Expand high school students access to trades education

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Ike Muzikowski / Chicago Tribune

I know more than a handful of West Side Chicago teenagers who can carjack Kia Optimas with a USB cable, but I also know nearly 100 Chicago students who can operate the excavators that are used in construction. While these tasks involve similar skills, the choice between the two can mean wildly different consequences for the course of these young people’s lives.

According to one false narrative, youths from disenfranchised neighborhoods commit crimes because they are starved of opportunities, but some of the people who perpetuate this narrative also insist that students pursue expensive college degrees when a career in the trades would be more practical and meaningful. Changing this narrative could mean a student picking up a power tool instead of a pistol.

The solution to breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty is right in front of us: more education in the trades.

Many public schools in Chicago don’t offer trade and shop classes, but at Chicago Hope Academy, we’ve launched a trades program in partnership with three major labor unions: the operating engineers, laborers and electricians.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-expand-high-school-students-access-to-trades-education/

[msongs]

1. one suspects many skills taught in HS auto tech in my day would be totally useless now nt

[Blue_Tires]

2. I remember we once had a Dem president who tried to do something like this

and naturally the GOP killed it because that's what they do...