ERIC ED404450: Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997. (Submitted as Part of SOC Final FY 96 Report.)

199 Pages·1997·3 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CE 073 356
ED 404 450
Anderson, Clinton L.
AUTHOR
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997.
TITLE
(Submitted as Part of SOC Final FY 96 Report.)
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges, Washington,
INSTITUTION
DC.
Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education
SPONS AGENCY
Support (DOD), Pensacola, FL.
PUB DATE
97
197p.
NOTE
Historical Materials (060)
PUB TYPE
MF01/PC08 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Adult Education; Articulation (Education); *Community
DESCRIPTORS
Colleges; Consortia; Developmental Programs;
Educational Objectives; *Educational Opportunities;
Educational Principles; General Education; Graduate
Study; Higher Education; *Military Personnel;
*Military Training; Models; Nontraditional Education;
Outreach Programs; Program Development; Program
Effectiveness; Teacher Education; *Technical
Institutes; Troubleshooting; Two Year Colleges;
Veterans; Veterans Education
*Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Program
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This book traces the history of the Servicemembers
Opportunity College (SOC) program, which allows military personnel to
obtain civilian education at more that 1,000 designated community
colleges, technical institutes, and four-year institutions
nationwide. Among the topics discussed in this history of the SOC
program's development as the Servicemen's Opportunity College Program
in 1972 are the following: genesis of civilian education in the
military; SOC program beginnings in 1969-1972; consortium development
and expansion to include four-year colleges; SOC infrastructure;
application of the SOC model to nonmilitary areas; extension of SOC
to prospective recruits; SOC outreach with Army National Guard; SOC
and developmental, teacher, veterans, and graduate education; SOC and
adult family members of servicemembers and Department of Defense
civilians; automation/degree planning; and information and
assistance. Contains 98 references. Appended are the following:
criteria for SOCs; SOC charter, bylaws, and principles/criteria;
first SOC news bulletin; SOC associate degree (SOCAD) concept paper;
1981 report on feasibility of initiating SOCAD-type programs for the
Navy; concept papers for SOC programs for Marines and veterans; 1993
SOC for Veterans concept paper; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
correspondence; and biographical sketches of SOC staff, 1972-1996.
(MN)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
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Servicemembers
Opportunity
Colleges
1972-1997
fil
U.S. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION
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originating a
0 Minor changes have been made to improve
)
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ment do not necessarily represent official
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
OE RI position or policy
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
3
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Servicemembers
Opportunity
Colleges
1972-1997
(Submitted as Part of SOC Final FY 96 Report)
by
Clinton L. Anderson
Senior Consultant to SOC
DISCLAIMER
This historical report has not been approved
by other higher education entities or
any element of DoD.
3
About
the
Author
Clinton L. Anderson is a Senior Consultant to
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges. He holds
master's degrees from the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill and Stanford University, and an
Ed.D. degree in Adult and Continuing Education from
Columbia University. His dissertation was entitled
"Historical Profile ofAdult Basic Education Programs
in the United States Army." Dr. Anderson is a veteran
of twenty years of Army service, during which he
served seven years in Field Artillery training and over
six years at Army Headquarters in the management
and operation of Army's continuing education
programs.
Publication Design and Layout by
Charles R. Lovelace
SOC Publications Coordinator
TABLE
Foreword
i ii
F
iv
General Powell Receives Education Award
CONTENTS
Nontraditional Education and the
Adult Learner
v
The Genesis of Civilian Education
I
in the Military
1
The Beginnings of SOC: 1969-1972
2
5
Consortium Development and Expansion
3
to Include Four-Year Colleges: 1973-1974
13
SOC Infrastructure
4
17
SOC Evaluation
27
5
Application of SOC Model to
6
Non - Military Areas
31
Major Issues Addressed During the
7
Nickerson Era (1973-1981)
33
Development of SOC Network Systems:
8
The Arden Pratt Legacy
51
9
1989-Present: Advocacy, Consolidation,
and Expansion
69
SOC Extended to Prospective Recruits:
10
Development and Implementation of ConAP
91
SOC Outreach with the Army National Guard:
11
Development and Implementation of
SOCGuard
101
SOC and Developmental Education
12
111
SOC's Involvement in Teacher Education
13
115
SOC and Veterans
14
121
SOC and Graduate Programs
15
125
16
SOC and Adult Family Members of
Servicemembers and DoD Civilians
127
17
SOC Automation/Degree Planning Initiatives
129
Troubleshooting
18
135
SOC Information and Assistance
19
137
20
Recognition: Nickerson Medal of Merit
147
Afterword
21
151
22
References
155
I
5
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997
Appendix A
Criteria for Servicemen's Opportunity
Colleges 1972-1973
161
Appendix B
Servicemembers Opportunity
163
Colleges Charter
Appendix C
Servicemembers Opportunity
166
Colleges By-Laws
Appendix D
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges
SOC Principles and Criteria
170
1995-1997
Appendix E
175
First SOC News Bulletin
Appendix F
179
SOCAD Concept Paper
Appendix G
Report on the Feasibility of Initiating
SOCAD-Type Programs on a
Pilot Basis for Navy
183
December 15, 1981
Appendix H
186
The SOCMAR Statement of Work
Appendix I
"SOCVET" (Concept Paper)
Servicemembers Opportunity
188
Colleges for Veterans 8/20/93
Appendix J
United States Patent and Trademark
Office Correspondence
191
Appendix K
Biographical Sketches of
SOC Staff 1972-1996
193
6
FOREWORD)
This 25 year historical report is a compilation of bench-
mark events and issues addressed by Servicemembers
Opportunity Colleges (SOC) from its beginnings through
1997. It is submitted as part of SOC's FY 1996 Final re-
port and is intended for distribution at the 1997 Depart-
ment of Defense Worldwide Education Symposium.
As part of its role in higher education, Servicemem-
bers Opportunity Colleges is often asked to present its
history and its participation in military higher education
issues. lb facilitate this function, Dr. Clinton Anderson
was asked to review SOC files, place them in a coherent
order, and relate SOC's history to the evolution of higher
education in the military. The project began with a paper
presented at the Adult Education Conference in Kansas
Servicemembers
City, Missouri, on November 3, 1995. That paper was dis-
Opportunity
tributed to many of the key players involved in SOC's de-
velopment including the two former directors. Their con-
Colleges
tributions are included in this final report.
This history includes examples of actions, reference
documents, and people who have contributed to SOC's de-
velopment, consolidation, and expansion. It attempts to
place SOC in the context of the environment of the DoD
Voluntary Education Program and the higher education
community as SOC began, developed as an organization,
and served as a vehicle of communications and educa-
tional support between DoD/military services and higher
education in the United States.
It is intended that this historical report will serve as a
point of departure for continuing dialogue regarding his-
torical events and their implications both for adult and
continuing education within the military and for the fu-
ture of the DoD/higher education partnership. As new and
different information comes to light and new events and
actions occur, this history will be periodically updated.
Many individuals contributed to this document. These
include the SOC staff, both past and present, the DANTES
staff, and others who have been closely connected to SOC's
development over the years. The efforts of those who as-
sisted in coming to grips with SOC history are sincerely
appreciated.
Steve F. Kime
Director
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges
ill
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997
General Powell Receives
Education Award
In a speech accepting the distinguished Alumnus
Award of the American Association of State Colleges
and Universities (AASCU) at the Association's an-
nual meeting, General Colin L. Powell, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised the "fine work"
of the AASCU- sponsored Servicemem-
bers Opportunity Colleges (SOC).
General Powell noted that "SOC
helps our young GIs take advantage of
the educational opportunities offered by
its more than 1,000 member institu-
tions."
"I like to compare SOC to the GI
Bill," General Powell told the audience
General
of state college and university presi-
Colin L. Powell
dents. "I believe that such a compari-
Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
son is fair, that SOC's impact has been
equally sweeping, equally effective in
ensuring high-quality, continuing education for our
men and women in uniform."
A 1958 graduate of the City College of New York,
General Powell portrayed himself as a "staunch de-
"I like to
fender of public education."
compare SOC
One of the "host of challenges" that will face
President-Elect Bill Clinton, said General Powell,
to the GI Bill,
"how to get the great American
will be education
I believe that such a
education machine running on all cylinders again."
comparison
"If we do not successfully meet this most basic chal-
lenge," he said, "we will be severely hampered in
is fair, that SOC's
meeting all the other challenges that we face as a
impact has been equally
nation."
"Correcting the inequalities and eliminating the
sweeping, equally effective
distortions that currently exist in our education sys-
in ensuring high-quality,
tem won't be easy. But we can do it. We must do it.
continuing education
And we must do it in a way that does not limit the
extent and accessibility of public education to all
for our men and women
the youngsters who need it" (DANTES Information
in uniform."
Bulletin, Number 197, February 1993).
8
iv
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997
NONTRADITIONAL EDUCATION
AND THE ADULT LEARNER
(Extract from
Anderson & Kime, Adult Higher Education and the Military, 1990)
Many high school graduates do not
offering college or university. Many non-
become "traditional" college stu-
traditional students engage in distance
dents. Instead, they enter full-time or
learning programs such as independent
part-time employment in business, in-
study through corre-
spondence, televi-
dustry or agriculture. Many join the mili-
sion, computer or
tary services. A large percentage are
other media. The
married and have small children before
nontraditional stu-
completing a degree. Their transforma-
dent is generally
tion from adolescence to adulthood occurs
studying part time
well outside the confines of a traditional
while coping with
college campus. Nevertheless, the per-
full-time employ-
ception exists in America that an edu-
cated person is a more productive mem-
ment and, often, fam-
ily and community
ber of our society and that a college de-
gree will help him or her be a more use-
responsibilities.
ful and effective citizen.
Nontraditional learning incorporates
The educational goal for many "non-
"credit programs based on new or uncon-
traditional" students is one or more aca-
ventional forms of education that are free
demic degrees. Like their traditional
of time, place, and space limitations typi-
college student counterparts, they seek
cal of traditional classroom-based in-
the recognition and benefits derived from
struction" (Stewart, et al, 1990, p. 1-7).
achievement of a credible degree which
Commonly used instruments to facilitate
they must achieve, at least in part,
programs of nontraditional learning in-
through nontraditional means. Their ca-
clude:
reer occupations often provide a rich fo-
rum for learning and in-depth knowl-
assessments of experiential learn-
edge. They want credits awarded based
ing;
on learning achieved during their job
training and work experience or on learn-
external degrees;
ing documented by nationally recognized
evaluations of formal training;
standardized tests. These students may
take classes at night or during lunch
portfolio development;
hours. Some commute to junior or com-
contract learning;
munity colleges or participate in courses
or programs sponsored in part or wholly
competency-based curricula; and
by their employer. Classes may be at or
near places of employment, some dis-
correspondence and other distance
tance away from the main campus of the
learning.
9
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges 1972-1997
Fourth, praxis is at the heart of
The challenge in higher education is
adult education; participants are
to provide nontraditional students with
high-quality degree programs compa-
involved in a constant process of ac-
tivity, further reflection on activity
rable to similar on-campus programs for
traditional students. Often these pro-
and collaborative analysis and so
on.
grams are considered "adult" and/or "con-
tinuing" education. Stephen Brookfield
Fifth, adult education fosters a
describes adult education as:
spirit of critical reflection; through
education learners come to appre-
a transactional dialogue between par-
ciate that values, beliefs and be-
ticipants who bring to the encounter ex-
haviors are culturally constructed
periences, attitudinal sets, differing
and transmitted, and that they are
ways of looking at their personal, pro-
fessional, political and recreational
provisional and relative.
worlds, and a multitude of varying pur-
Sixth, the aim of adult education is
poses, orientations and expectations.
Central to this transaction is the con-
the nurturing of self-directed, em-
tinuous negotiation of goals, methods,
powered adults; such adults will
curricula and evaluative criteria. Adult
see themselves as proactive, initi-
educators are not blank ciphers
ating individuals engaged in a con-
through whom are uncritically trans-
tinuous re-creation of their per-
mitted the demands and wishes of
sonal relationships, work worlds,
learners, but neither are they authori-
and social circumstances, and not
tarian ideologues who prescribe cur-
ricula and methods which are to be con-
as reactive individuals, buffeted by
sidered fixed and immutable. In a fully
the uncontrollable forces of circum-
adult educational encounter all partici-
stance (Brookfield, 1985, p.48).
pants learn, no one member is regarded
as having a monopoly on insight, and
In essence, adult education is focused
dissension and criticism are regarded
on encouraging adult students to become
as inevitable and desirable elements of
autonomous learners while empowering
the process. (Brookfield, 1985, p. 49)
them with knowledge, skills and under-
Brookfield outlines six principles of
standing needed for working and living
critical practice in adult education:
in society (Anderson & Kime, 1990, pp.
ix-xii).
First, participation is voluntary;
adults are engaged in learning as
a result of their own volition.
Second, respect for self-worth; an
attention to increasing adults'
sense of self-worth underlies all
educational efforts.
Third, adult education is collabora-
tive; teachers and learners are en-
gaged in a cooperative enterprise
in which, in different times and for
different purposes leadership and
facilitation roles will be assumed
by different group members.
10
VI