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| TSC Announcing AWS Testing Before Actual Accreditation Last week this blog reported that of the 40 Brownsville high school CTE students who took what was reported to be an "AWS Testing Exam" at TSC's ITEC 5/19, 2021, NONE actually got jobs as welders. That was simply because Texas Southmost College was not accredited with the American Welding Society until August 2022.  So, TSC was unable to issue the students the AWS, American Welding Society certificates necessary to getting a welding job in Brownsville. Instead, students were given a TSC Certificate of Completion, something prospective employers told the students was "worthless." Of course, at the time of the test, TSC's Thomas Tynan, Director of Construction and Manufacturing Education, declared the program a rousing success. Currently, TSC's welding program administered at their vocational arm, ITEC on Mexico Blvd., seems to be on life support with, reportedly, nearly all of the schools 48 state-of-the-art welding stations not in use. We could compare the ill health of TSC's vocational welding to the body's rejection of a transplanted heart, when the body rejects it as "foreign, which leads to failure and eventually, rigor mortis. No, I'm not Dr. Marcus Welby, M.D., but I do have sources and they indicate that an intregral core of ITEC's vocational program and administration are transplants from another program, Houston Community College. It's a form of institution inbreeding, with so much of TSC's vocational leadership implanted, transplanted from another institution. Reportedly, at least one of the transplants from Houston Community College has publicly expressed his disdain for Brownsville. But, who are these core administrators that were transplanted from Houston Community College to Texas Southmost College? .jpeg)   Does this curious institutional inbreeding of wholesale transplants from a single institution factor into the failures of TSC ITEC's welding program? We honestly don't know, but hires based on cronyism are not always the best hires. |
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We should have another article on TSC's failing welding program in a day or two. And, actually, TSC vocational education is not simply floundering on the welding side. There seems to be no scaffolding, pipefitting, plumbing, diesel, roofing, insulation or drone mechanics being taught.
ReplyDeleteOne reason is the lack of good instructors. Instructors that know the job; the speak the language of the students "cuidado, asi mero, echale ganas papa" etc plus the tricks of the trade. I learned this from a plumber that was teaching a young man to be a plumber. "Water is a liar, the source of the water takes time to figure out." The whole street and property were flooded but the plumber was right: the water source was not inside the house !!!
ReplyDeleteThe students here in our city are hardworking but you have to train them well and explain to them how difficult it is to work as a welder, roofer, etc. A & M established a program to train students with no cost to them and in both English and Spanish. Students are learning from the experts and on site. TSC should have done this, but A & M brought their TRAIN program. I think it is just the courses you need to get a job and get your permit to work. TSC needs to be better than this TRAIN program.
ReplyDeleteIf the TSC program is imitating the Houston program, than it has to be good. Houston works day and night with men from the Valley. Houston: is construction, a port, .....just like Brownsville. Also, if the leaders of TSC have worked in Houston, they should have more ideas and energy to make the programs work. They are coming from a big city to a small town.
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