'Brain drain' plays part in the valley's low education numbers
By J.N. Sbranti
The Modesto Bee
Saturday, Sep. 24, 2011
Education levels in the Northern San Joaquin Valley continue to lag far behind state and national averages, new Census Bureau statistics show.
Only about 76 percent of Stanislaus County adults have graduated from high school, compared with about 86 percent nationwide.
The education gap is even greater when it comes to college education. Just 16 percent of Stanislaus' adults have earned bachelor's degrees, compared with more than 28 percent nationwide.
Education attainment levels are even lower in Merced County and not much better in San Joaquin County.
The Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey results shows the region has made little progress in boosting its education levels, especially since the economy went into a recession.
Stanislaus' percentage of high school and college graduates was higher in 2007 than it was in 2010. That may indicate better-educated residents moved out when jobs started disappearing. Education levels nationwide, by contrast, have kept rising.
Many of the valley's most promising high school graduates leave the region topursue a higher education, and they don't return because there are not enough high-wage jobs here to attract them, said Suzanne Espinoza, vice president for enrollment and student affairs at California State University, Stanislaus.
"They call that a brain drain, and it's well documented in this valley," said Espinoza, whose university awarded 1,443 bachelor's degrees and 364 graduate degrees last year. "We need to try to retain more of our talented students. We must lure them back."
Attracting better-paying jobs is a key. But after seeing the valley's low education rates, potential high-end employers frequently decide to locate their businesses elsewhere.
"So our students who get their college educations are having to leave the valley because the jobs aren't here," Espinoza said. "It's a perpetuating cycle."
Too often college graduates who remain in the valley find no place to work. So they face severe economic hardship, just like their less-educated neighbors.
Kathy Harwell, assistant director for Stanislaus County's Community Services Agency, said it has gotten so difficult for anyone to get a job that "we're seeing people with college degrees and even master's degrees" applying for food stamps.
"Bachelor degrees are wonderful," but they don't guarantee graduates can get a job in valley, said Keith Griffith, senior manager for education for the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance. His daughter, who recently graduated from college, is among those who have left.
"Our best and our brightest are leaving," Griffith said. But he doesn't think the Census Bureau's education attainment statistics tell the whole picture. "We've got some outstanding education programs in Stanislaus."
Griffith said the county's top focus right now must be to reduce its high school drop out rate. Increasing the education level of the county's adult population also is vital.
"After working all day, people are exhausted and the last thing they want to do is go sit in a classroom," Griffith said. "But that's what they have to do to get ahead."
In the old days, school districts used to offer adult education programs. Griffith said budget cuts have made such programs "an endangered species."
Community colleges don't require students be high school graduates, but those who aren't may have trouble with college-level classes.
That's why about 20 percent of MJC's classes now are remedial courses designed to get students ready for collegiate courses.
Karen Walter Dunlap, Modesto Junior College's vice president of instruction said she is encouraged by the number of students focused on getting the degrees and training they need to succeed.
"We have seen an increase in students wanting to transfer (to universities)," Dunlap said. Six years ago, about 42 percent of new students said they planned to continue their college education beyond MJC, but now 70 percent have that goal.
That heartens Dunlap because she sees a long-term benefit to getting a college education, and she notes how attaining a bachelor's degree increases a person's earning power.
Increasing numbers of MJC students also are pursuing job-oriented training programs.
"The last few years we have had a decrease in the number of associate degrees awarded but an increase in certificates (issued to those who complete technical training programs)," Dunlap said. Such training prepares people for careers in fields like respiratory therapy, information technology and horticulture.
Unfortunately, such certificates don't count when the Census Bureau calculates the percentage of adults with bachelor degrees.
CSU Stanislaus, however, is trying to make it easier for working adults to graduate from college.
"We have committed to providing access to our educational programs for part-time students who can only attend at night," Espinoza said. "All of our general education and most of our major programs are rotated to provide access … at night. We enroll approximately 35 percent of our students on a part-time basis, many of (them take) night courses."
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