July 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 44

ACADEMICS

reacting to the demands of the employment landscape. " The field of
parks and recreation increasingly demands professionals who are 'boundary spanners' and who draw from a
variety of disciplines and fields of
study in order to be successful, " he
says. " The great park and recreation
degree programs, at undergraduate
and graduate levels, acknowledge the
need to have a curriculum that reflects
the reality of today's environment in
which agencies operate, and they prepare students who can adroitly move
between specializations and generalizations within their field. "

going to be more to your benefit than
knowing exactly what you want to do
and simply going about it. "
Burk, Venniro and Moore strongly
encourage students to get as much
experience in the field as possible,
which can help with choosing the
right major in undergraduate and
graduate work. " I know when I talk
to parents at open houses, their first
question is, 'What's the career market like? Is there growth potential?
What will my child make once they
graduate, and will they be done in
four years?' " Burk continues. " Our
field is fantastic - there are all kinds

The field of parks and recreation increasingly
demands professionals who are " boundary spanners "
and who draw from a variety of disciplines and fields
of study in order to be successful.
Who is Responsible?
These days, deciding whether to go
to college is as much a financial decision as one's career path. When
contemplating higher education, today's student needs to be as savvy,
forward-thinking and proactive about
their choice of institution and course
of study as possible. Of course, for a
17- or 18-year-old, this can be a tall
order, but Burk says flexibility can
help in a situation where it's just not
possible to have all the answers. " You
have to be willing to ask questions and
know that maybe [a particular major]
isn't right for you, and you may switch
things up two or three times before
you find that out, " she says. " Being
actively engaged in your education is
paramount. Knowing what you want
to do right away, or thinking you do,
can be a detriment if you find you
don't fully enjoy it. Being open, knowing who and when to ask questions, is

Parks & Recreation

of summer jobs, internships, etc.
Students can get that experience that
will be essential in deciding whether
to go further into academic training
or into the field. "
But what of the academics themselves? They, too, must have a responsibility to tailor and morph their course
offerings to best prepare their students
for employment. This, however, is
where the current state of affairs can
seem quite sticky. Professors are under a certain amount of pressure to
keep their classes full in order to obtain
adequate funding for their programs
and schools, and that can often mean
offering what's popular, versus what is
needed. " Enrollment pressures are real
at most colleges and universities, so it
is not unusual that economic reward
systems favor classes that are in high
demand, " says Ashcraft. " However,
most colleges and universities take seriously their responsibility to educate

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students across a range of curriculum
topics deemed essential for success in
a chosen field. Such offerings are not
always driven by so-called 'popular'
classes. There is also recognition that
experiential learning is essential, and
so service-learning courses, internships
and other out-of-classroom offerings
are incorporated into programs that
serve students and the field well. "
If Ashcraft's perspective is indeed
well-represented among other academics, and most any professor will
take seriously her obligation to prepare a student well for the future,
it can be assumed that goal would
be present no matter the discipline.
Again, we are faced with the question, are programmatic offerings
centered just on parks and recreation
even necessary? When many practitioners today are saddled with crafting budgeting proposals, planning
and other fiduciary responsibilities,
does today's student even need to
worry about history and theory in
the field of parks and recreation?
Dustin thinks perhaps not, saying,
" While I think it is important to get
a strong philosophical foundation in
parks, recreation and leisure to understand the relevance of the field to
the larger culture, I don't think it is
a necessary condition to succeed in
the field. What is important is intelligence, drive and dedication to the
field's ideals as well as a public-service mentality. That kind of mindset
can come from almost any student in
any major. "
This is a stark contrast to Fearn's
position, which laments a lack of
focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the park and recreation
industry and how that history can
inform today's landscape. " There
are two things missing [in parks and
recreation education today] - one is
around those philosophical foundations that inform our profession, and

July 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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