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Editorials
Waubonsee offering help for job-seekers : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWaubonsee offering help for job-seekers
| 10/22/2009
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A few weeks ago one of our readers stopped in our office and suggested we needed to do more to publicize all of the programs that Waubonsee Community College offers those that are unemployed.
Judging by Waubonsee's record enrollment this fall, many area residents are indeed aware of the wide variety of occupational and workforce development programs the college offers to those who are seeking to learn new job skills or to advance with their current employers.
Still, we agree that some people may not be aware of the college's many job-related services and programs. We encourage them to contact Waubonsee directly or visit the college's web site at waubsonee.edu for more information.
The current recession underscores the importance of Waubonsee and other community colleges across the country to our national economy.
Here in the Oswego-Montgomery area a few decades ago, many new high school graduates who did not want to or could not afford to attend a four-year college would look for full-time employment at local manufacturing plants like Caterpillar, Anchor Brush, All-Steel or Lyon Metal. But today most of those manufacturing jobs-like some of the employers themselves-are long gone. And making it even more difficult for today's job seekers is that in most cases employers are seeking better-trained employees. That's where Waubonsee has stepped in.
Nearly a half century ago when the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation that allowed for the creation of community colleges across the state, there was much skepticism over the role the new colleges would play. Of course, some folks didn't want to pay for another layer of government on their property tax bills, while some skeptics at the four-year colleges and universities raised doubts over the quality of the community college's academic programs for transfer students. And early community college leaders had their work cut out for them in developing job training and certificate programs to meet the needs of local businesses.
Today, more than four decades after Waubonsee opened, the college, and others like it across the country, has overcome those early doubters and carved out vital niches in their respective communities and the nation's economy. The success is evident in the enrollment numbers and in the thousands who have already attended and gained needed job skills.
The importance of community colleges has also been recognized at the highest level or our nation's government. In a speech in recession-ravaged Michigan last summer, President Barack Obama noted that the hard economic truth is that jobs requiring at least an associate degree like those offered at Waubonsee are projected to grow twice as fast those jobs requiring no college experience in the coming years.
"We will not fill those jobs or keep those jobs on our shores without the training offered by community colleges," Obama said.
Our current economic circumstances serve to further underscore the importance of an educational institution where both new high school grads and adults can go to earn transfer degrees, job training certification or other skills they can use to help themselves, their employers and the economy as a whole. Waubonsee? We can't imagine what our community would be like now without it.
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