The drought continues to intensify and indications are rain may be sparse until at least May. That doesn’t mean absolutely no precipitation in the meantime but it may be quite hard to buy a rain. If you are paying attention to local, state, and national news regarding education the last few years, it is obvious there is great concern regarding students falling behind in the hard sciences and technology. Many school district are implementing some kind of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum to help address this. Also during this time nationally and within the legislature and state educational leaders here in Kansas we are decrying the fact we lack potential employees highly skilled in one of many technical areas. We as a society seem to either veer hard toward the STEM curriculum with four-year and advanced degrees or toward the technical or trade side. What seems to be lacking in the discussion is that the two are interconnected, not two distinct paths.
As an example let’s look at the possible endpoints for students enrolled in the agriculture program at Barton Community College in either certificate or degree programs whether they will transfer or not.
• All degree programs (Crop Protection, Ag. Business Management, or the transfer degree) require Technical Math or College Algebra, Computer Concepts and Applications and Plant Science. The terminal degrees, Crop Protection and Ag. Business Management, require additional science classes and depending on the path these include Animal Science, Animal Nutrition, Soil Science, GPS and Precision Agriculture, Economic Entomology, Concepts for Agriculture (basic physics, chemistry, biology, climatology, hydrology, and agricultural math), Farm Machinery and Technology, Farm Crop Production, Beef Cattle Production, Fertilizer Management, Range Management, Crop Protection, and more. These types of courses are a mixture of basic and applied science with an emphasis on the applied along with the technology involved. These would certainly fit into a STEM background.
• Barton also offers two certificates in both Beef Cattle Production and Crop Protection. These feature many of the classes mentioned previously but are even more focused on preparing students for careers in two semesters. All of these classes feature extensive mathematics pertinent to the certificate and critical thinking to aid in identifying and solving problems. And these certificates are stackable, i.e. they can be built upon for a two-year degree. These certificates allow individuals the opportunity for excellent careers with good wages, benefits, and over time the opportunity to advance.
• New this fall, the College is offering a one semester, twenty-five credit hour Scales Technician Certificate for the weights and measures industry. This includes Technical Math, DC Circuits, AC Circuits, and Scale Principles and Technology among several other classes. STEM is certainly prominent here. Again these are skilled jobs paying well with excellent benefits. Many qualified scale technicians earn more than those with B.S. degrees.
• And with all fields listed above, there is constant continuing education and training required in these rapidly evolving fields. When parents visit Barton with prospective students, it isn’t uncommon to hear their child needs training in two-year or short term certificate programs since they just aren’t “college material” and need training for a job. What that often really means is that the child hasn’t found the area for training that excites them for a career.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207.
