The Democrats in the 2020 presidential election are almost all pushing free college for all. The truth is not everyone is cut out for college. Many kids have enough problems making it through high school that college would be impossible. To add to that, America doesn't need for every young person to get a college degree to excel economically. We also need people to do other jobs that can be learned without a college degree, which we as a country need to support.
I recently ran across an article in the Indianapolis Star, Indiana's construction workforce is retiring in droves. Here's how Indy-area teens could help rebuild it, about one of these programs.
The article details the efforts of the Area 31 Career Center here in the Indianapolis area. Area 31 gives classroom instruction, hands on lab work, and real life experience to high school students. The real life experience comes from joint efforts with other organizations to facilitate the students building a house each year. Area 31 is currently finishing up their third home in three years with the first two homes selling on the open market very quickly.
The construction industry was hit hard during the financial issues around 2008. Many of the younger construction workers lost their jobs and eventually found other jobs outside the construction industry. The older workers are now retiring leaving a labor shortage in the construction industry. The program at Area 31 is helping add back to the work force in the construction with young people that will enter a job for the first time with some real life experience.
The great news is the Area 31 Career Center isn't just about construction jobs. Area 31 has programs in the fields of Advanced Manufacturing, Business, and Technology, Communications, Construction and Manufacturing, Health Sciences, Education and Human Services, Public Safety, and Transportation. Facilities like this offer high school students with practical learning opportunities in a broad range of services we need as a country.
Recently Area 31 Career Center received it's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) certification form the Indiana Department of Education. This is an important certification because it makes them eligible for federal funding through the Depart of Education. On September 25, 2017 President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum to the Department of Education to expand access of the STEM programs and to "establish a goal of devoting at least $200 million in grant funds per year to the promotion of high‑quality STEM education".
Some, if not many, of these young people may decide in a few years they would like to pursue a college degree. Maybe they want to start a small business, if not a full degree even a few classes in business management would help them make their dreams come true. To me, programs like this make more sense than free college for all. At least these young people will be entering college with some practical experience behind them to balance out the academic teachings, of which many of those teachings they will never use in their careers.
