Educating tomorrow's welders

I think the program I have struggled to keep alive was valuable and rewarding to a certain population. Was it enough to rationalize the expense? I don"t know, but to me and my students, it was valuable and rewarding.


That"s the
message Lebanon (N.Y.) High School welding teacher Tom Callison shared with the school board on June 16. The
statement was part of a two-page resignation letter that he read aloud during the public comments section of the school board meeting.



Why was he resigning? The school principal said declining enrollment in the class justified only four classes, much
less than what a full-time teacher can handle. Callison didn"t want to be a part-time teacher.


The story jumped out at me because I"ve read and heard similar stories. Most of the equipment in high school shop
classes is old. Most of the teachers are not quite as old, but they aren"t youngsters by any means.



I know a fabricating supervisor for a company in northern Illinois, and his company can"t recruit students from the
local suburban school districts to be part of a work/study program because of the high school districts" liability
concerns. As a result, the company has to recruit students from more rural districts only 10 to 15 miles away to work on the latest CAD tools and CNC machine tools.



There"s just a general lack of respect for a possible future in the metalworking trades. Guidance counselors push
most students down a college-bound academic track even if they might not be suited for college. I understand the
reasons—college grads typically make more money on average than the general population, and manufacturers
aren"t the most steady of employers—but a vocational education can turn out to be just the opportunity non-college-bound students might need.



I do see some changes occurring in our nation"s landscape. However, it"s mostly at the community college level. Those educational facilities have more leeway to develop vocational programs, probably because they pull from students over a much larger geographic area. Smaller high school districts may not be able to swing developing a modern metalworking curriculum. Check out the program created by the folks at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They developed a precision sheet metal fabrication curriculum after working with local metal fabricating companies.



That"s just one example, but there are others.

These programs are not going to provide all the skilled workers that employers want, but it"s a start. Maybe they
provide an opportunity for the Tom Callisons of the world to continue their commitment to welding education.