Strange bedfellows

The current Shepherd Express has an article about some current trends at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. According to the article, MATC has eliminated its adult high school program and reduced the early childhead program by cutting the day care center. The implication is that these and other changes are part of a move to transition MATC as a two-year liberal arts institution, while deemphasizing programs that directly prepare students for jobs.

It is not clear from the article where adults lacking a high school degree will now turn. My understanding is that at one time MPS offered a high school program for adults but dropped it in favor of MATC. Presumably they will still have the GED to turn to but the statistics on the effectiveness of the GED are not encouraging.

If the article is accurate--and I have learned from personal experience to treat the Shepherd with skepticism--these changes seem wrong-headed. Instead of concentrating on its unique role, MATC seems to be further losing site of its vision. The critics quoted in the article, Rosen, Redovich, Goldstein, and Baker, who represent the traditional MATC constituencies, seem justified in their concerns.

When I was president of the MPS board I tried to encourage new membership on the MATC board because I thought MATC had lost focus on its vision. Too many MPS graduates, particularly minority students, were encouraged to go into the liberal arts division rather than towards the technical programs that led to good jobs. This effort was one of my more dismal failures, in large part because of opposition from the very people criticising the current direction of MATC.