Shop Class Making a Comeback

[MachineGhost]

Too little, too late?  Robots are just around the corner!  But, it's interesting how high schools are complicit in the higher education industry loan complex.  Is this the price of hamfisted government intervention or would a free market in schools up the bad game even more?

[quote=http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/20 ... ew-funding]With schools focused on preparing kids for college, shop class has gone the way of stenography courses in much of the U.S. Yet now companies as diverse as Toyota Motor (TM), Siemens (SIE:GR), and IBM (IBM) are pushing high schools to turn out students with the practical skills businesses need. The message is getting through. This year, for the first time in a decade, the U.S. government boosted funding for high school and college vocational education to $1.1 billion. That’s still $188 million below the 2004 budget to help schools teach hands-on skills. Proponents say spending on vocational training will help reverse the hollowing out of America’s middle class and combat rising inequality. U.S. wage growth since 2009 has been the weakest since World War II.[/quote]

[Pointedstick]

I am absolutely shocked that private companies are interested in schools actually teaching skills useful for employees in the labor force. I think it's a great idea. Despite robotics and automation, there are quite a few that aren't going away anytime soon.

You want an example? Plumbing. Absolutely none of it is automated because every building is different and every install is a custom job. Same thing for retrofits. The same can be said of electricians, HVAC techs, auto mechanics, concrete contractors, etc. These are jobs that the underprivileged can be trained for and make really good money at.

[I Shrugged]

Anyone interested in the topic might enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcr ... 0143117467