument that if you ask other professions that work with people if they are involved/members of in their respective organizations more often it is a resounding yes and many started in graduate school. Counselors (again the wide range) often seem to be on the fence about this. Would becoming more involved in the "politics" side help promote our profession? Simply having a voice in a respective organization might be able to increase our exposure to new research, new opportunities, cutting edge changes, and outlets to share ideas, concepts, and change.
Speaking of exposure, #thinkingstudentaffairs
There is an implicit assertion in blog post that needs to be evaluated first - “student affairs should be a higher profile profession.” Should it?
ReplyDeleteIf we were struggling to fill openings (and SA-like openings in non-SA units), then perhaps being higher profile might make some sense. But having just returned from Osh Kosh and now preparing for TPE and ACPA in the coming weeks, I do not anticipate a lack of qualified or willing candidates. If anything, our field is bloated with capable, idealistic, and passionate personnel; we may need more positions for the existing professionals, not more professionals. It is also worth noting that both ACPA and NASPA have commissioned studies in recent years trying to understand the exodus of entry and mid-level professionals out of the field. From what I understand, the dominant one is a lack of opportunity/promotion beyond the entry level. More professionals would simply exacerbate that problem.
I also challenge your use of the rhetoric of “a soon to be drastically shifting education system.” It is the same rhetoric that has found its place in scholarship, editorial, professional conferences, etc. for decades. Do a literature review and you will find assertions about how education is changing, how we must change our practices to keep up with a “rapidly changing society” (another commonly held and seldom evaluated assertion), how we must respond to the newest technology in order to remain relevant (radio was supposed to remove the need for brick and mortar, we said the same about TV, and the current crop of education futurists are saying it about current technology trends), etc. Change in education happens at a glacial pace, at best, and most ‘innovations’ are simply old models repackaged with the newest terminology cherry-picked from the scholarship, by a company founded by a former professional who got bit by the entrepreneurial bug, with slick salespeople in a fancy booth and expensive swag at your next conference, claiming they know more about your work than you do. And we pay for it using student or tax payer dollars because we are scared of being left behind. Students pay, entrepreneur gets rich, we get the satisfaction that we are being responsive. Student learning and developmental outcomes, though, seldom change. All because we bought into the rhetoric without engaging in the critical thinking we encourage of our students. (cont.)
The certification movement in student affairs is another Maryland/Georgia initiative, inspired by the insecurity of our profession. The assumption that credibility is tied to a degree or some other credential is absurd. It’s why we have more PhDs and EdDs in our field than ever before, as if another degree made them better at their jobs and more credible on our campuses. Getting a doctorate in educational leadership (and so on) has become so easy as to demean the degree AND our field. Credentialing is inspired by that same notion that education is of more value than intentional, guided practice. It is also noteworthy that the economics of such programs will create a new revenue line for the credentialing organizations - something they (ACPA, CAS, NASPA, etc.) all desperately want.
ReplyDeleteVisiting career days would be fruitless. Young people don’t know what a career is, but they know the roles of people around them with whom they interact. The examples you offer are all roles that the average high school student has literally seen in a context that has meaning to them; it is natural to start organizing aspirations based on what is known and familiar. But the vast majority of young people, even those from families who have had generations attend college, have no sense of what student affairs is.
And even if they do, so what? Most professionals I know find it problematic that so many of our incoming students think they know what they want to be when they retire and are organizing their first semester academic choices accordingly. Ask any academic advisor or faculty member who has to refer a student to the career center because a student learned that they are not bound for medical school (darn second semester anatomy class), an engineering degree (calculus is so hard!), or a career on Wall Street (who knew accounting could be so difficult?).
I for one find it wonderful that we are a found profession. I love that almost all of my colleagues can talk about the transformational experience of their undergraduate years. I am motivated by their values, their willingness to work incredibly long hours for modest pay, and their investment in a transient population that often forgets how we helped shaped their experience. And there is something wonderful about working alongside colleagues who all have a career story that starts a lot like “well, I was really involved as an undergrad and one day my advisor suggested...” (cont.)
Lastly, our field does not need to expand. On too many campuses, we’re bloated with personnel already, often distributed poorly across the campus based on previous programmatic fads and legacy operations that are politically difficult to abolish. Redistribute the personnel and talent we currently have, recruit the best students (and not just our favorites) to join us a colleagues, and learn how to rid ourselves of our mediocre colleagues. Do that first and then maybe we can evaluate if we need to expand. But even then, with personnel costs skyrocketing and the average family struggling to send their kids to college, it is irresponsible and self-serving to talk about expansion of our field.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the perspective and value that you have added to this blog thought. I am hopeful that these dialogues can be productive and enlightening for all readers/posters and am happy you’re participating.
DeleteI would like to, if for nothing more than adding insight to my (and other readers) knowledge, challenge, explore, and support a few of your points.
Your point addressing whether Student Affairs should be a higher profile profession is a valid inquiry that my original post does not address but yes implies. I am happy that conversation is happening about this. I recently returned with a similar experience from WNYPE of meeting, interacting with many qualified candidates and support your perspective here. Interestingly enough, however, it seems that research supports that the US is facing the highest unemployment rates in a generation, and worse employers are contending that they cannot find qualified candidates. I am struck by the question, is Student Affairs or Higher-Ed immune to this trend?
I agree fully that developing more positions for existing professionals is a goal to help reduce the exodus that you cite but in doing so is that not also in turn expanding our profession as well? Does it not ultimately achieving a similar if not, even more complex (more positions to balance & fund) irresponsible and self-serving result for the field? Logically (in my opinion), more positions would draw more professionals thus expanding the field? I for one am torn on this argument and am curious your thoughts on this.
Regarding my point on the (I would argue, hastening…maybe…snail pace now?) shift in education, coming from an Primary/Secondary Education background and experiencing the “repackage and regurgitate” trend of “new trends” in both settings, I am more referencing the continual growth of online learning and its impact on Higher-Ed and Student Affairs. With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s), online degrees, online certificates, & online universities (MITx, Standford, Pheonix, Udemy, Khan Academy etc.) the way Higher-Ed is viewed has visibly started to shift from the clouded business model that physical Universities and Colleges at some point became (serving only a limited few with a complicated and expensive product) and has begun looking at conversation of value, moving away from the uncensored feedback that Margret Spellings noted five years ago with her commission and moving back towards quality and affordability.
DeleteThe expansion of technology has disrupted the traditional model and enabled the possibility of an upwardly scalable process by providing access to those previously unable to achieve it due numerous reasons helping to close the chasm that has been created. With research supporting in 2009 30% taking at least 1 online course and projections to 50% in 2014 are we not starting to move towards a more value driven system to reach more underserved populations? Would this shift lend itself to being able to better assess outcomes and then improve future academics because the focus is on the content and quality and no longer magazine ratings and marketing? The ultimate goal to re-create value and improve/change student development and learning could be brought forth by this small ripple (tidal wave eventually?) of MOOC’s (which are not without their own issues being in a fledgling state currently, loss of research promotion being noteworthy). Arguably and fearfully, where does that leave Student Affairs if these MOOC’s become more of a norm? The decline of the physical campus might not occur in my lifetime, but what happens to the profession if/when it does? Does that fear drive the desire for certification? Will it drive a need for expansion simply to sustain the profession as self-serving as it might be to do so?
Technology is not the end however; your point that we have chosen to buy into the rhetoric and disengage ourselves from our own critical thinking (which I am seeking to remedy through discussion here in this blog) is something of a concern and should be to all in an educational capacity. In a time of doing more with less (then getting less the next fiscal year because you got so good at doing more with less) it seems often the choice becomes to find the easiest, often most “rote” route instead of blazing new paths. Does this not change our own learning and development outcomes as well for us professionally? How do we fight against this trend? Sharing perspectives is a place to start.
DeleteYour point on PHD’s and EdD’s is fearfully on target in my opinion; degrees are no longer being worth the same, becoming a demeaning yet vicious cycle for our profession as well as others. More people seek education only to lack what employers ultimately are looking for (cycle back to the top of the reply to simulate said vicious cycle) because they were not “taught” it or did not “learn” it. So how do we shift from education to guided practice? “Best Practices” as a term is tossed around often yet it seems that many feel you need education to achieve or preach best practice?
Lastly, my own career experience has been one that would be considered “problematic” by faculty and staff alike. I transitioned from Elementary Education, to School Counseling, to Mental Health Counseling, to Student Affairs. Similarly I had been involved in a Student Affairs role throughout undergrad/grad school which put into context my decision to continue in the profession and I too have my own story that involves finding the profession and do love that fact about it. Should we not however be offering students’ options at an earlier age to help them develop those critical thinking skills? Context helps solidify meaning for them, but why not expand this context, would it not help out our academic advisor colleagues or would it serve to complicate matters more?
Altruistic as your last point is and I agree that more families and graduates are struggling, I return to your point on critical thinking. Critical Thinking as diversely defined as it is, at its core involves, the “mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” So in that regard would the act of talking, blogging, sharing our viewpoints regarding Student Affairs not serve here as a form of critical thinking? Your perspective (as well as others) has influenced my thinking here and so I would argue that talking about this informs us further and expands our beliefs and ultimately actions hence forth.
Just my thoughts, I look forward to continuing this discussion and gaining more from your perspective.