Ender: Harper working to become model for 21st century

Today's economy calls for some sort of postsecondary education in up to 90 percent of American jobs, according to Harper College President Kenneth Ender.

However, the education system isn't nearly equipped to produce that kind of work force.

"There's a crisis," Ender said Monday in a meeting with the Daily Herald editorial board. "There's an urgency that has to be attached to the American dream because if we don't change this, there's no way our country and your kids and their kids can have the same lives we have. We can't compete on the international stage with what we're currently producing."

Harper College is embarking on an initiative, "Building Community Through Student Success," which aims at developing the Palatine school into a model for the 21st century community college.

The initiative will become more public during the week of Nov. 9-13, when a series of public symposiums - and Ender's installation - take place featuring "opinion leaders" like Jane Oates, U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary, as well as area school superintendents, principals and business leaders.

Those events, in conjunction with a spring 2010 community retreat for about 100 such leaders, will help formulate new strategies Harper will work to implement beginning next summer.

"We need to think of things the college can do to start making a difference," Ender said.

Part of those strategies will include improving and customizing services for academically unprepared students. For example, Ender said, 70 percent of Harper students take remedial math. So one type of measurable success would be to lower that percentage.

Ender also spoke about the need for change in public policy that would create incentives for four-year institutions to create partnerships with community colleges, such as the bachelor's degree in public safety Northern Illinois University will begin offering on Harper's campus. Currently, NIU doesn't receive any additional funding other than tuition dollars by serving students at Harper, but tuition doesn't cover all of its costs.

"It ought to be that 10 years from now, freshmen on our campus will know they never have to leave the Harper campus to be able to finish a baccalaureate in five to seven employment sectors," Ender said. "And that doesn't mean we have to give the degree."