The college track passes right by manufacturing

When it comes to education and fabrication, I find myself in a unique position. I’m a full-time observer of the metal fabricating industry, and I’m a full-time spouse to a math educator in a suburban high school district northwest of Chicago. I’m also the parent of a high school junior and a soon-to-be freshman.

The eighth-grader is the reason for this editorial. She’s a well-behaved student with good study habits and a generally likable personality. She is in the midst of formulating her high school education path, which includes a lot of college-prep courses and, hopefully, a small-engines class her sophomore year.

This tale doesn’t sound especially noteworthy until I share with you what the humanities division leader at the high school recommended my daughter take her freshman year: an advanced placement (AP) Western European history class. The soon-to-be freshman was being recommended for a high school course that would have been worth college credit if she had earned the appropriate grade. Wow.

My wife and I pumped the brakes on that proposition. My daughter will be taking honors courses, but we also want her not to have to worry about the pressure of college credit. There’s plenty of time for that.

At least, that’s what we believe. School districts across the U.S. don’t share that opinion. For many of them, it’s college or bust. They see success as delivering a curriculum that is focused on college-preparedness and career-readiness, but the ultimate measure is an ACT score, hardly the telltale sign of excellence in technical education. The vocational trades are being given lip service at best and being completely ignored at worst in these districts.

For the record, I understand the pressure that my local school district finds itself under. Surrounded by wealthy suburbs that create a benchmark for other school districts to match, the education administrators don’t have an easy job. But it was somewhat disappointing to learn at eighth-grade night in early February that out of a graduating class of slightly more than 400 students in 2014, only 1 percent pursued further vocational training. For an area where companies are as hungry for manufacturing talent as any other area in the U.S., that is hard to believe.

But it ties in with reality. Everyone supports the idea of having a strong manufacturing base, but they don’t necessarily want their children working in manufacturing. The industry’s doing its best to replace the image of a manufacturing facility as a dark and dingy hole where workers disappear for a 10-hour shift with one that is a clean, well-lit environment with state-of-the-art equipment where workers look forward to showing up. Organizations such as the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association help to sponsor summer manufacturing camps and MFG Day, which has turned into a national day of focus on manufacturing in North America. Still, plenty of public relations work remains.

You might figure that students themselves would question the blind pursuit of a four-year degree with no real plan for turning the collegiate experience into the start of a financially rewarding career path. The Institute for College Access & Success says that the average debt for graduating seniors of public colleges a couple of years ago was $25,550, a large increase from the average of $20,450 in 2008. That’s an awfully significant financial hole for someone who doesn’t have firm job prospects after college.

Yet, sitting in plain sight of most young people are unfilled manufacturing opportunities. The pay may not be huge at the beginning, but talent is typically rewarded. If not, the skills are transferrable, and the free market system welcomes people to market their talents anywhere they might see fit.

Those who stay on the manufacturing career path can make a good living. The Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the average annual mean salary for a welder is $39,110 and $49,390 for a tool- and diemaker. That sure beats a ton of college debt and no real job prospects for a recent graduate.

How does the message get through to these educational administrators that vocational education is not the last option for students but rather a sound career training choice? The manufacturing community needs to continue to reach out to them—and their parents—and make them aware that metal fabricating is a very vibrant economic sector that has a thirst for talented workers.

It may seem like a daunting task, but the effort truly starts with a few simple steps. Participating in MFG Day is one step that all fabricating operations should consider. Make Oct. 2 the day that an education about manufacturing is made available to educators.