Charles Murray is right on the mark on this point – one I’ve argued for years, and even offered to my students.

A reality about the job market must eventually begin to affect the valuation of a college education: The spread of wealth at the top of American society has created an explosive increase in the demand for craftsmen. Finding a good lawyer or physician is easy. Finding a good carpenter, painter, electrician, plumber, glazier, mason--the list goes on and on--is difficult, and it is a seller's market. Journeymen craftsmen routinely make incomes in the top half of the income distribution while master craftsmen can make six figures. They have work even in a soft economy. Their jobs cannot be outsourced to India. And the craftsman's job provides wonderful intrinsic rewards that come from mastery of a challenging skill that produces tangible results. How many white-collar jobs provide nearly as much satisfaction?

In other words, what is needed is more focus on vocational, not collegiate, education for some some students for whom the college prep curriculum is not appropriate or by whom it is not desired.

And it isn't like these kids are not going to have a good life when the get out into the world just because they lack a college degree.

I cannot help but think of one of my former students, a kid I’ll call Juan (mainly because his name was, in fact, Juan). Juan took a summer job at a local window place. His job? Fetch and carry for the window installer, the basic work that used to be the lot of an apprentice in an earlier age. Back in the shop, Juan began watching one of the guys doing stained glass projects for some of the up-scale houses in the area. He would stand a few feet away, and ask questions during lunches and breaks. After a couple weeks, the craftsman offered him a chance to try his hand at cutting and piecing some scraps of glass. Juan had a talent for it, and soon was assigned to help wit the art glass. As summer came to a close, he was offered the chance to stay on as after school help – as an apprentice glazier. Juan drops by school every now and again, if he needs to pick up his younger brother. At 25, Juan makes more than I do, working in a field he loves. And he doesn’t have a college degree – just a couple of art classes to help him learn more about design.

Most importantly, Juan loves what he does. What more could I hope for him – and all my other students?

Posted by: Greg at 01:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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