Proactive Administration:

There are many intangibles* which deserve administrative attention, particularly in a learning environment. Insufficient preparation, unnecessary delays, cancellations, disruptions, and inconveniences such as inadequate notice take a toll on student and teacher motivation and goal-achievement. The scope of intangibles can vary according to ones vision and sensitivity, but there are many that common sense would consider as essential to the well-being of students and teachers alike: mutual respect, consideration, thoughtful and humane policy and implementation, staff and administrative preparedness, helpfulness, and effectiveness, and proactive involvement in improving all essential aspects of the learning environment.

Many, if not all, of the intangibles that are currently neglected in our schools must start receiving a larger portion of the overall attention of educators. Tangible fixes are not nearly as effective unless savvy and sensitivity concerning intangibles is concurrently addressed. Actually, tangible improvements disproportionately suck public coffers dry — and while they provide a show of concern for education — they alone can't produce learning. When the intangibles are neglected motivational problems and excessive tensions and unmet needs overwhelm the learning environment and render tangible investment comparatively useless.

A certain amount of damage is done by obvious hypocrisy and the credibility gap itself — with some students and teachers being so affected by such issues that they drop out of classes or quit teaching altogether. Despite outpourings of tax dollars, students and teachers cannot be disrespected, crowded, herded, manipulated and yanked around — and stressed in innumerable ways — and still be expected to pursue educational goals willingly and effectively. When students and teachers are treated like expendable pawns in a higher-stakes game, for many, their real pursuit of learning can plunge into an abyss of official indifference never to rise again.

In practical terms, at the Continuing Education campus I attend, it's possible to provide beneficial "fast food" programs without abandoning essential considerations that simultaneously balance support for educational preparedness and efficiency with support for human well-being. While my focus has been on those considerations that most effect students and teachers, administrators of Continuing Education are currently sabotaging their own success when the overall quality of the learning environment is being unnecessarily compromised through their own tunnel -vision and lack of empathy. Here, students get the burgers and french fries that are ordered for them, while those that might have a more discerning, full-spectrum or individualized palette get shoved aside or are stranded in a kind of internal exile.

* Intangibles are things not perceivable by physical touch.

I've voiced my concerns, and been resented, harassed, and discriminated against for my efforts. Meanwhile, intent that a more proactive spirit prevail, I continue to watch disrespect, inconsideration, underpreparation, and unresponsiveness stress out the learning environment. This tense atmosphere continues — despite the fact that funds being spent on tangibles, such as new computers, new software, new paint, new carpet, and new this and that.

The Associate Dean at West City Center suggested I use the suggestion box pictured above for my input. He didn't mention that it wasn't being checked. The site administrators let this suggestion box neglect continue right outside their door in the main hallway for a year. Finally, when I complained about this neglect their response was to remove the suggestion box altogether. I requested that the box be replaced and the earlier contents documented. The site dean's response was "Don't tell me how to do my job." Months have passed, and despite appealing to the President of Continuing Education for the San Diego Community College District, there still has still been no major shift toward greater proactive concern for student input. Without consistent and effective solicitation of student input, shared governance policy remains "talk that's not walked."

The same old problems continue that have sapped the vitality of learning for decades, a vitality that has love written all over it — a love that translates into enthusiastic effort, mutual helpfulness, and more cooperative leadership and responsibility. Love for learning, teaching, and administering with a high regard for community will always remain more than myopic vision can define.

The credibility gap cannot be closed until love for learning on all sides supports a much more consistent flow of proactivity — proactivity which restores a more openly expressed and commonly felt unity of purpose — that pays everyone in kind. How unity becomes more openly and commonly expressed is not the subject of this particular essay; — rather this essay has focused on the importance of recognizing the full scope of involvement necessary, including the significance of credibility and proactivity in making tangible investment succeed.

It is recommended that related discussions should more frequently appear on meeting agendas — at all levels — from legislative bodies to local student, teacher, and community organizations. Education is one of those areas where money alone is actually wasted without enough love, common sense, educational vision, and community spirit to use it well.