Part of the solution may lie in early child education, but a more immediate solution to growing the economy is restoring strong “trades” education to high schools. This has been dropped from most school systems in favor of promoting college for everybody. There is definite opportunity in the computer field and with companies returning to manufacture in the US for a more robust and modernized trades education in a number of communities and cities.
Decently paid producing workers and moderately paid bosses was the key to prosperty 50 and 60 years ago. The gap between poor and rich is ever growing and will ultimately destroy us.
In my opinion, education for most occupations should start in junior high and continue through school, with an emphasis on continual education. 8-10 hours work and 2 hours education, on a daily basis.
Unless you really are in an occuptaion whete you must have obtained the equivalent of master Status before you ate allowed on the ground floor, there is no reason to not rework occupations to this.
“Part of the solution may lie in early child education, but a more immediate solution to growing the economy is restoring strong “trades” education to high schools.”
This!! This xxx 1000!
In the 70s, we had career week at school where we studied and discussed different professions and trades and had speakers (locals) come in to give 15 minute talks on their career path.
At the end of the week, we completed a questionnaire that was submitted to our career and counseling department (consisting of one lady and her assistant intern) and a few weeks later each student received a response pointing out their strong points and suggesting several career opportunities. Our graduating class was approximately 200 (small rural county). Very few were destined for college and most actually ended up in one of the careers suggested. I know I did.
My career opportunity fell into my lap in the early 80s during a time of high unemployment and I took the job at minimum wage just for the opportunity. I retired from that career just over two years ago (no college degree), after years of good pay, and with a nice monthly retirement check. This was something I thought I would never qualify for given I grew up a poor dirt-road girl and the daughter of two parents who were also dirt-road children.
We need to stop sending everyone to universities for degrees in ——studies that are useless and return to looking for strengths in individuals and directing them on a career path in which they can excel according to their own interests and strengths.
However first, we have to teach them to read and write.