Everyone knows that the country’s school systems
are suffering. Here in California,
teachers have received pink slips.
Everyone knows that the country’s school
systems are suffering. Here in California,
teachers have received pink slips. Students and faculty have also held rallies
and walkouts to protest budget cuts that would affect classroom sizes and
educational offerings.
Whenever cuts need to be made,
schools usually follow a familiar pattern. First, arts and music education get
cut. Then some of the sports teams will be cut, usually starting with women’s
teams. Then the vocational programs are either downsized or eliminated. It is
no different this time around.
Newspapers from all over the
country have reported on school budget cuts. And many of these publications
have reported on the fears of school administrators that trades programs will
get the axe.
The issue of vocational education is one that
is very important to me. I get rather upset when I see schools sending young
people down the same path. Not every kid is cut out for a typical university
education. And not all kids want a white-collar desk job. We seem to turn our
noses up at careers that require us to use our hands. But we could be in for a
rude awakening if we continue down this path.
In a report
issued in 2007, the American Welding Society found that by 2010 there would be
a shortage of 200,000 skilled welders. AWS also found that the average welder
age is in the mid-50s. As more welders retire, the gap continues to grow. If
your school district is planning for cuts, do some investigating. Find out if
the cuts will cause further damage to the construction industry. If so, it
might be time to educate the educators.