S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
|
1 2 7
Fore and colleagues are even talking with county and regional leaders in law enforcement to perhaps develop a regional forensics lab.
In regard to Human Services: “Students want to get into social work. They want to work in juvenile delinquency and special agencies. They
want to work in nursing homes and community centers that help with the homeless. So there’s a big market for those students.”
She sees a trend too. “I see a blurring of what higher education is all about. If you look at job advertisements today, you don’t necessarily
see that someone needs an associate, baccalaureate, or master’s degree. It’s what can you do. Can you troubleshoot? Are you are a team player?
It’s all those soft skills you hear about.” The difference she sees is things aren’t as hard-nosed: the “If you don’t have the associate degree, you’re
not going to get a job” days are fading.
With online classes common she’s concerned that technical college students may lose interpersonal skills because they don’t sit down face
to face with a teacher. “God forbid we ever have a day that a faculty member doesn’t look in the eyeballs of a student.”
Dr. Lex Walters, Piedmont Technical College’s president from 1968 to 2008, agrees with Dr. Fore. “I think the whole perception of educa-
tion is changing. It’s more what can an individual do to help my company than what degrees you have. The technical college system is going
to be in a much better position to meet the educational needs of the citizenry than some of the four-year colleges because they’re offering the
kinds of training programs that position individuals for employment. Or either they’re offering the educational programs that let the individ-
ual take those initial steps so that they can go to the university and be successful at the four-year level.”
Florence-Darlington Technical College’s first president Fred Fore takes pride in the system’s training prowess. “I see a little trend toward
drifting away from Manpower training and occupational education to maybe a little more of a liberal arts training. But beyond that, it is still
a massive system. You can go anywhere in the country, and if they ask you anything about Manpower training or labor force all you have to
do is mention South Carolina’s program.”
Fore fears for the future in his region. “Until we find more significant employment opportunities, the future of technical education cannot
be good. I mean, it’s going to be here, because it’s a part of us, but I have some real concerns with the current status of employment opportu-
nities throughout the Pee Dee, especially in Florence, Marion, and Horry counties.”
PARTNERSHIPS AND A BROADER ROLE
Dr. Jim Hudgins, who served in several leadership roles over his 38 years in the system, sees partnerships and a way to help today’s reme-
dial students coming. “The answer is doing things together. We have pretty much overcome this ‘if it’s not good for me, I ain’t going to play’
thing. The system has bought into ‘we can’t exist without sticking together.’ And I think the universities realize we’re an asset to them. They’re
not doing it for egalitarian reasons, but they realize that there is a business benefit that comes out of it. Our next step is to get it done with
K-12 because the biggest burden of higher education today is the people who come in aren’t ready. Forty percent need developmental studies.”
ALL ABOUT PEOPLE
Board chair Nick Odom believes the future will still be about helping people succeed though it will be different. “It’s all about people. I
always told my people that my job is to make you successful. And if I make you successful, selfishly, I am successful. There’s not a place to pull
people off the farm anymore and put them on a yarn-spinning machine. Now we can’t take them into those kinds of real easy jobs, because
there are not a lot of them. We have to figure out how to take them up to robot maintenance or whatever. Many people have to be touched.
