Construction Informer

Education in the U.S. is heavily skewed toward the college experience. When you talk to parents of children and young adults they talk about saving for college. In my experience I have never heard a parent say they were saving for their child’s vocational school education.

Yet, for many people vocational school would be far more suitable to them and to society. All you need to consider as ammunition to that argument is the fact that half a million people drop out of college every year. That’s not to say they would have been successful in a vocational education track, but now we probably will never know…and perhaps they won’t either. If the option isn’t presented as a viable and valuable one people will just overlook it.

The number one reason listed over and over for going to college is – higher income. What about all the people who are more interested in doing something they enjoy everyday? How about the latent talent that isn’t helping to build our homes, offices and other structures because the only track they were offered was a four-year degree? Why are we loath to recognize there is high value, personal satisfaction and the opportunity to grow and prosper doing something other than those careers that require college degrees?

I received a note from Tom Hanson the editor at OpenEducation.net, and he pointed me to an interesting series of articles about the Dutch school system and in particular its recognition of the need to encourage other forms of higher education than just college. Here is an interesting summation of the potential opportunities for Dutch students:

…it is important to realize that within the vocational model there are schooling options for students who may simply want to become skilled laborers as well as others who may want to learn to design and use those skills within the trade also. In addition, there is a recognition that there are still others who might want to occupy management level positions within a skilled trade and even a fourth group, those who aspire to own their operation one day.

The answers to construction’s workforce problems are all around us. It’s just a matter of creating opportunities for people to find what they really like to do and providing the learning scenarios that fit their dreams.