Semantics won’t resurrect U.S. manufacturing

“Goodbye trade school. Goodbye vocational school.”

Hello technical college.

This was the idea expressed in a recent St. Petersburg Times article.

According to the article, some leaders in the business and education arenas feel it’s time to jump on the college bandwagon and rename trade schools to make them more appealing.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a college degree, but I can’t say that I learned all I needed to know in college. Was it a good way to learn the basics about the career path I’d chosen? Sure. Was it a great four years spent having fun with friends? Absolutely.

Some people think that without a college degree you’re depriving yourself of a career. Some employers don’t even care what your degree is in, just as long as you have one.

The “It’s the college way or no way” idea is a bad message to teach our kids. A degree from a liberal arts college isn’t the only way to measure one’s success. That’s where trade schools and other post-high school educational institutions come in.

It’s not news to anyone that trade schools provide an alternative for non-college-bound students, but, unfortunately, many people—employers and students—don’t equate “alternative” with success.

But if we’re looking for increased enrollment in our nation’s trade schools and an answer to our skilled labor shortage, it’s going to take more than just semantics.

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