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Robotics will be good for some time. Automation tech, too. But, manufacturing engineering, automation technology, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. are not sexy college majors like law, medicine, finance or biotech. And as posted above, there’s a vast need for voc-ed provided skills. A blended high school + technical associates degree path would help. And a resurrection of apprenticships.

We also need to “adjust” our education system. Too many kids that have no business on a college campus are allowed to enroll and founder, racking up huge amounts of student loan debt.

Normally, I’m not a fan of anything European (except certain automobiles), but they have the right approach regarding secondary education. Kids who don’t test well enough for college are steered towards the vo-tech track at the end of middle school, and are enrolled in high schools that put them on a pathway to one of the trades or specialized industrial skills. Apprenticeships are very common and represent an important part of the overall pipeline.

I bought my current house through a real estate agent who is a Brit ex-pat. In high school, he was placed into a school that trained him as an industrial maintenance technician. He did well and the program had a provision for top students to go on to college and earn a degree related to the field. So, after 7 years of apprenticeship, work and study, he not only had a marketable credential, he had a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering as well. And like a lot of Brits, he promptly bolted for the states, spent 25 years working for an American company in Chicago before taking early retirement and earning his real estate license.

American students can do the same thing, but the pathway is far less structured. Instead, we have lots of marginally-educated young people enrolled in college degree programs that are worthless, or they can never complete. A trade, apprenticeship or advanced manufacturing pipeline is often a back-up plan—if it is even considered.