Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 2-1-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, February 1, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Felicia Cousart Matlosz — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.”
— Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
More often than one might imagine, the thought has arisen with this writer of penning a rambling thesis entitled “Rational Thought — or the Lack Thereof — on California Political Governance.” Thepredicateofthoseweplaced in charge of our state would be that money must grow on trees because it’s so easy to extract taxes from the people. That’s especially true when about half of the voters pay no taxes at all, many of them spending a life of leisure on the dole! “If it appears to be free we’ll probably vote for anything or anyone!”
Longtime Community Services director said his ouster came as a surprise
Thanks to those attending Celebration of Life
I and my brother Richard would like to thank those who took the time to attend the Cel- ebration of Life for our father, Pete Petinak. It was a wonderful turnout and we know Dad was so very pleased as well. We so appreciate him getting a service that he deserved.
The many stories so many shared were amazing. A huge “thank you” to Dinuba First Bap- tist Church Pastor Tom Carter; to Wayne Petinak and Judy Lee for arranging the soup lunch that followed as well as all the lovely ladies who worked so hard behind the scenes to put this on.
Cyndy Petinak Jordan Oceanside
By James Thrasher
Guest collumnist
I recently spoke with a college-bound student and his mother in my ca- reer services office. These types of meetings have sig- nificantly increased in the last few years as families want to inquire about all the statistical data related to job placement. I asked the young man what his ideal college experience looked like. His answer: “I want to roll through my classes, get the parchment, then get a really good, high paying job.”
Is that all a college edu- cation is? A piece of paper that gets you a job? My fear has been that this is what the college experience has come to for current education “consumers.” It seems my fears have been confirmed. According to Jeff Selingo, one of the na- tion’s leading higher educa- tion strategists, New York Times best-selling author, and Washington Post colum- nist, “prospective students and parents now study the financial benefits of higher education and career out- comes of graduates of cam- puses they’re considering as thoroughly as they scru- tinize a college’s academic offerings, social life, and location.”
Selingo has captured the mindset that most college seekers and families bring to the college search. Fami- lies are shopping around to buy an education as a “transaction” to purchase a job. This view is affirmed by Hunter Rowlings, a for- mer president of the Asso- ciation of American Univer- sities. He states that “most everyone now evaluates college in purely economic terms, thus reducing it to a commodity like a car or a
house.” He goes on to say: A college education is no car. The courses the stu- dent decides to take (and not take), the amount of work the student does, the intel- lectual curiosity the student exhibits, her participation in class, his focus and deter- mination — all contribute far more to her educational ‘outcome’ than the college’s overall curriculum, much less its amenities and social life. Most public discussion of higher education today pretends that students sim- ply receive their education from colleges the way a per- son walks out of Best Buy
with a television.
Both Salingo and Row-
lings prompt us to ask the extremely important ques- tion: What is a college edu- cation? Having invested my life in college students and having talked with thou- sands of parents and high school seniors over nearly a quarter century, I have in- deed pondered the purpose of education. Many individ- uals I have interacted with have articulated this mis- informed and shallow defi- nition of education and the pursuit of happiness. They say that success is found by going to college, buying a degree, satisfying the ba- sic requirements, securing a well-paying job, going to work, getting a paycheck, and acquiring material pos- sessions.
I have led a nationally ranked career services of- fice, motivating students to find their calling and either secure a meaningful career or go off to professional or graduate school. You might think I would enthusiasti- cally endorse this job-fo- cused philosophy. I don’t. A college education should not be viewed as a product to buy which delivers self- centered opportunities. This
is an inward-focused, nar- cissistic, and limited view of education.
Yes, the cost to attend college, the placement rate, the return on investment numbers, the on-campus recruiting stats, the ac- ceptance rate to graduate school, and the average debt load of the alumni are all important figures to con- sider (all have their place in the equation/discussion/ evaluative process). But these numbers provide a very superficial appraisal of the true hope, heart, and intrinsic “value” of educa- tion. Legitimate education assists students in their sincere pursuit of instruc- tion, character develop- ment, competence, and virtues to deliberately and accountably engage all of life. Think about it: Where will students prepare for being an ethical employee, a faithful husband or wife, a loving father or mother, an involved neighbor or com- munity member, a devoted friend, etc?
I proposed a follow-up question to the young man sitting in my office, ask- ing him if there were other things he wanted to expe- rience, be involved in, or develop. His answer was direct and firm. “No, not that I can think of.” With this response, a number of thoughts quickly ran through my mind. What about the development of his moral compass and the building of life-long friend- ships? Or his character de- velopment and leadership opportunities? What has happened to becoming a life-long learner? To grap- pling with the significant questions of life? Learning how to live in community, respecting people much dif- ferent than himself, seeking out opportunities to serve,
and landing on a set of val- ues that will direct his life — where do these come in?
The narrowly focused, data-driven view of the col- lege experience espoused by this young man is con- sistent with the current re- search, but is it valid? No. Grove City College profes- sors Gary Smith and Paul Kemeny note: “The goal of education is to help stu- dents to think deeply about the major ethical, historical, cultural, philosophical, and theological issues of our day. This will effectively equip them to work in crucial cul- ture-shaping institutions, such as business, education, the media, government, and the church, in order to serve the common good.”
College graduates should not be viewed as round pegs to go into round holes, but as individuals who have the hearts, souls, minds, and skills to make a difference in the lives of others and the world. Stu- dents should be wholly edu- cated to prepare them to serve their Maker and their neighbor in their particular vocation and in all of life. This preparation, this trans- formation, does not happen by the vending-machine ap- proach to higher education. As I often say to parents and prospective students, a career or grad school “fit” is an appropriate expectation of a personal and financial investment in an education. But the personal growth, learning, and maturity are much more profoundly im- portant than “the job.” This is education, and it is worth the investment!
Jim Thrasher is the Senior Fellow of Grove City (Pa.) College’s career services office and the co- ordinator of the Center for Vision & Values working group on calling.
Fred Hall
Joel Glick, the longtime Communi- ty Services director for Reedley who was fired on Jan. 12, made a point to show his gratitude to the city where he spent nearly 22 years of his profes- sional career.
“I want to say how much I ap- preciate the opportunity the city had given to me to work
here,” Glick said
Jan. 29 by phone from his home in Visalia. “I’ve met many terrific people through the years. Reedley is a great little town.”
Glick said the
decision by City
Manager Nicole
Zieba to terminate him came as a sur- prise, as he had always received good evaluations. “But I did work a job where they could let you go for any reason,” he said.
Glick started with the city in June 1996 when he was hired as a recre- ation supervisor. Just more than a year later, he was named Parks and Recreation director. In 1998, Glick became the interim Community Ser- vices director, then was named to the position full-time in 1999.
College is about
Glick, 49, was involved in many city parks and recreation projects. Two recent ones were the planning for future expansion at the Reedley Sports Park and the building of a splash pad facility at the former Luke Trimble pool. Glick also was deeply involved with the Reedley Municipal Airport, supporting projects to mod- ernize and maintain the facility.
Glick said he had hoped eventually to retire from Reedley, but is now in search of other employment oppor- tunities. He wanted to emphasize his gratitude for his time in Reedley and friendships he has made.
“It was a great opportunity for my family and me,” he said.
Zieba has named Sarah Reid, rec- reation supervisor for the city, as the interim Community Services director.
•••
There’s still one more day to sub-
mit nominations for the Greater Reed- ley Chamber of Commerce Business and Community Awards. The event will be on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Reedley College Student Center. Tick- ets for the event are on sale at the chamber office, 1633 11th St.
You have until the end of the day Friday, Feb. 2, to submit nomina- tions in one of the following catego-
ries: Citizen of the
Year, Youth Citizen
of the Year, Busi-
ness of the Year,
Agricultural Busi-
ness of the Year,
Entrepreneur of
the Year, Educator
of the Year, Health
Professional of the
Year and the new
Reedley Beautification Award winner.
Nomination forms are available at the chamber or The Exponent office at 1130 G St. Completed nomination forms can be dropped off at these locations by the deadline. In addition, forms can be downloaded and submitted online at reedleychamberofcommerce.com.
Ticket information about the Busi- ness and Community Awards is avail- able by calling 638-8479 or emailing to info@reedleychamberofcommerce. com. •••
It’s still winter — although the weather hardly feels ilke it — but the Community Life Garden of Reedley, Dinuba and Orange Cove is taking early steps toward the spring plant- ing season. The organization has scheduled its first Gleaning Day on Saturday, Feb. 10. You can get details by calling (714) 200-3684.
The absence of rational thought is profoundly represented by the most recent request from the folks at the High Speed Rail Au- thority for an additional $2.8 billion to be invested (now, there’s a term that’s open to interpretation — squandered is perhaps more apropos) just to shore up financing for the short stretch here in the Central Valley!
At some point the inevitability of failure must be recognized and the losses cut. That’s pretty obvious, absent the projected private investment. Cap and trade and fuel taxes for road maintenance and environmental projects were never intended to support this project. We were told that the sale of voter approved bonds, federal money and private equity investment would do the job!
Perhaps this would be a good time to review exactly how we got to this point and what the honest prospects are of finishing anywhere near budget or, for that matter, even finishing at all. Perhaps after the last local business has been forced to move and the last crosstie laid, it will become a monument to poor planning and general government incompetence. A tourist destination.
Its proximity to Sacramento would allow people to visit both loca- tions on a single weekend. Imagine those towering monolithic struc- tures and rusting steel rail to nowhere that the misguided people of the early 2000s allowed their superiors to construct—minimally questioned--as a monument to their governor and how awestruck our descendants will be when observing such a tribute to waste and hubris!
What should be equally disturbing is the fact politicians have seen fit to expand the state’s budget by almost 50 percent in less than a decade. California spending is now in the rarified air of almost $200 billion when bond spending is added in. Add to that staggering number the fact that Senate and Assembly seem hell-bent on greater expenditures on social welfare, health care and pensions for govern- ment workers.
Unaccounted for in all that mess is the growing costs of repair- ing the damage done to the Oroville Dam with a cost now around $800 million. The reformation of federal taxes has made it far less palatable to pay extraordinarily high state rates in places like New York and New Jersey. For years, high tax states were somewhat mitigated by being able to deduct those high local rates — not so anymore.
Meanwhile, California government officials fight everything being proposed and done by the Trump administration. Think about it for a moment — if someone were fighting everything you did would you rush to make sure they have plenty of taxpayer money for an unneeded railroad or more social programs and free health care?
The very actions of our elected officials too often rise to the level of being so dumb that they need to be removed from office. We in the Central Valley have so little political clout that our “friends” from along the coast and residing in the large cities would simply elect more just like these who are equally clueless.
Money in California does not come from a bottomless well. There can be little doubt a day of reckoning soon will arrive. Will the last one out please turn off the exorbitantly expensive lights from all our alternative, renewable energy sources?
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Letters from readers
Jon Earnest
Joel Glick
more than simply getting a job
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email to jon@midvalleypublishing.com