“TEACHING THE FIRE FORCE TWENTYSOMETHINGS, PART 1”

TEACHING THE FIRE FORCE TWENTYSOMETHINGS, PART 1

TRAINING NOTEBOOK

I thought the lieutenant’s head would explode. The first day of recruit school was done. The recruits had just received the lieutenant’s “follow the rules and regulations” presentation, a line-by-line reading of the recruit school conduct manual. Three times the recruits were told that the only excuse for time lost while in school was a severe emergency. When the recruits were dismissed, one member of the class came up to the lieutenant to tell him that she would be late the next day. When he asked why. she said that she had to be at the dealership at 10 a.m. the next day to sign papers for her new car. She could not understand why the lieutenant’s face suddenly got so red.

Welcome to the fire force twentysomethings the most diverse and challenging group of firefighter candidates that any agency or volunteer organization has encountered since Woodstock.

The good news is that the community will benefit from a wide array of talents and abilities once these latest recruits are ready to perform as firefighters, paramedics, and officers. The bad news is that the traditional, World War l-era four-step method of teaching civilians to be emergency service workers is not the best way to train the fire force twentysomethings.

So grab that well-used antacid bottle and settle back—changing demographics and economics are changing the complexion of the firefighting workforce in the 1990s in more dramatic ways than the Justice Department did in the 1970s. Let’s see what makes these folks tick and how we can get them through Firefighter I.

TWENTYSOMETHINGS’ INFLUENCES

The latest group of traditional firefighter candidates, born between 1965 and 1975, has grown up in the shadow of the baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964). Like every generation before them, these twentysomethings appear as a threat to the established workforce.

In studies of this generation,^1,2 eight core values have been identified. The twentysomethings are self-centered, are cynical, are materialistic, have extended their adolescence. want quality time, want to have fun, are slow to commit, and do not bow to authority. None of these core values seem to be in sync with the needs of a volunteer fire department or municipality.

The core values of the twentysomethings have been shaped by five influences. The first influence is the family—40 percent of twentysomethings are from families of divorce, the highest rate ever recorded in the United States. If you include families where both parents work, then the number of twentysomethings coming from an absentee parent home is even higher.^3-6

The next influence is the declining number of births. These people are the “baby busters.” who represent a trough in age demographics. The year of lowest birth rate was 1971, during which just 3.3 million were bom—1.5 million less than a decade before.^7-8 Twentysomethings are overshadowed by the older boomers and find that their own upward mobility in business and industry is blocked.” ‘

The twentysomethings grew up during the economic turbulence of the 1970s recession and the boom-and-bust 1980s. While not as dramatic as what took place during the Great Depression, the twentysomethings have nevertheless watched the baby boomers fail to match their parents’ economic success.” Most of the twentysomethings believe they will be in worse financial shape than the baby boomers.^12-15

As a demographic group, the twentysomethings have lost seven percent in actual income from 1990 to 1993. In municipal fire departments, the twentysomethings are encountering frozen wages coupled with higher contributions to health insurance and retirement plans. Medicare’s hospital trust fund will be bust by 2000—resulting in a doubling of the payroll tax.”‘Twentysomething firefighters work under constant fear of getting laid off if the department downsizes.

While the boomers grew up under the shadow of the atomic bomb, the twentysomethings grew up in an age of instant knowledge. Under the baleful eye of the boob tube, the twentysomethings are awash in nanosecond news and images.^17-19 The USA Today and commercial on-line information services were started in the 1980s.

Most of the info-bytes were bad news— the resignation of Nixon in the ’70s, oil embargoes. Black Monday and the Challenger explosion in the ’80s, and the rise of scandals brought out by attack-pack investigative reporters.²⁰ In entertainment, the twentysomethings witnessed 33,000 murders on television and the movies by the time they were 16.²¹ Unlike those in the films of the ’50s and ’60s, many of these murders were clinically correct and in vivid Technicolor. Gratuitous acts of violence were presented in extremely graphic detail in Freddie Kruger and other horror movies. This means that the average twentysomething candidate has witnessed more bloody death scenes than the most experienced babyboomer paramedic.

For the baby busters, television replaced parents in the home. The result has been what educational psychologist Jane Healy calls the “two-minute mind.”² Twentysomethings have short attention spans and are conditioned to receive information in prepackaged form with the solution on the back page. Due to the influence of television. twentysomethings have an internal problem-solving clock. Most problems are solved in 22 minutes, the length of a situation comedy; really complex issues take 47 minutes. Twentysomethings are easily bored and expect instant feedback. They lose interest if the fire department fights no fires or handles few emergencies.^22-24

VALUE SYSTEMS

Industrial psychologist Clare Graves, who spent 17 years doing research at HewlettPackard. has classified workers into six groups having six different value systems.² Two of the six value systems are as ancient as human beings themselves, while two have developed since the Korean war. The percentage of people holding each of these six value systems differs for each generation.

The achiever. “Achievers” embrace the value system most common among twentysomethings. Achievers have a self-oriented value system that capitalizes on trade and commerce. They value competition, winning, status, and reward. Achievers enjoy work environments that allow them to reach their goals.

Firefighters who worked the rapid promotion track in the 1980s or who built successful part-time businesses are examples of baby-boomer achievers. The core value of materialism is reflected in the achiever.

All achievers will do poorly in departments that are not growing or are downsizing. Majority male achievers will be frustrated in departments with aggressive affirmative-action programs—their perception will be that the organization is not allowing achievers to reach their promotional goals.

The involver. Involvers embrace the value system, developed by the baby boomers, that clashed in the ’60s with the achievers’ and loyalists’ values. Involvers are the second most prevalent value system demonstrated by the twentysomethings.

Involvers value cooperation, a sense of community, equality, activism, and harmony. They are skeptical of authority and are expected to be included in decisions that affect them. They present a great untapped resource for volunteer fire departments. Involvers are the pillar of volunteerism in other organizations.

The choice seeker. Choice seekers subscribe to the newest value system, that which is a product of the information age and the fastest-growing of the six value systems. They are highly individualistic people who often have technical expertise. In general business, they are the computer nerds and policy wonks. Choice seekers are interested in systems and how they operate and value privacy, information, and competence. They place little importance on how they are seen by others.

The choice seeker is a “what works” type of person. In the fire department, the choice seeker is the unkempt firefighter w’ho stays up all night getting the department’s computer system to do something the manufacturer said could not be done. Less extreme examples are the specialists (paramedics. technical rescue, and hazardous-materials) who are concerned only with proving their competence at their highly technical tasks.

The loyalist. The loyalist is the person who works best in a large group of diverse people united by a body of rules and regulations. Loyalists value law and order, duty, respect, and authority. Loyalists tend to be conservative and honor the traditional business pyramid with one boss at the top.

The rise in college fraternities and sororities in the 1990s is fueled by twenty something loyalists. Theirs is the same value system most embraced by the post-World War II-era municipal firefighters (“organizational man” born 1915 to 1924 and the 1925 to 1945 “silent majority”). Much of the training and culture of traditional municipal fire services is closely aligned to the loyalist value system.

The kinsperson. Thousands of years ago, people began to band together to survive. The “kinsperson” embraces an ancient value system that continues to offer richness and meaning to those who subscribe to it. Kinspersons value survival, cooperation, and ancestry, with the survival of their families or groups as their primary value.

Many volunteer fire department members subscribe to the kinsperson value system; so do gang members. It is within these individuals that the “private clubhouse” mentality is encountered by a nonkinsperson seeking to join the fire department.

The loner. Like the kinsperson, the loner is one of the oldest value systems. Loners value strength and survival of the fittest. For loners, the world is a concrete, dog-eat-dog, black-and-white place where only the toughest make it. The American Gladiator television program promotes this set of values.

Loners are the smallest value group. Loner behavior is found in abused children. With 40 percent of the twentysomethings coming from divorced households, there is a chance some of them will exhibit loner values.

NCOMPLETE WORK-IN-PROGRESS CANDIDATES

American-born and -educated twentysomethings lack both physical and mental skills and abilities compared with the baby boomers who entered the fire service 20 years ago.

Physical fitness. As a group, the twentysomethings lack the zeal for physical fitness that the baby boomers acquired during the 1980s fitness craze.²⁵ Cigarette smoking, along with body fat, is on the rise. In the past seven years, the average weight of 25to 30-year-olds has unexpectedly increased from 161 to 171 pounds.^26,27 In addition to a preexisting lower physical ability, the twentysomethings are shorter. By 2001, the average height of a firefighter candidate will have shrunk from five feet 10 inches to five feet five inches—the effect of adding more women and Asian and Latino men to the firefighting family.^8,28,29

Mental fitness. Twenty-six million Americans are functionally illiterate. Many twentysomethings with high school diplomas have a fourthto sixth-grade reading comprehension level, cannot make change, and cannot decipher a bus schedule.^30-35 Many American-born employees are unable to read the OSHA-required workplace safety signs.³⁶

Twentysomethings who took the vocational track in high school are at the bottom in reading, math, and science ability—the victims of warehousing and manipulative skill programs that were not designed for the 1990s information-rich workplace.^32,37-39

The fastest-growing college-level classes are remedial English and math programs designed to bring students up to the minimum threshold level to start any collegelevel classes.⁴⁰

This reduced mental fitness has significant impact on firefighter training for two reasons. Essentials of Firefighting is written at a 10.8-grade reading comprehension level. If the average incoming firefighter candidate can read at only a fourthto sixth-grade level, the student will have tremendous difficulty understanding the training manual or passing quizzes. Pennsylvania’s state firefighter certification exam is written at a fifth-grade reading comprehension level.

Furthermore, as in the case of physical conditioning, the organization cannot administer a reading comprehension exam to exclude a candidate from a training program. The municipality is expected to provide remedial reading training to bring candidates up to the minimum level required to read the textbook.

TEACHING MENTAL FITNESS IN THE REAL WORLD

Fire departments are not alone with this dilemma. Most businesses in the manipulative trade or service jobs sector are forced to provide an educational “finishing school” for new employees.^35,41-45 High-technology and high-information businesses have the same problem with their bachelordegree management trainees.”

The reasons for this mental decline are many. Two easy answers are the breakup of the family (through divorce and twoincome families) and the rise of television as a surrogate parent.⁶

A study of Vietnamese boat people in New York City’s “Hell’s Kitchen” il 1 ustrates the effect of a supportive, TV-free home environment. The study was of immigrants who had been illiterate peasants in Vietnam but whose children excelled in one of the worst high schools within the New York City public school system. Many of these children earned academic scholarships to college. The Vietnamese immigrants did much better than any other student group. Researchers found that home life was the biggest difference between these children and those who didn’t excel. In these homes, the evening is spent with ail of the children working together on homework.¹²

As a result of this ability gap, many businesses are getting directly involved with schools to ensure that graduates have the skills needed to start productive work immediately.^1,37,46 TechPrep 2000 is one such high-school-level initiative designed to reshape the vocational-track training along the lines of the German technical schools.

Stihl’s Virginia Beach, Virginia, chain saw factory is using the German technical school concept with great success in a partnership program with Tidewater Community College.”

IMPLICATIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDY HABITS ON FIREFIGHTER TRAINING

As a training officer. I know it is a stretch for you to consider the home study habits of high schoolers as a factor affecting the quality of your adult firefighter training program. One component of the business-run finishing schools is teaching students how to study.

Most high school graduates have no clue about the mechanics or techniques of studying. For a profession that relies on civil-service-style competitive exams for every promotion and certification, teaching candidates how to study is worth at least a threeto four-hour investment at the start of a training program.

An excellent resource is Walter Pauk’s How to Study in College. It clearly describes the learning process and provides many successful techniques in study and time-management skills.⁴⁸ I have used this book to help recruits, firefighters studying for promotional exams, and new instructor candidates get a focus on productive learning.

For a long-term goal, consider a partnership with your local community college and area vocational high schools. The goal is to produce graduates that meet your organization’s incoming requirements. It is within the mission statement of both schools to deliver a “product” (the graduate) to the “customer’s” satisfaction.

Part 2 of this article will address the best methods for teaching the twentysomething generation of firefighters.

Endnotes

1. S. F. Hamilton, Apprenticeship for Adulthood: Preparing Youth for the Future. (New York: The Free Press, 1990).
2. L. J. Bradford and C. Raines. Twentysomething: Managing and Motivating Today’s New Workforce. (New York: MasterMedia Limited, 1992).
3. D. Crisped. ‘Traditional Families Have Thin Tradition,” Wall Street Journal. 12 May 1993: B1.
4. J. S. Lublin. “Ranks of Unemployed Couples Multiply. Devastating Double-Income Households,” Wall Street Journal, 7 May 1993: BI.B2.
5. P. Leinbcrger and B. Tucker, The New Individualists The Generation After the Organization Man. (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991).
6. J. B. Schor, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure. (New York: Basic Books, 1992).
7. M. Mahar, “A Change of Place: Reversing a decades-long trend, young women are opting out of the job market and staying home, with major implications for the economy,” Bar ron’s, 21 March 1994:33-38.
8. W. B. Johnston and A. H. Packer, Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century. (Hudson Institute, 1987).
9. P. F. Drucker. Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond. (New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutton. 1992).
10. S. Ratan, “Why Busters Hate Boomers,” Fortune, 1993: 56-70.
11. P. F. Drucker, Post-Capitalistic Society. (New York: Harper’s Business, 1993).
12. W. J. Bennett, The De-Valuing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Our Children. (New York: Touchstone. 1992).
13. G. Burtless. A Future of Lousy Jobs? The Changing Structure of U S. Wages. (Washington. DC: Hie Brookings Institute, 1990).
14. J. A. Lopez, “College Class of *93 Learns Hard Lesson: Career Prospects Are Worst in Decades,” Wall Street Journal, 20 May 1993: BL
15. M. Malkin. “Gen. X’s Fiscal Reality Bites.” Potomac News, 3 Apr 1994: FI.
16. S. Oliver. “Get Ready for the Pain.” Forbes. 28 Mar 1994:45.
17. R. Powers, The Beast, the Eunuch, arul the Glass-Eyed Child: Television in the ’80s. (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1990).
18. T. Roszak, The Cult of Information: The Folklore of Computers and the True Art of Thinking. (New York: Pantheon Books. 1986).
19. H. Moravec, Mirul Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988).
20. A.C. Shepard, “Legislating Ethics.” American Journalism Review, Jan/Feb 1994: 37.
21. A. Toufexis, “Our Violent Kids,” Time. 12 June 1989: 52.
22. W. Ecenbarger, “Fighting Fires.” Apprise. Dec 1988.
23. K. Krajick. “Fighting Fire with … What?” Newsweek. 13 Dec 1993: 73.
24. C. Mahtesian. “Sounding the Alarm for Firefighters,” Governing. Oct 1993: 24-25.
25. G. Brice. “Why apathy reigns among today’s high school athletes,” The Prince William Journal. 5-6 Jan 1994: Bl.
26. “Weight Gain ‘Shocking,’ ” The Washington Post. 18 Mar 1994: A2.
27. D. Crispell. “Safety Still Comes First. But Healthy Habits Slide,” Wall Street Journal, 1 Apr 1994: Bl
28. J. LeCuyer, “Where Tools and People Meet.” Fire Chief, Feb 1994: 34.
29. J. H. Boyett and H. P. Conn. W orkplace 2(XX): The Revolution Reshaping American Business. (New York: Dutton, 1991).
30. S. Stecklow, “Private Groups Compete for the Chance to Create New Schools with Public Funds,” Wall Street Jour nal, 24 Jan 1994: BL
31. T. Sowell. Inside American Education: The l)ei line. The Deception. The Dogmas. (New York: The Free Press. 1993).
32. R. Marshall and M. Tucker. Thinking for a Living Education and the Wealth of Nations. (New York: Basic Books. 1992).
33. E. L. Boyer. High School: A Report on Secondary lulucation in America The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (New York: Harper Colophon Books. 1983).
34. “Education Alternatives Signs Five-Year Deal for Baltimore School.” Wall Street Journal. 24 Nov 1993: A10.
35. United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. Worker Training Competing in the New International Economy (1990).
36. C. Truchcart. “Scholars Ponder the Cyberspace Chalkboard.” The Washington Post, 30 Dec 1993: CL
37. United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment, Testing in American Schools: Asking the Right Questions (1992).
38. E. L. Boyer. College: The Undergraduate Experience in America—The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1987).
39. R. Tomsho, “With Housing Strong, Builders Often Find Skilled Help Lacking,” The Wall Street Journal. 27 Jan 1994: AL
40. H. W. Stevenson and J. W. Stigler. The learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing atul What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education. (New York: Simon and Shuster. 1992).
41. K. G. Salwen and P. Thomas, “Job Programs Flunk at Training but Keep Washington at Work,” Wall Street Journal. 16 Dec 1993: A1.
42. E. Grcenberger and L. Steinberg. When Teenagers Work: The Psychological and Social Costs of Adolescent Employment. (New York: Basic Books. 1986).
43. C. Conte, “Construction companies face a worsening skills gap.” Wall Street Journal. 10 Nov 1992: Al.
44. L. J. Perelman, School’s Out: A Radical New Formula for the Revitalization of America’s Educational System. (New York: Avon Books, 1992).
45. K. G. Salwen. “German-Owned Maker of Power Tools Finds Job Training Pays Off,” Wall Street Journal, 19 Apr 1993: AL
46. W. Pauk. How to Study in College. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993).