DRURY IS VO-TECH'S ARDENT ADVOCATE IN CAPE GIRARDEAU (LAST IN A SERIES)

When Cape Girardeau leaders think technical education, they think Jim Drury.

The businessman, who owns Burger King restaurants and Holiday Inn motels throughout the area, for years has advocated the two-year technical program over the four-year degree.

His interest teeters on the brink of obsession. He collects newspaper articles from all over the country dealing with vocational-technical education. He researches employment trends and mentally maps out Cape's bright future if enough skilled technical workers became available.

It was Drury who helped organize a November tour of West Kentucky Tech in Paducah and provided a bus to get 20 community leaders and educators over there.

"I know people say that if I like Paducah so well, why don't I go there," Drury said. "But I don't want to move to Paducah. I want to learn from them and be like them."

He pointed to a stack of articles about economic growth in the Kentucky city -- plans for a new convention center and high-rise hotel, the opening of a second Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Drury said he believes the growth there is related to an abundance of technical education and two-year degrees provided by West Kentucky Tech. As a successful businessman with only a high-school diploma, he also believes he owes something to the 1,200 employees who make his company thrive.

"The kids that work for us, who bust their butts -- there's a debt to be paid there," Drury said. "If we can influence this, we feel it is well worth the effort."

Whether Drury is behind them or not, changes are coming in the way Cape Girardeau and the rest of Missouri looks at vocational-technical education.

Perhaps the most far-reaching step toward improving vocational education in Missouri was taken by the state legislature this year when it passed Senate Bill 101.

The bill charged the Coordinating Board for Higher Education with assessing all the post-secondary vocational-technical education in the state.

The board eventually must release a document to be included in a "Blueprint for the Future of Missouri's Higher Education System."

Dr. Randy Shaw, chairman of the industrial technology department at Southeast, is a member of the Technical Education Resource Group responsible for gathering needed information.

He believes the future of vo-tech education lies in cooperation between high schools, community colleges and universities, or "The 2+2+2 Plan." Students should be able to get two years of high school training, two years of junior college training and two years of university training. They may jump off and get a job after completing any level, but should be able to come back at any time and complete the next two-year block.

Southeast already collaborates with Mineral Area College in Farmington and Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, accepting college credit from them toward four-year degrees in technical and health fields.

The university will begin offering a two-year physical therapy assistant course next year. It already offers associate degrees in administrative assisting, child care and guidance, automated manufacturing, electronics and design drafting.

There may be more two-year programs created in the health field, but there are factors to be considered, Shaw said.

"It would depend on if the needs are really there and if we could do if financially," Shaw said. "It is not an impossibility, but at this point, there has been nothing done to determine if we could support those courses."

Already, several new organizations exist to improve vo-tech education in this area. The Southeast Missouri Regional Training Group, consisting of representatives of DANA Corp., Lone Star, Biokyowa, Golden Cat, SEMO Carpenters Union, K&K Electric and Gregory Construction, wants to improve the pool of workers available in this area.

The group plans to work with Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School in offering a two-year certificate program in industrial maintenance -- teaching people to maintain the equipment used at many of the group's factories. Several members currently use Cape AVTS to train chosen employees in specific areas.

Harold Tilley, director of Cape AVTS, serves on the training group and on a two-year task force gathered to examine the future of technical education in the region. The group is about to present information to the Board of Regents at Southeast Missouri State University to enlist its help in developing programs.

And, as a result of a recent grant through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Cape Central Junior High eighth-graders receive guidance in choosing their career pathways and are educated about vo-tech programs.

An important goal is to establish a one-stop shop where individuals can learn more about vo-tech, both Tilley and Shaw said. When it exists, the popularity of technical education will grow, they believe.

"Right now, they have to go several places for assessment, placement and financial aid," Shaw said. "Where do we bring people who need answers to questions relating to technical education?"

The required report on technical education in Missouri will be presented to the Coordinating Board for High Education at its June 13, 1996, meeting. After the presentation, educators will have a clearer idea of the future of vo-tech in the state.