VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN HAWAII'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Within the past decade, vocational education in Hawaii has experienced "a new focus on practic­ality" attributed to two significant periods of growth. The first occurred with the passage of Act 39, S.L.H. 1964, which authorizes the establishment of community colleges. The second period came after the adoption of the State Master Plan for Vocational Education, the resulting Act 71, S.L.H. 1968, and the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968, P.L. 90-576.

Secondary Schools Each state develops a system which meets its

specific requirements of providing the most efficient, economical, and effective occupational career education programs for its citizenry. The State Master Plan for Vocational Education was prepared to "provide optimal training for the State's human resources for the labor market while simultaneously maximizing the human potential of the individuals involved."1

The role of the secondary schools in meeting this challenge is to provide opportunities for the development of occupational competence for job entry and to prepare students to pursue higher levels of career objectives at the postsecondary institutions or through apprenticeship. Hence, the major emphasis of vocational-technical education programs in the secondary schools are on the acquisition of basic verbal, scientific, and mathe­matical skills and knowledge, the exploration of career opportunities, and the acquisition of some occupational skills and knowledge in an organized and systematic manner.

The general strategy is to treat preparation for a vocation as a continuum in which the secondary schools provide the necessary basic skills for entry level jobs, while more specialized occupational preparation takes place in community colleges, on-the-job, or in other postsecondary institutions

The designers of the Master Plan for Vocational Education wanted to focus upon individuals in need of occupational education as well as upon employers in need of individuals. In their endeavor to come up with a viable and imaginative educational plan,

Samson S. Shigetomi

Lawrence F.H. Zane

the State Vocational Education Coordinating Council, a tripartite group-consisting of the Superintendent of Education and President of the University as ex-officio members and members from the Board of Education, Commission on Manpower and Full Employment, and Board of Regents-was confronted with several important pieces of information, one of which was the study of Won and Yamamura;

Job-seeking activity appears to center in those with limited education. More than 70% of the job-seekers had a high school education or less. Within this group about 12% had a grammar school education or ' less, about 22% were high school dropouts, and 38% were high school graduates.2

Hatanaka's study stated that: ... it is important that an all-out effort be made to determine how to teach those who in the past may have been tracked into the vocational and practical arts education classes simply because it was not known how to teach them more effectively.1

In addition, a deluge of articles stressed the importance of diversity and flexibility in programs so as to provide each individual with maximum employment options for today and the future. With technological advances causing more amd more unskilled and semi-skilled jobs to be taken over by machines, the challenge was to develop curricula for tomorrow's jobs, and not be limited to just today's or yesterday's. Emphasis was on the need to adjust occupational programs to changing manpower requirements. It is accepted that education is conceived of as an open-ended sequence of goals and as a continuous process.

In the process of developing a flexible program which prepares students to adapt to technological changes, the high schools have adopted the cluster concept approach. This approach enables individuals to acquire a broad base of fundamental skills for greater occupational exploration and mobility within a given occupational field. The following programs emerged:

The Pre-Industrial Preparation (PIP) program is

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designed primarily for disadvantaged persons. Under the Pl P program, occupational experiences planned for the disadvantaged student are identical to those of the regular student, except that the former uses his occupational experiences also as the vehicle for acquiring his basic academic knowledge in math­ematics, science and English.

The Occupational Skills (OS) program is designed for individuals identified as learners with limited abilities, such as the mentally retarded educables, those with other learning disabilities and borderline cases.

The Introduction to Vocations (IV) program provides occupational exploration as well as experiences in the various clusters of occupational skills.

These high school programs are currently being articulated with specific occupational programs in postsecondary institutions to maximize upward mobility and to increase student options.

Postsecondary Institutions Hawaii, up until June, 1964, provided vocational­

technical education through its five technical schools which were administered by the State Department of Education. However, with the passage of Act 39, S.L.H. 1964, the Board of Regents was authorized to establish community colleges in the State of Hawaii and to include four of the existing

technical schools in this development. Hawaii Tech­nical School was exempt from the mandate until July 1, 1969, when Act 166, S.L.H. 1969, enabled Hawaii Technical School to become Hawaii Community College.

One means of illustrating the growth of occupa­tional education is through enrollment records. Table 1 shows the growth in enrollment in the vocational education programs at the community colleges in Hawaii. Until fall, 1967, the community college program was entirely occupational. The rapid gain in liberal arts enrollment can be attributed to the opening of two new community colleges with predominantly liberal arts programs (Leeward Community College and Windward Community College) and to the expansion of occupationally oriented community colleges into comprehensive community colleges that included liberal arts programs. The occupational programs show a 300% increase in enrollment since 1964.

The role of the community college is not merely to serve the regular postsecondary student but to meet the needs of the adult, apprentice, and special student. Approximately 3,200 special students were enrolled in fall, 1973. Of this, nearly 90% are apprentice/journeyman students in occupational programs.

Another area of expansion is continuing education. Continuing education classes are generally held

TABLE 1. TOTAL ENROLLMENT STATUS IN REGULAR CREDIT PROGRAMS

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ONL V IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES FaJI 1964-Fall 1973

Year Total Liberal Aris \locational Non-CrediV Auditor

1964 1,874 none 1,874 1965 2,011 none 2.010 1966 2,444 none 2,444 1967 3,954 151 3,066 1968·· 5,494 1,855 3,100 1969 8,197 3,172 3,660 197000* 10,296 4,172 4,182 1971 12,042 5,224 4,568 1972 13,541 6,337 5,252 1973 14,438 7,108 5,777

*This increase is due largely 10 rhe inclusion of evening srudenis in SIS Reporls. ••Leeward Communi1y College opened for instrucrion .

... Including data from Hawaii Communir~ College.

no data no data no data

193 445

1,266° 1,644 1,756 1,811 1,577

Other Special

no da1a no data no dala no data no da1a no dala

84 no data 58 36 69 30

173 125 285 209 141 no data 76 no data

during the evening and on Saturday mornings. The philosophy here is that everyone needs continuing education, whether it is to fulfill the need to keep up with technological changes, to achieve personal and occupational goals, or to extend one's cultural interests.

The increases in enrollment given in Table 1 were partly due to the fact that several new programs were initiated. These include programs to train individuals to become data processing technicians, business mid-managers, police officers, fire fighters, library technicians, registered nurses, hotel mid­managers, salesmen, food service managers, clinic aides, inhalation therapy technicians, medical assistants, radiological technicians, recreational instructors, human services aides, applied arts workers, industrial technicians, marine technicians and plastic workers. Currently, there are 59 different occupational programs being offered in the community colleges.

Besides the introduction of new programs, some of the existing programs were evaluated to provide more flexibility and options and to seek new sol­utions to old problems. The drive toward flexibility caused practically all vocational education courses which were lumped in large units to be reduced to smaller but more effective and functional instruc­tional units.

The change from technical school to community college and the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968, P.L. 90-576, both emphasized the need for programs for students with special needs. The fact that conditions were worse in other states did not cause vocational educators to be complacent.

A three-pronged approach was launched by the

community colleges to assist disadvantaged stu­dents. The first step was the development of an early admission program, which included vocational students. This program enabled high school stu­dents to enroll in postsecondary institution courses and receive community college credits upon success­fully completing the course, resulting not only in better utilization of the equipment and facilities but providing opportunities for potential dropouts to finish high school and take occupational courses at the community colleges. Students referred to the two-year colleges by high school teachers, coun­selors, or principals take occupational orientation type or specific vocational-technical courses of their interest in the afternoons and early evenings.

The second prong attacked the learning defi­ciencies of educationally disadvantaged persons. Developmental programs in reading, writing, mathematics, improvement of study skills, and the individualizing of instruction were some of the projects which were approved by the Office of the State Director for Vocational Education beginning fiscal year 1970.

The third prong focused the colleges' attention on trying to combat the paradoxical manpower problem by preparing untrained, unemployed or under­employed persons to fill positions which remained unfilled in our affluent society. The educational inadequacies of the Kalihi-Palama and Waianae­Nanakuli youngsters have been intimately related to inability to compete successfully for jobs and to grasp opportunities for upward mobility. The jobs which have traditionally been available to those with limited education are disappearing with technology and automation. The community colleges began to

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cooperate with and offered their services to Model Cities, the Concentrated Employment Program, the Manpower Development and Training Program, and the Work Incentive Program. While many of the federally subsidized programs have poor retention and job placement records, the New Careers Program at Honolulu Community College boasts an attrition rate of only 20.5% for a two-year period.

Handicapped persons who were enrolled in regular on-going occupational programs were provided tutorial and interpreter services. A central resource center and a ceramics program were also started with funds earmarked for servicing handicapped persons. Approximately 151 students took advantage of the above services.

Statewide workshops were scheduled to enable teachers to share their experiences and techniques, learn from other innovative projects, and help administrators to better plan and coordinate the growth of these programs.

Occupational programs, as legitimate components of higher education, have made some penetration into the college milieu. With more and more four-year institutions accepting work done in the community colleges technical curricula, the term "technical education," which is oftentimes used synonymously with vocational education, is becoming inappro­priate and archaic.

The Road Ahead Secondary and community college educators in

their endeavor to seek better curriculum patterns, more effective learning and teaching processes, and better articulation, are questioning themselves on current practices and studying those programs which they suspected were based more on tradition than on sound educational considerations. When educational institutions cannot justify a training program due to lack of students, costly equipment or facilities, or when the need for a category of workers is a temporary one, they will be encouraged to initiate and plan a cooperative education program. Thus, an expansion of cooperative education programs is envisioned.

Vocational educators, when designing occupa­tional programs, generally proceed from a fallacious assumption that none of the specialized competen­cies which a curriculum is designed to develop have been acquired previously by anyone who enters the program. Yet, there are many who enroll in occu­pational curriculums who bring with them compe­tencies related to the program they have chosen from previous education, specialized or part-time work experience, or experience received at home.

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It is therefore necessary that a greater effort be made to evaluate each student's previous education and plan each student's program accordingly. High school teachers and community college faculty should work together to develop closely articulated and coordinated career education programs.

Programs should provide for upward mobility. For example, licensed practical nurses entering the registered nursing program should receive credit either for the preparation received or for subse­quent work experience.

Vocational education programs, services, and activities cannot help solve all problems of poverty and social dislocation, though more can be done than is now attempted. The educational institutions must examine their programs and activities to see how they can effectively reach and serve those young people not now being served.

Finally, while the philosophy of the occupational education for tomorrow should emphasize the need to educate people to cope with sociological and technological change, and while marketable skills are important, there should never be a conflict between the occupational skill training an individual needs and the kind of general education that will help him think critically and creatively about our society.

Footnotes

1A Stale Master Plan for Vocational Education, February, 1968, page 11.

1 George Won and Douglas Yamamura, The Job Seeker in Hawaii, May, 1967. A study sponsored by the Commission on Manpower and Full Employment.

Jfrancis Hatanaka, Report on Vocational and Practical Arts, Department of Education, July, 1967, page 27.

Samson S. Shigetomi is the State Director for Vocational­Technical Education and an affiliate graduate faculty member in the Curriculum and Instruction Department, University of Hawaii, Manoa. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Oklahoma State University and an Ed.D. in Junior College and Higher Education from U.C.L.A.

Lawrence F.H. Zane is Associate Professor of Education and Director of the EPDA. Part E, Graduate Fellowship Program for Prospective and Experienced Community College Faculty, College of Education, University of Hawaii. He received his B.S. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Hawaii and holds a Ph.D. in Vocational Education from the University of Maryland.