The Man-Power Study which was completed by the National Recreation and Park Association in 1967 has been much discussed by park and recreation professionals. The study shows that the park and recreation profession faces serious man-power deficits between now and 1980. It appears there will be twice as many positions available as there are trained persons to fill the positions. Viewed another way, there will be more than eight positions available for each graduate from a park and/or recreation curriculum.

Due to tremendous demands for trained personnel, many graduates are moving immediately into positions of upper level supervision or directors with a minimum of practical experience. There is a great demand for professionals at the supervisory and administrative levels, and the man-power deficits clearly indicate that many of the inexperienced graduates will continue to fill these positions. Many believe that individuals should have a considerable amount of practical experience at the leadership level before assuming higher level supervisory or administrative duties.

It is at this point that the profession faces a major dilemma as suggested by the following questions:

1. How can more talented individuals be recruited into the profession and receive professional preparation in time to meet the man-power demands?

2. How can university curricula better prepare graduates to assume major supervisory and administrative positions?

3. How can the field obtain more effective and efficient use of the minimum amount of manpower already available?

Much has been written and spoken about the matter of recruiting higher qualified individuals. While a lot of handwringing has taken place, only small advances have been made. Recruitment must become one of the major goals of the movement and each member of the profession. However, it is quite unlikely that enough individuals can be recruited and prepared to assume the available positions.

University curricula in Recreation and Park Administration must be revised to place heavier emphasis on the development of graduates with high level administrative skill based on a sound philosophy of leisure and its impact upon society. Leadership and program activity skills and knowledges certainly cannot be overlooked, but the emphasis must come at the administrative and philosophical level if these graduates are going to assume supervisory and administrative positions. Placement records of almost every college and university indicate that the graduates are going directly to positions at these levels.

Of course, graduate study must assume its place in the professional preparation. There will be even greater requests for individuals with master's degrees in all phases of recreation and parks. The Man-Power Study also indicated a drastic need for doctorates for research and teaching positions to prepare the greater number of professionals needed. However, this is beyond the scope of this article.

Undoubtedly, several years of experience is tremendously important to an individual who is going to assume a position of greater responsibility in the field of recreation and parks. It would be ideal if every individual could begin at the face-to-face leadership level and work his way up through the supervisory level acquiring significant experiences. At the appropriate time in one's professional career he, or she, could then assume major administrative responsibilities. However, as noted earlier, this simply is not possible when faced with the man-power demands of a leisure-centered society.

Colleges and universities must find ways to transmit to the student the values of years of experience in a rapid or telescoped manner. Fieldwork programs, laboratory experiences, intern-

Dr. Tony Mobley is Chairman of the Department of Recreation and Park Administration, Western Illinois University.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 18 March/April, 1971

ships, work-study programs, etc., are all attempts to do this, but they have not been sufficient. Creative approaches must be developed to provide a kind of "instant experience".

Another method of meeting the man-power demands is to make better and more efficient use of the professionals available. Most professionally trained park and recreation personnel perform far below their capacity. A significant amount of time is spent performing tasks which could be equally performed by individuals with far less education or experience. This is a waste of trained personnel as well as valuable financial resources.

While working in a community center program having already obtained a master's degree, this writer spent a significant amount of time filling "pop" machines and replacing ballbearings in broken skates as well as several other similar tasks. Filling "pop"machines and repairing skates are both important functions but functions which could be performed by any responsibly intelligent junior high or high school student. Other more important tasks are performed each day by most park and recreation professionals which actually require a level of skill and knowledge far below that which they possess. Administrators must make greater and more effective and efficient use of administrative assistants, secretaries, computers, and many types of management aids, both personnel and machines, which allow a great deal more work to be accomplished in a shorter period of time.

It is at this point that the recreation worker prepared at the technical level or the para-professional level enters the picture. Numerous community colleges are graduating individuals with associate degrees to assume leadership positions and individuals who could function at what might be called the "aid" level at far less cost to the recreation and/or park agency than those having the bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees. Frequently highly trained individuals are frustrated with the necessity of performing certain tasks and, therefore, do a poor job with them anyway. The paraprofessional is prepared for these jobs and frequently is quite satisfied with performing these important functions at the technical level. Consequently, he frequently does a superior job in their performance than the more highly educated person. Park and/or recreation agencies must be more willing to employ individuals with the associate degree than has been demonstrated in most areas of the country.

Certainly, every agency would prefer to have the most highly educated staff possible. But list-

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MAN POWER ...

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ings of position vacancies indicate quite clearly that this is not possible now, and it is even less likely to be possible in the future. Therefore, more individuals with technical skills must be employed to perform leadership or technically oriented functions by a park and recreation agency, and thereby free the upper level supervisory and administrative personnel to perform those functions for which they are most highly prepared.

Again it must be emphasized that proper experience is an extremely valuable asset to any professional, but means must be devised whereby individuals can obtain the values of such experience over an extremely brief period of time. Provisions then must be made for these individuals to enter the profession at a higher level on the professional mobility scale with a salary commensurate with their responsibilities.

In spite of giant strides which have been taken in the area of increasing salaries, the profession is still woefully behind other comparable fields. NRPA should be highly commended on its recent efforts in this regard, but a great deal more needs to be done. Obviously, entry level and salary in part affects the type of individuals that can be recruited into the profession.

The low level entry that many professionals believe new graduates should take is motivated by their realization of the importance of good experience. However, the day will soon arrive when these experiences are less important. It is certainly well known that twenty years of experience may only be one year of experience twenty times. The professional is ineffective. The field of leisure arts and sciences is a dynamic, everchanging and exploding field with reference to its scope and growth. The rapidity of change has made experience obsolete. A man's hard won experience may be a liability rather than an asset, unless he has diligently kept himself informed of growth, sociological trends, leisure attitudes, life style and desires of the people, efficient administrative methods, etc. Twenty years of experience may mean that an individual is twenty years out-of-date.

This writer has the greatest respect for those in the profession who have pioneered in the development of parks and recreation as well as those who have contributed and gained insight from years of experience to further development of the profession. However, in light of the manpower demands, the profession must prepare individuals who can assume major administrative responsibilities almost immediately out of degree programs. At the same time, paraprofessionals must perform those tasks for which they are qualified; thus freeing the administrator in such a way to gain more efficiency in operation, planning, creating new concepts, "dreaming", interpreting creative leisure to the public, etc.

While to say that, "the young turks right out of school have a lot to learn", may be true, it does not solve the serious man-power deficit problem which faces the park and recreation profession.

By way of summary:

1. Concerted effort must be given to the recruitment of individuals possessing the potential to be highly qualified professionals.

2. The profession must find methods for transmitting the values of experience rapidly to the new graduates so that they can successfully assume major administrative responsibilities at a much earlier point in their career.

3. Much more effective and efficient use must be made of the highly educated individuals while the paraprofessionals perform those functions for which they are trained. Each individual should function at maximum capacity at all times.

As one looks to the year 2000 and beyond, it is obvious that the leisure-centered society will demand more than one can possibly imagine. As one of the professions related to the leisure arts and sciences — park and recreation, must be ready to accept these challenges.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 21 March/April, 1971