From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:
Although not exactly a trade resource, the following op-ed piece from the Los Angeles Times is certainly preaching to the choir. And by choir I mean all of us who believe in the importance of training our next generation of trades men and women. Give it a read.
“If You’ve Got a Trade, You’ve Got it Made” by Mike Rustigan
One repeated theme in President Obama’s education agenda is that he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. As he put it in an address to a joint session of Congress, “We expect all our children not only to graduate from high school but to graduate from college and get a good-paying job.”
Although I applaud the president’s strong commitment to higher education, he is seriously neglecting the importance of vocational training in school. Not every student needs to go to college. There are plenty of high school kids who find college-prep classes boring and irrelevant. Many drop out because they feel school is not preparing them for anything practical. Most of these kids are not lazy or defiant; they just want to work with their hands, learn a skill and pursue a solid, honorable, blue-collar trade after high school.
For too long, academic elites and politicians — both Democrats and Republicans — have oversold us on the necessity of getting a college degree. We have reached the point at which it has become almost un-American to admit that for a sizable number of our young people, college is a waste of time.
According to a growing number of demographers and labor experts, the U.S. soon will be experiencing a severe shortage of skilled workers. Blue-collar baby boomers are retiring, but schools aren’t preparing the next generation to take their place. Our nation needs blue- collar workers — skilled mechanics, machinists, welders, carpenters and electricians, as well as computer, solar and cable technicians, etc. — just as much as it needs college grads.
As one retired plumber told me: “No one is going to outsource your local repair guy. If you’ve got a trade, you’ve got it made.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
