HomeMy WebLinkAboutVillage Squire, 1973-04, Page 13i
few had moved right into the country.
Clinton Centre, which looks out
across the road at rolling Huron
county farm land is part of the atte-
mpt of Conestoga to take the educa-
tion t, the people, not the people
to the centres of education.
Because of this unique country
atmosphere, Clinton Centre has al-
ready become something of an attr-
action. Mr. Milton recalls a few
students coming to the college last
year from the Kingston area because
they preferred the small school in
the country to a nearby school in
the heart of the city of Kingston.
"I'd lice us to become known as
the country college" Mr. Milton
says, although he is not so sure the
others in the Conestoga administrat-
ion would approve. He points out
that in the United States there are
many small towns and villages which
are sites for small colleges, but it is
seldom seen in Canada.
Clinton Centre is small in numbers
with about 100 students studying at
the school at any one time, and Ross
Milton doesn't plan to drastically
change the situation. His goal, he
says, is to persuade ten per cent of
the graduating high school students in
Huron county to stay in the county
at Clinton Centre for their education.
He points out that presently 55 per •
cent leave the county to go to univ-
ersities or other institutes of higher
learning. Another six or seven per
cent join the armed forces or the
provincial police or other govern-
ment forces. This leaves a whopping
35 per cent uncommitted. It is this
group he would like to tap, and if
he reached his goal, Clinton Centre
would be between 200 and 300 stud-
ents.
There, are many economic advan-
tages to keeping the Clinton Centre
small, he says. While administrat-
ion can eat up as much as 40 per
cent of the budget at some campuses,
Mr. Milton is the only administrator
at Clinton Centre. If the college
stays within the scope of his present
aims, he doesn't see a need for ad-
ditional staff. The maintenance
department at Clinton Centre cons-
ists of one man, while larger cam-
puses have large staffs. All this
means there is more money available
where it counts, for the teachers and
facilities the students need for a
better education.
But besides cost saving, Mr. Mil-
ton sees other benefits, perhaps
even more important. He finds, for
instance there is a good communi-
cation between the students and
himself. As we toured the campus,
for instance, one of the students ca-
lled out "Hi Ross" and he answered.
Students have a council at the school
already and the minutes of every
council meeting go to the adminis-
tration so it can try to find out their
concerns before they become pro-
blems. Students have been respon-
sible, he says, for the new parking
lot installed at the school and for
the colourful lockers which perk up
the halls of what used to be a rather
drab building.
Students also have a hand in the
evaluation of teachers he says. "If
a student has a problem with a tea-
cher he can come to me. I'll then
sit in on the class and find out if
the teacher is really having trouble
teaching. Usually the complaint
comes just because the teacher is
having a bad day, but we check
anyway".
"We don't propose to grow too
fast" he says. "We want to make
it solid". For this reason a course
is put before an advisory committee
before it is accepted into the cur-
riculum. The committee helps
determine if the course is really
needed, what number of students
are needed and the cost of the
progra m.
-Two courses have now been appr-
oved for the 1974 school year through
this matter. Both deal with the mo-
bile home industry which is one of
the biggest in Huron. The first will
train technicians and the second will
deal with marketing of the mobile
homes. He says the college is look-
ing five years ahead in its planning
for courses.
Obviously, the two coarses planned
aren't very glamourous such as some
of the high-sounding courses offered
by universities, and neither is the
rest of the curriculum, made up of
academic up -grading courses (designed
to help those who dropped out of
school up -grade their education so
they can take more specialized train-
ing courses offered by the government),
commercial and secretarial courses,
carpentry and masonry and evening
courses ranging from horsemanship to
hobbies and crafts.
Yet the courses meet the need of
the country for trained personnel. So
far all but a couple of the graduates
of the school have been placed in
local businesses, he says and the sch-
ool has also placed students from its
sister Conestoga branches within the
county.
The school is quite conscious, Mr.
Milton says, of putting quality into
the students it graduates. He wants
employers to be impressed by the
skills of the students and help give the
Centre a good reputation. He says
the tough standards at present may
even be a little hard on the students,
but feels it will benefit everyone in
the long run.
Huron county is just starting to feel
the impact of the Centre, he says.
Besides the skilled students the college
is putting into the employment pool,
there are business up -grading courses
offered on a one -night -a -week basis.
The courses should help Huron busi-
nesses gain more technical skill in
business to be able to compete better
with outside interests. So far, how-
ever, the course has not been deluged
with students after its first year.
The Centre has just completed a
study of tourism in Huron counrty, that
should make a few people have some
second thoughts. It points out that
pollution is a big problem in Huron
and if tourism is to be exploited,
steps will have to be taken to clean
up lakes and rivers and create artifi-
cial lakes and fish ponds to attract
people. It finds that tourism in Huron
has been built on a narrow base "of
sensuous pleasures and alcohol" and
says the tourist industry must begin
to cater to the many varied needs
of the tourist. It claims too few to-
urist establishments have undertaken
advertising and promotion programs.
What is the answer? The repot
offers 22 answers, all possible courses
that could be taught at the college.
The courses deal with everything from
a three week supermarket checker
and four-week parking lot attendant's
course, to a 20 -week cook training
course.
The courses will be held at the
Centre. Seminars in tourism are
planned making use of the new con-
vention centre opened up at Vanastra.
Mr. Milton and his colleagues are
attacking the malady of up -grading
business practices then from the bot-
tom through commercial and crafts
training, and from the top through
training the men who own and run the
businesses. In time, the results must
surely appear on the balance sheets
of Huron businesses.
One might suppose that teachers
with the technical ability to teach
at the college would have to be im-
parted from Kitchener, London or
Toronto. On the contrary, Mr. Mil-
ton says, all but two of the staff
members was recruited from the tal-
ent pool already in the county. He
says he has found a versatility in
these teachers that is almost impos-
sible to find in teachers from the ci-
ty. They may teach one subject in
the morning and another in the after-
noon. This versatility helps improve
the school, he says, because if each
teacher specialized in one area, the
Centre would have a huge teaching
staff. Despite the lack of speciali-
zation, Mr. Milton says the quality
of teaching at the college is first
rate.
Mr. Milton is pleased with the
progress made so far at the school.
The college is far ahead of its own
schedule already. He had hoped, he
said, for a static student population
of about 50 in the first year, but it
was nearly 100. There are a few
dark clouds on the rosey horizon
though. Government cutbacks on
funds for community colleges will
mean the Clinton Centre will have
to get along on the same budget it
had last year, something that may
be tough for a school just getting
started. Still, Mr. Milton says,
pians for the future go ahead. He
will simply try to find the funs with-
in his present budget.
Besides, a simple cutback in funds
can't do too much to a man who has
fought so many odds to make Clinton
Centre a reality when only two years
ago it seemed to many to be an im-
possible dream.
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