There have been a number of articles on the drive to get all children into college at the expense of the trades over the past few years. This harms both the individual and society in general.
The harm to society can be mitigated through outsourcing and automation but these are problematic as well. Automation requires sufficient volume of goods sold to cover the cost of maintaining the equipment as well as its debt/lease. If the volume can not be maintained, the manufacturer must raise the price which brings the demand curve into play. Outsourcing only pushes a society's problem off for a period of time. What is forgotten is that labor is cheap in these areas because they are poor at present. With continued investment they will no longer be poor and labor will become more expensive. One could think this as altruistic but when it comes at the expense of your own society it is nothing more than selfishness.
The harm to the individual is much more intense. A young child will not understand why they are falling behind their peers. The child will continue to struggle or may simply quit and think themselves a failure. The tragedy here is that the child may have so little confidence that they will not put forth any effort into STEM instruction/careers. The problem is that not everyone learns the same way. Some will not grasp the topic unless it is presented in an applied manner and others will require a basic/theoretical approach. Along with that base method students have different learning styles. When wood/metal/auto shop classes were removed from the basic curriculum a useful avenue of applied learning was removed which left many directionless. Happily some of those poor souls join the military and once in that crucible of applied learning find success.
What of those who require an applied learning method that do not join the military? Some stumble into the training they need. Where they determine the need for a specific skill and take a vocational class. At which point they learn that they are not failures. With their confidence restored they seek out the applied types of education that will move them towards their goals.
What of those who have no luck at all in picking up skills that lead to gainful employment? I'm not referring to wastrels, only those who assume they are failures because they never experienced an applied educational environment. Now, much like the 70s, it appears that welfare programs are the chosen medicine. The age old problem with welfare is that it breeds dependence and soon you will have generations of families that are fully dependent on the state. With the more recent advent of open borders into the US and Europe, welfare immigration comes into play. Welfare creates a downward spiral of resentment between the individual and society that in the extreme will lead to revolution (see Soviets, NAZIs, etc). Signs of this can be seen in France's immigrant community.
It is my opinion that the widespread elimination of shop classes was driven by a desire to increase the success rate of liberal arts degrees without regard to applied learning. What may seem like menial job training to those who have a basic/theoretical approach to life, is something altogether different to someone with an applied approach. The applied individual will make connections from what they learn in shop class to what they learn in their more basic/theoretical classes. Connections that will serve as a Rosetta Stone to all basic/theoretical material. Artistic individuals of both approaches may find success as well as it could open the door to mediums that they would otherwise be ignorant.
The harm to society can be mitigated through outsourcing and automation but these are problematic as well. Automation requires sufficient volume of goods sold to cover the cost of maintaining the equipment as well as its debt/lease. If the volume can not be maintained, the manufacturer must raise the price which brings the demand curve into play. Outsourcing only pushes a society's problem off for a period of time. What is forgotten is that labor is cheap in these areas because they are poor at present. With continued investment they will no longer be poor and labor will become more expensive. One could think this as altruistic but when it comes at the expense of your own society it is nothing more than selfishness.
The harm to the individual is much more intense. A young child will not understand why they are falling behind their peers. The child will continue to struggle or may simply quit and think themselves a failure. The tragedy here is that the child may have so little confidence that they will not put forth any effort into STEM instruction/careers. The problem is that not everyone learns the same way. Some will not grasp the topic unless it is presented in an applied manner and others will require a basic/theoretical approach. Along with that base method students have different learning styles. When wood/metal/auto shop classes were removed from the basic curriculum a useful avenue of applied learning was removed which left many directionless. Happily some of those poor souls join the military and once in that crucible of applied learning find success.
What of those who require an applied learning method that do not join the military? Some stumble into the training they need. Where they determine the need for a specific skill and take a vocational class. At which point they learn that they are not failures. With their confidence restored they seek out the applied types of education that will move them towards their goals.
What of those who have no luck at all in picking up skills that lead to gainful employment? I'm not referring to wastrels, only those who assume they are failures because they never experienced an applied educational environment. Now, much like the 70s, it appears that welfare programs are the chosen medicine. The age old problem with welfare is that it breeds dependence and soon you will have generations of families that are fully dependent on the state. With the more recent advent of open borders into the US and Europe, welfare immigration comes into play. Welfare creates a downward spiral of resentment between the individual and society that in the extreme will lead to revolution (see Soviets, NAZIs, etc). Signs of this can be seen in France's immigrant community.
It is my opinion that the widespread elimination of shop classes was driven by a desire to increase the success rate of liberal arts degrees without regard to applied learning. What may seem like menial job training to those who have a basic/theoretical approach to life, is something altogether different to someone with an applied approach. The applied individual will make connections from what they learn in shop class to what they learn in their more basic/theoretical classes. Connections that will serve as a Rosetta Stone to all basic/theoretical material. Artistic individuals of both approaches may find success as well as it could open the door to mediums that they would otherwise be ignorant.
