Companies Concerned
Skilled trade jobs are in demand. Many pay substantially more than four year degrees. Companies are concerned that they will not have the skilled workers for the future. Technical areas seem to be ignored in schools, by parents and in society, in general. This is causing a nation-wide shortage.
Are Salaries Competitive?
Skilled tradesmen can easily earn over $40,000 which is much higher than a beginning teacher or accountant paying guaranteed student loans after four or five years of college. In fact, careers that require a two-year degree are in demand everywhere. Unfortunately, most parents when polled prefer that their children earn a degree from a four-year college. That is unfortunate because that is not where the majority of new careers will be. It is estimated by various government agencies that the majority of new jobs will be coming from technical areas.
Virginia
John Reid Blackwell, Times-Dispatch staff writer, [timesdispatch.com, 2-5-07, John Reid Blackwell] states, "The Virginia Manufacturers Association, a trade group that promotes and lobbies for manufacturers in the state, is also pushing the issue, most notably during the General Assembly session with legislation that would require high school students to take career and technical classes as a standard part of the curriculum." The state of Virginia is facing a serious shortage of skilled trade workers in key fields:
- machinists,
- machine maintenance specialists,
- welders,
- electrical technicians,
- chemical equipment operators,
- chemical technicians.
A study by Mangum Economic Consulting LLC predicts that Virginia will produce only 62 percent of the machinists and 25 percent of the welders that businesses will need.
Why A Crises Now?
What is the major factor contributing to this crises? Baby boomers are retiring. Manufacturing is going to be hit very hard. Manufacturing employees between ages of 55 and 64 are the largest group of employees in Virginia's economy. There are no shoes to fill the vacancies caused by retirement.
K-12 education is geared for four-year colleges. Skills needed in the world are undervalued. The present educational structure ignores students that have kinesthetic talents--often boys. In fact, it often considers them problems because they require movement, get bored with Shakespeare, and have no enthusiasm for writing a perfect research paper. The system doesn't see the true talent of each student. We have a cookie cutter system that is creating a national shortage of skilled workers and outrageous drop out rates.
Welders, Pipe Fitters, Plumbers, Electricians
Manufacturing is not the only area that has been hit hard. The construction boom has brought things to a head. There is a real competition for skilled and qualified individuals in the electrical, plumbing, welding and pipe fitting fields. The state of Virginia is forced to recruit qualified individuals from other states to fill needs. And other states will find them where?
Technical Education
More effort needs to be put into drafting high school students into trades. The push is to go to four-year colleges but what about technical colleges? Why are students not entering two-year programs at a faster rate? The skills trade probably suffers from an image problem. Most people see dirt, heat, smokestacks as a work environment. In reality, the job probably entails sitting behind a computer. In addition, many students get discouraged and drop out before they ever get to technical colleges. Some high schools are offering fabulous alternative programs like Seattle, WA. Bill Gates is also seeing the present system as needing improvement and has now not only donated funds to New York City but also Miami.
Personalizing Education
The system of education that we cling to presently is obsolete. Change is necessary. Some educators are proposing that we personalize education for every child. Give each student an IEP, Individualized Education Plan.
In a "perfect" world, wouldn't it be wonderful for each child to be assessed in areas of personal talents and strengths and then select a customized program for them? Graduation requirements could list technical classes in lieu of standard credits, or music, or art. Would students be more enthused about their education if they didn't waste time waiting for others to catch up or be frustrated because something was far beyond their reach and give up? Is this a new concept? Not at all.
Glasser
William Glasser , M.D., proposed this "new" and "revolutionary" thinking in 1969 in his book, Schools Without Failure. Since that time we have chosen to mostly ignore his theory and stay with the "one size fits all" model which isn't working well at the moment. We keep tweaking the "one size fits all" model and blaming students when it doesn't work. No matter how many times we change the look of a duck, we still have a duck. Maybe, we need to become swans. With 40-50 percent drop out rates in some schools, perhaps we are now ready to look at Glasser again. Instead of molding the students to fit the system, we could mold the system to fit the students.
Related articles: Single Sex Classrooms, All Male Charter School.
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
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