America needs more people to attend trade schools

OPINION:

As the school year ends, tens of thousands of our best and brightest students will return from universities all over the country with diplomas in hand.

Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to take on the world, they will send their resumes and wait for the calls to pour in. Sitting by their new suit or dress, down to the polished shoes, they wait … and wait. Baffled as to why they are not getting calls for their sociology or art history degrees, they are left scratching their heads as to why they are having so much trouble finding a job. After all, they are college graduates. Isn’t that why you go to college — to make yourself more valuable in the workforce?

As children growing up in the 1980s, we were taught as a society that there was no other option. Pick a team, pack your bags. You are going to college, or you will be working in fast food for the rest of your life. You were taught that college was the first and most important step if you wanted to make something of yourself.

Fast-forward 30 years, and we have carried this thinking and taken it 10 steps further. It’s not only that you go to college; it’s where you go to college, where you have studied abroad, and what Greek life you were part of. These children live in multimillion-dollar sorority and fraternity houses with chefs, housekeepers, and countless parties to entertain them. Unfortunately, in some majors, these universities do not teach these students skills that employers want or need.

I am not against four-year colleges. I believe we are blessed as a state with great universities and professors who teach young minds to become engineers, nurses, teachers and so on. A four-year college is a building block for those who want to move into higher learning to become lawyers, doctors and engineers, to name a few. If you want a career in the science, technology or mathematics fields, a four-year degree is essential to move to the next level.

Universities are an integral part of our state educational system and provide economic growth that would be unachievable without them.

Now I get to my point: What happened to learning a skill to make yourself marketable in the workforce? This generation has become entitled to think that with a college degree, you get a “position,” not a job. Heaven forbid you intern or work as an assistant to gain experience. What happened to the six-figure salary with a company car?

Let’s face it, parents. Some children are just not meant to go to a four-year college. It’s not that they are not smart enough or will not be successful in their careers. They would be far better off taking the money you set aside for college and allowing them to learn a skill other than funneling a beer while standing on their head.

Seriously, with the money saved, they could start a small business in their trade, work for a company, and be able to buy a home or just invest. Racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt just doesn’t make sense. (Or cents.) 

Still with me? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

For a plumber, the average annual salary is $60,000 to $70,000. Master plumbers move into the $100,000 range, with business owners mid-ranging $150,000-plus.

For a welder, the average salary is between $65,000 and $70,000 per year, and a specialized welder can earn over $100,000 per year.

Cabinetmaking is a lost art. Try to find someone to make custom cabinets for a new home. The average cabinetmaker can make between $75,000 and $85,000 a year, depending on how much work they are willing to put in. Then, the sky is the limit. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s proposed legislation allowing 529 savings accounts to be used for trade schools and other educational opportunities would give parents and students options. The current legislation states that these funds can be used for only four-year colleges. Hopefully, this much-needed and forward-thinking legislative proposal will gain the traction it needs to amend the existing 529 plan.

Simply put, this country needs more trade schools to produce more skilled employees. Small businesses are paying big money for these workers and desperately need them. As COVID-19 winds down, getting employees to show up for work has been hard enough.

Trade schools would give children an incentive to graduate from high school, knowing that there is another option for them, raising the high school graduation rate. It would reduce unemployment rates and, most importantly, help the backbone of our economy in the United States: our small businesses.

• Laura Johnston Clark is a wife, mother and businesswoman. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, retired Air Force Col. David Etheredge, and is a member of the Republican Party.