This is a lightly edited version of my comments to the School Board on October 6, 2021. At that meeting I urged the School Board to restore the wonderful Design/Engineering program at Pacific Middle School, which had been cut at the last minute. My prepared remarks were about ‘equity’ and ‘the importance of the program to Des Moines’ and all that big picture jazz. But upon entering the meeting, I saw a big sign “Name Strength And Need”–the HSD motto. And after hearing a string of parents commenting on what a difference the program had made for their kids I realised that was the wrong approach and that instead my comments should focus on strength and need. Design/Engineering maps far better to the strengths of certain types of people. And it definitely fulfills an unmet need for hands-on learning. So I was basically winging it. 😀 I took this text from a transcription they do in real-time at the meeting. Here is a link to the original recording. And below is a 2020 City Council Meeting where the Design/Engineering Students present their Future Cities project.
Good evening. My name is JC Harris. I am a member of the Des Moines city council, but I’m just here tonight as me. And I’m about to improvise based on what I heard, so forgive me.
I’m from Ireland. I came to America with about a year left in high school. And there’s a point here. Things did not go well. So I quit. But it was my good fortune to go to trade school, and it was inspiring and transformative for me. And eventually that led to my going to college and obtaining a Masters of Science and Engineering. Thank you, State of Michigan.
And the reason I told you that is we have this kind of bias in American education where you go through the process–and I guess, the goal culminates in college. But if you find any aspect of it challenging, it seems that the preferred remediation is to double down on the very things that you are not finding thrilling to begin with.
OK. Thank God I found a venue for hands-on learning. And it changed my life. But it should not be the case that you have to wait until you’re eighteen or some random luck for that chance. Design engineering program has the same transformative power which changed my life. It changes people.
And the reason I told you I’m on the Des Moines city council is because it is one of the joys everyone looks forward to in joining the Council. Every February, you’re going to get to see that Future Cities presentation. And you can just see– I can–how those kids are heading in the right direction. You just go, “Wow, Yeah. This is going to turn out good.”
I did a little bit of research, because I am that kind of bloodless engineer guy, before coming here. And I could not find any kind of outcome research.
I respond to budgets, and not tears. It’s a tough thing you do (deciding what to keep and what to cut). But I’m just going to suggest to you that making decisions based on head counts, and moving these pieces around, and cost control. Not having that outcome data is preventing you from making
the right decision. Because the truth is that design and engineering has a greater transformative potential than any of the more immediately popular programs.
OK. So the right question to ask is, how many lives are changed? You know what I mean? When these kids get to be 35 and 40. I can just tell you it’s probably more than some of the remaining electives. So if you’re really talking about equity, think about it in terms of, “Yeah, it cost us these dollars and so forth. But this number of people turned out to be engineers and plumbers and so on…”
Because it doesn’t have to be a college thing. Success is success. That is the power of the program.
I avoided talking about the equity and the importance of Pacific Middle School to Des Moines (as I intended) and all of that because, as I listened to other speakers I realized that success is all that matters.
You should restore the program. But you should also consider your successors into the future. Spend a few bucks and start capturing that outcome data. Because I’m pretty sure the program would have sold itself if you’d had that information.
Thank you. And by the way. As a fellow part time elected, bless you. The public cannot understand. So Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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