When Learning a Trade Is As Important as A College Education
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Recently the president announced a plan to offer a community college education to young Americans, in exchange for community service and it’s popular. A full sixty percent of Americans say they’re in favor of Obama’s proposal to give two years of free community college tuition to students with a C+ or better average who are making progress toward a degree, with 32 percent opposed and another 8 percent unsure.
An impressive 45 percent of Americans say they know someone who wants to go to college and has the ability to do so, but just can’t afford it. Forty-three percent have taken at least one class at a community college themselves, although few actually received a degree.
The national plan is part of the Obama administration’s effort to make attending college “the norm in the same way high school is the norm now,” White House domestic policy director Cecilia Muñoz told reporters.
The president’s proposal put me in mind of the importance of education, but also the importance of accepting and understanding that it’s not for everyone. This remarkable piece written by long-time contributor Bill Formby speaks eloquently to that subject:
The past decade or so there has been a constant clamor about this country’s education and how to fix it. As Collin Hinds eloquently pointed out in the prior post, “The Blame Game and Public Education“, the battle lines seem to be drawn between teachers and legislators. In reality the economically conservative legislators are simply hacks for their well-heeled masters who put them in office.
While they argue the theory of keeping government out the lives of citizens they are actually using government to manipulate one of the prime mandates of government; assuring that every citizen has equal access to an equal education in order to earn a living and contribute to society. Once this is out of the government’s hands and turned over to the profit motivated private companies that assurance is no longer there. Like other profit oriented services it will become profit equals quality. No profit equals no quality. This leads me to question the entire blaming process and all of those involved.
Growing up I was far from an ideal student. In fact, I was such a lousy student I dropped out of school halfway through the eleventh grade. Who should I blame for that? The best I remember I had the same opportunities that other kids did, at least the white kids. My school years were from 1949 – 1960 so I was around before integrated schools. I had good teachers and lousy teachers, at least to my recollection. To others it may have been different.
Later I had another opportunity and attended college and received three degrees including a PhD. The point here is that there was nothing wrong with the school system. If I wasn’t interested in learning I was not going to learn and no bunch of bells and whistles would have helped. The era of my school years turned out some very bright people, not me necessarily, but a lot of others who accomplished a lot of things. In fact many of those who are criticizing the education system should take a step back and think about what got them where they are.
We in this country have made a huge mistake in terms of our expectations of our kids and their capabilities. This has led us into a period of people feeling like everyone is entitled to have anything they want and that everyone should have a college degree or they are a failure. That, in a nutshell, is a big problem because everyone does not need a college education.
Mike Rowe, the star of the former TV show “Dirtiest Jobs” and the voice of the “Deadliest Catch” TV shows on the Discovery Channel, noted in an interview on CNN that there were jobs available in America but there were not enough people trained or willing to do them. Young people in school today are expected to go to college or they are not considered relevant.
Schools brag about how many students from their schools go on to college. It is a rarity when one hears them announce their pride at the number of students who enter a trade such as plumbing, electrician, or carpentry. Yet these are essential services along with many others. During the “good old days” there was no shame in just completing high school and landing a solid job, not a position, but a job.
There is no doubt that we do need people who can become scientists and mathematicians as well as attorneys and physicians. But we must recognize that everyone cannot be those things and those that cannot are just as important as the PhD’s, MD’s, and JD’s.
As a society we must let kids know it is admirable to do honest work with their hands and they are not failures if they don’t go to college. We need to place more emphasis on the trades and those who may not be a physicist may be a great pipe fitter or welder.
Perception is a powerful thing when it comes to influencing a young persons mind. In today’s view we all have tendencies to look for hero’s for inspiration. When I was a kid it was baseball players and a few professional football players but not nearly to the extent it is today. The media today make the professional and college athletes today into virtual gods. Most everyone has some type of sport they follow on television and know the names of their stars. It is so popular that the rewards for being a star athlete are greater than of a lot of CEO’s.
I remember one of my students was Derrick Thomas, All American linebacker from The University of Alabama, and All Pro linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. When Derrick was drafted to the pro’s he received a signing bonus for more money than I would make in a lifetime. Derrick was a tremendous athlete and a better person who gave back to his community every chance he got. Unfortunately Derrick was killed in an automobile accident far too young. But, more to the point, he and his fellow professional athletes are where we as a society have chosen to place our values. They and the stars of screen and stage entertain us and make millions for it.
Those that serve the communities; teachers, police, city and state workers, correctional officers, and others for the most part, just try to make a living wage and get little credit for doing it. Again, it is about perception as to who is important to our society. Since we normally judge importance by pay and public attention the average worker seems to be of little importance.
I don’t think we need to “fix” anything. I think we need to recognize that different people have different strengths and that going to college is not the end all, be all of our problems. As far as standardize testing goes, I personally do not believe in it because of the tendency to teach to their strengths and not to the strengths of the students. Remember mommies and daddies, just because he or she is your kid does not make them “special” or “smart” or deserving “extra attention”. They just need to pay attention and study or they fail and will have to repeat the grade.
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I’m the dumbest and poorest man I know and I don’t have a degree…still, every rule has it’s exceptions eh? 😉
This is an excellent article. My brother is the smartest and richest man I know and he doesn’t have a degree, but what he has is good sense and the ability to seize opportunity.
Rachael, as mentioned, a degree is not as critical as we have been led to believe. It reminds me of a group of the earliest settlers of this country most all of whom were merchants and wealthy people who were not used to hard work. The first year almost half of them died because they did not have the skills to build, hunt, fish, or even make fire. The next year a man named Thomas Dale took the leadership and basically told them that they would either work as a part of the group or they would be banished, in which case they would die alone. They then learn the importance of working with their hands and proving for themselves. These are the people that built America, not the ones with money. The carpenters, mechanics, laborers, masons, and electricians. It is still true today. While a wealthy man may have money and ideas, he never builds anything, the workers do.