What happened to vocational training in schools – and can it come back?
by Katherine Martinko
"Imagine if things were different – if technical, physical, and
labor-based jobs were not made out to be somehow inferior to
academic-based pursuits, nor viewed as a remedial track geared mostly
toward minority and working-class students; if aviation maintenance,
auto body technology, audio production, and welding were esteemed as
highly as medicine, law, and engineering?
I can think of a few reasons why vocational training should be given a prominent place in North American schools and why it would give many students a much-needed advantage.
1) Trades are practical skills. Young people who can build, repair, and invent things have useful knowledge that is easily applied in daily life, at work and at home. Practical skills would give them a tremendous sense of personal satisfaction, particularly for a generation that’s grown up in inhabiting virtual reality.
2) Vocational training allows young people to work immediately after high school without racking up huge student loans. Far too often, the fixation on college degrees results in paralyzing debt that is no way to start one’s adult life.
3) Introducing vocational training could counter the fear culture that pervades schools. It would introduce much-needed perspective on what kids are capable of doing safely, i.e. using power tools, torches, knives, hot stoves, etc., rather than bubble-wrapping them at every turn.
4) Vocational training would help young people be more active. They’d be moving around a workshop instead of sitting at a desk, which would lead to better health and possibly fewer diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder and the like, less medication. It could result in reduced aggressive behavior because kids would feel like they’re on a meaningful track in life and have less reason to lash out. They would feel useful.
5) On a national scale, it means large swaths of the manufacturing sector could return to North America if trained workers are available. Wyman writes:
I can think of a few reasons why vocational training should be given a prominent place in North American schools and why it would give many students a much-needed advantage.
1) Trades are practical skills. Young people who can build, repair, and invent things have useful knowledge that is easily applied in daily life, at work and at home. Practical skills would give them a tremendous sense of personal satisfaction, particularly for a generation that’s grown up in inhabiting virtual reality.
2) Vocational training allows young people to work immediately after high school without racking up huge student loans. Far too often, the fixation on college degrees results in paralyzing debt that is no way to start one’s adult life.
3) Introducing vocational training could counter the fear culture that pervades schools. It would introduce much-needed perspective on what kids are capable of doing safely, i.e. using power tools, torches, knives, hot stoves, etc., rather than bubble-wrapping them at every turn.
4) Vocational training would help young people be more active. They’d be moving around a workshop instead of sitting at a desk, which would lead to better health and possibly fewer diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder and the like, less medication. It could result in reduced aggressive behavior because kids would feel like they’re on a meaningful track in life and have less reason to lash out. They would feel useful.
5) On a national scale, it means large swaths of the manufacturing sector could return to North America if trained workers are available. Wyman writes:
“The manufacturing sector is growing and modernizing, creating a wealth of challenging, well-paying, highly skilled jobs for those with the skills to do them; [but] the demise of vocational education at the high school level has bred a skills shortage in manufacturing today, and with it a wealth of career opportunities for both under-employed college grads and high school students looking for direct pathways to interesting, lucrative careers.”6) It would expose young people to a wide range of careers that are not commonly known. These could fill the “skills mismatches” that exist currently in the U.S. and continue to affect the country’s ability to lower its unemployment rate"
https://www.treehugger.com/culture/what-happened-vocational-training-schools-and-can-it-come-back.html
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