Bob Manning
Educational Consultant
Many people agree that more students should go into the trades. Except for their kid. I don’t blame them, I was raised to think that success after high school meant attending a four year college and getting a white collar job.
As I run into former students, I often ask them what they’re up to these days. If the answer is anything other than a four year university, I brace myself for their explanation. Too many students feel the need to apologetically justify their decisions. One exception is Charlie Valerius, who wrote a note to Laurie Hansen, his former journalism teacher, thanking her for the research paper she assigned that led him to choose Century College instead of the four year university he would otherwise have attended. Charlie could have gone anywhere, but he discovered through his research that, for him, the cost of a four year college isn't worth the investment. He decided that taking his general courses at a community college for $7000 per year before transferring to a four year institution made more financial sense. In addition, community colleges oftentimes offer exceptional career technical education programs that match or exceed university offerings.
Years ago my teenage son was in excruciating pain during the hockey season. We took him to Gillette Children’s hospital to see an expert who diagnosed him with a spine fracture. Another member of the staff walked us through the process of creating a plaster mold around his torso that would provide the form for a plastic brace. As we sat in the hospital room, I asked, “How are you planning on making this? Do you have a workshop in the backroom or something?” He answered, “Actually, we do. Would you like to see it?” He then opened a door and escorted us into a workshop consisting of six workbenches filled with hand tools, drying stations, and an assortment of molds hanging to dry. During the tour, he explained that everyone in the shop had an interest in both medicine and working with their hands, and they all loved their jobs. When I asked where he trained for this, he told me he attended Century College, where they have one of the best Orthotic and Prosthetic Clinical Applications programs in the nation. Average salary is $62,000 but those with more experience can earn over $100,000.
We need to promote a new version of success in which a student can feel proud of making an informed decision about the type of education and career she chooses.
There are many stigmas about careers and college that are outdated or invalid. The vice president of a local hospital recently told me that his buddy from high school is a pipefitter who “has a nice house, always has a new truck, works basically when he wants to, hunts and fishes all the time. Meanwhile, I’m grinding it out as a hospital administrator, with little work-life balance. Who won?” The reality is there are a lot of good careers that do not require a four year degree, careers that society needs and that pay very well. At the same time, there are a lot of dissatisfied people with university degrees and white collar jobs who did what they thought they were supposed to do but are now feeling unfulfilled, burdened with debt and making less than their peers without degrees or who took a non-traditional path.
It’s time to start advocating for post-secondary options that make sense for the individual instead of the antiquated version our educational system encourages. We need to promote a new version of success in which a student can feel proud of making an informed decision about the type of education and career she chooses. A career as a pipefitter involves creative problem solving, working on a tangible project and making a high wage without student debt. If this sounds appealing to her, we should celebrate it, even if it’s our own child.
