Issue Position: Fund and Encourage the Public School Systems and Community Colleges to Promote Vocational, Technical, and Trade Skill Certification

Issue Position

Along with several other respected periodicals and news accounts, manufacturers,
businesses, and entire industries are begging for skilled workers. A November, 2011,
Wall Street Journal article asserted that many of the jobs in high demand do not
require a college degree. According to the article, the shortage of skilled workers is
attributable to the "erosion of vocational education at the high school level." Both
companies and labor unions have reduced the number of "in-house training programs"
and apprenticeships.

Indirectly, the abolishment of the military draft also relates to the shortage of trained
and experienced skilled workers. With conscription hanging over their heads and the
expectation of eventually being drafted into the military, many recognized that they
lacked an employable skill. Volunteering to enlist in one of the armed services for an
extended period was one way of being guaranteed a service school that taught a skill.
The military service schools provided training as aircraft and diesel engine mechanics,
electricians or some other trade transferable to the civilian market.

Conscription or the threat of being drafted no longer exists. Less than one-percent of
the American population has any connection with military service and many families and
schools actually discourage youngsters from enlisting. With the end of the draft also
came the loss of an opportunity for many to acquire valuable training and experience.

Although some local communities with the resources have wisely begun programs
offering skill training for high school students, skilled worker training programs are in
short supply. Some community colleges have started designing or expanding
vocational, technical and skilled trade classes. These programs are in need of funding
and rapid expansion to meet the demand.

Additionally, many college-oriented school boards, counselors, peers and parents
discourage youngsters from considering the skilled trades. Oftentimes the emphasis
is more on attaining a college degree rather than acquiring an employable skill in later
years. There is no shame in earning a certifiable vocation, technical, or trade skill.

High-schoolers are often given the impression that vocational or trade skill training is
only for "slackers." These mislead youngsters enter college unsure about a career
field and are sometimes enticed into overpopulated fields in which few jobs exist after
college. Popular fields such as journalism, sociology, english, political science, and
others are filled with graduates who are under-employed, unemployed or
unemployable. If a job is acquired in their field, it comes with substantially lower pay.
What sort of cruelty is this to be cast on our youth?

Texas needs a well-funded and aggressive program that offers an unbiased option in
the vocational, technical or trade skill fields.

As your state senator, Mac will continue Senator Harris' goal to make more of this type
of training available for our youth.

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