Michael Kenig

We need to update our approach toward career and technical education (CTE).

Nationally, 70 out of 100 young adults will not get a four-year college degree. Fortunately, 70% of careers do not require a four-year degree.

Yet, much of our energy and investments center on the 30% of students who graduate with a four-year degree. Many of our industry’s future skilled workers will come from the 70%, and we should be doing more to support them. It is time for the construction industry to work together and speak with one voice to substantially increase support for CTE.

Unfortunately, education policy is heavily weighted in favor of students earning four-year college degrees and undervalues career and technical education. Many students, especially non-traditional students, want a short-term program that will arm them with competitive skills and the ability to earn family-supporting wages.

Many grants may not be available to a student who is working part-time and wants to take a short-term course to earn a diploma in carpentry—even though there’s a full-time, family-supporting job waiting at the end of the program. Likewise, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act exists to support CTE programs by paying for equipment, curricula and instructors. But we underrate CTE programs so much that our Perkins investments amount to less than $100 per CTE student.

If we value career and technical education, we need to support it at all levels. At the federal level, we should increase Perkins funding and expand eligibility for Pell grants to include short-term, industry-validated postsecondary certificates.

At the local level, we should ensure that the funding available for career and technical education is adequate to hire and train teachers and equip their labs to instruct our future skilled workers.

Construction employers must engage to ensure that students understand the available opportunities and the pathways to get to those opportunities. This process begins by taking ownership of our own talent pipelines and partnering with high schools and technical and community colleges.

我们必须支持与建筑有关的计划中的讲师，并像对待我们的行业合作伙伴一样对待他们。确实，就像在棒球中一样，它们是我们的农场系统。雇主应该花时间了解哪些建筑课程使用；然后，他们可以帮助确保课程允许从高中到技术学院进行无缝过渡。计划应提供全国认可和便携式证书。最后，雇主应为学生提供基于工作的学习机会。

Right now, the average age of young adults entering technical-college programs is 26, and the age of those entering the trades is 28—about 10 years after they graduate from high school. To lower this age, we must work together to eliminate this “lost decade” by making clear to students earlier in their education the various pathways to success in the industry.

Further, we must be doing more to make it easier for students interested in construction to get on a career track earlier in their lives. In Georgia, we have passed legislation that enhances students’ ability to “dual enroll” in high school and college, including technical colleges. That plan allows a student to use post-secondary classes to earn high school credit.

These progressive steps are helping to expand career pathway initiatives, allowing high school students who might not pursue a four-year degree the opporunity to combine work and education while obtaining in-demand credentials.

最根本的是,我们需要改变我们attitude about CTE and work to remove the stigma associated with an education that’s not part of a four-year college degree. CTE programs are rigorous, demanding and relevant to regional employers and the labor market as a whole. They prepare youth and adults for a wide range of high-wage, high-skill and high-demand careers.