Ranken officials speak to Chester Chamber
<p dir="ltr"><span>A group of officials from Ranken Technical College spoke to the Chester Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 18 about the benefits of technical education.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Ranken, which is based in St. Louis, is building a new satellite campus in Perryville, with some classes to begin in January and a full opening scheduled for next summer.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"It's been five decades and we have spent trillions of dollars in the United States to try and produce more college graduates," said Stan Shoun, president of Ranken Technical College. "In 1960, it was about 25 percent. This year, it's about 28 percent.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"That number hasn't changed and it hasn't changed for a reason. Not because of a lack of money, not because of a lack of resources and certainly not because of a K-12 system that's pushing everybody toward that university goal."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun was the chamber's featured presenter at the lunch meeting, with Ranken Dean of Academic Affairs Dan Kina and Don Poul, vice president for Education at Ranken, also in attendance.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun noted that 1.4 million students recently came out of high school and started some sort of college education in August or September this year. He stated that 50 percent of those would flunk out in their first year, while another 25 percent would flunk out within four years.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"If you look at it from an organizational standpoint, from an industry and business standpoint, we don't need that many graduates," Shoun said.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun spoke on several "urban myths," one of which is that there is a lack of jobs.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The bottom line is any given time, especially in a big city like St. Louis, there's 11,000 unfilled jobs," Shoun said. "It's not a jobs issue, it's a skills issue."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Another is that manufacturing in the United States is "dead."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"Manufacturing is not dead, it's stagnant," Shoun said. "It's stagnant because there isn't that technical workforce behind it."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun noted that the number one requested trait of graduates by industry leaders is work ethic.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"It's that one thing we stay away from in education," Shoun said. "It's the one thing we do not enforce in education."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun highlighted Ranken's "work-based learning" combined with an "industry-driven curriculum," and stated that the college has a 93 percent retention rate and a 96 percent placement rate of students within seven months of graduation.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Tuition is $14,000 per year, with 86 percent of students receiving some sort of financial assistance.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"We believe this school will attract students who want to work," said Gilster-Mary Lee President and CEO Don Welge, who attended the presentation. "These people might like the area and want to stay."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Shoun was asked what type of classes Ranken's Perryville location would offer. He stated that survey results of local businesses showed a desire for transportation (specifically diesel-trained maintenance), construction and construction management, electrical technology, welding, and other skill areas.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"Everything is getting more technical," Shoun said. "We are training less technical people. That does not make for a bright future."</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In other news, Chamber President Jason Coffey noted that the chamber will be having its chicken dinner fundraiser on Oct. 28 from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall.</span>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The chamber's next meeting, a breakfast meeting, will take place on Nov. 15 at 7 a.m. at Reids' Harvest House.</span>