Most firefighters pride themselves on their “pedigree”–a term that can encompass anything from a family legacy of firefighting to a strong work ethic or exceptional performance at difficult incidents. This term also reflects the firefighters’ level of experience–the number and types of calls they’ve gone on, their “street cred.”
One of the most common, and yet complex, debates in the firehouse is the question of who makes the better firefighter–one with street smarts or one with book smarts? No matter your personal philosophy, it should be clear that both have their positive attributes. When I think of a street-smart firefighter, I envision a person ripe with experience and tenacity–someone I can count on in nearly any situation. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a book-smart firefighter is the person you want when a more complicated and analytical answer is necessary or when experience hasn’t provided the answer.
But does it have to be one or the other? In the fire service, we have become familiar with the idea of blended roles. For example, it’s increasingly rare to find a fire department that only fights fires. Instead, our agencies have evolved into all-hazards response organizations that find answers to problems we didn’t always have responsibility for. Our culture is clearly capable of accepting a balance of roles and responsibilities, so why is it that we continue to think that firefighters must be all brain or all brawn?
Let’s Stop Arguing
In the many conversations I’ve had about higher education, it’s become clear that this topic is a polarizing one. Some college graduates contend that the diploma translates into more credibility than it really does on the street. Conversely, those without a background in higher education seem content to emphasize the points of our job that clearly don’t require a college degree (bravery, for instance).
The debate about which is better for our departments and service to our citizens can be settled: We must find and embrace opportunities to ensure members of our organization are both street smart and book smart. If we put our personal beliefs and bias aside, I think we can rest assured that our citizens expect (if not demand) technically proficient, critical-thinkers who retain the knowledge to understand and react appropriately, with experience serving to guide them in implementation of their actions.
The bottom line: It’s time we stop debating whether or not post-secondary education has a place in the fire service and accelerate ways to integrate it into our DNA.
What a Degree Gets You
College education offers many positives to our organizations. I’m a college graduate, so you might expect me to say that. However, I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sure how it made me a better firefighter or chief officer until recently. I, like many people in our business, was confused in thinking that the curriculum I was taught was supposed to make me better at being a firefighter or a fire chief.
Although some of the information I’ve learned comes in handy from time to time, I rarely use my college curriculum in my day-to-day duties. College education is only partially about what you learn. The more important part is the experience. The higher education learning experience provides the tangible benefits of developing fortitude and persistence toward achieving a goal, as well as using developmental areas of your brain that aren’t normally exercised in this job.
To me, the specific college degree a member of the fire department might have in a frame on their wall is less important than the fact that they’ve completed a comprehensive journey to accomplish an educational achievement. The intangible benefit to our agencies shouldn’t be overlooked either. The citizens we protect respect degrees. Few of our citizens have any idea what a fire academy entails, but a large (and growing) percentage of them understand how challenging it can be to work for a college degree. In short, we gain credibility with the diploma. This credibility becomes more important as we compete for the elusive tax dollar.
In many ways, what we get from experience is much harder to identify. There’s no diploma, no transcript and no gauge to determine whether the experience is credible. Being “street smart” relies almost solely on time as the instructor, with lessons delivered from the rigors of the job. No firefighter will dispute that this type of education is not only important to the American fire service–it’s essential. However, relying on street smarts alone can be dangerous and limiting. Experience is a tough teacher that rarely gives us time to adequately study before figuring out a solution. Further, good mentoring and communication skills are needed to share the information learned from the street. Take a good recruit firefighter and stick him in a fire station with under-performing members, and it’s unlikely you’ll be satisfied with the street education curriculum as his sole form of instruction.
A Blended Approach
For departments to prosper in the future we must be turning out firefighters who have a rich blend of both street and book smarts. This doesn’t mean we immediately just require everyone to pursue a four-year degree–and it doesn’t have to be all that difficult. In fact, we can look inward for an example of how to do this: Just think about your department’s aggressive all-hazards training plan. Firefighters receive classroom training on the National Incident Management System, hazmat response, technical rescue, terrorism incidents, disaster management–all while drilling on the basics of fire and EMS response and gaining valuable street experience on every call.
So how do we blend street- and book-smart training into our departments?
As with anything we do, the foundation starts with the recruit academy. An inventory of the time spent in the academy should find a careful balance of academic work (reading, test-taking, lectures, critical-thinking discussions, etc.) and hands-on training (job performance requirement evolutions, physical fitness, company evolutions).
Members should be educated by people who represent the balance we are trying to develop in the recruits. If your training staff lacks credibility on the street, we shouldn’t be shocked if the product they produce is less than desirable. The way we select and groom our training staff is critical to long-term human resources development. Fortify your recruit academy to ensure entry-level firefighters are “baptized” with a balance of academic strengthening and hard work from well-respected members of the organization.
Next, when possible, send incumbent members to courses at the National Fire Academy. This requires some expense, but because tuition is free and firefighters can stay in the dorm rooms on campus, it represents some of the most cost-effective academic training available.
And of course, encourage members to pursue higher education. Consider a combination of college coursework, experience and successful performance when developing promotional criteria. Ensure that members are aware of opportunities to attend college courses online. Many online universities offer excellent programs that are tailored to fire service professionals.
Finally, educate members on the value of an education after they retire from the fire service. We’re living longer, but most firefighters don’t have the physical ability to stay on the job into their 60s or 70s–and in many cases department regulations won’t allow it. Most of us won’t be content to sit by and live on our pensions–which are increasingly being replaced with defined contribution plans anyway–from 55 until we leave this world. Formal education can provide the bridge between the fire service and a rewarding private-sector career.
From the Classroom to the Street … & Back
The fire service must do away with the idea that “book” learning is something limited to the academy and when we’re testing for promotion. Instead, we must integrate higher education, in many different forms, into our learning cycle, so that we are constantly supporting–and challenging–what we learn on the street with the critical thinking skills we garner in the classroom.
