As an engineer, manager, executive and formal and vocational educator with nearly 50 years experience, I can say with conviction that graduating high school students not ready for, excited by or prepared for college are being shunted aside. This is not a deliberate effort on the part of educators, but an honest omission because of their lack of exposure to anything other than the academic career path. They simply don’t know anything else.

During one of my many seminars given to over 100 high school teachers, I asked how many knew what the term Airframe and Powerplant Technician related to. Five teachers raised their hands. The remainder had no clue whatsoever. They were all schooled in the college career path. What chance did their students who were not ready for college, or who just did not want to attend a formal college have for career guidance? NONE.

I know how to train people for high tech jobs and proved it during the late 1980′s by delivering over 1200 men and women of all ages to the Space Shuttle, Space Station, Commercial Aircraft and Satellite workforce. Follow-ups verified that those in the ‘economically disadvantaged and structurally unemployed’ catagory can perform as well as, if not better than, those who were working in technical capacities all their working lives. They made generally better employees, according to their supervision.

It takes a special kind of realistic training with a crew of technical trainers who are dedicated to seeing their students succeed. Yes, and some animal cunning to debunk the academicians who live in the standardized placement testing world, and dwell on the theoretical rather than the practical.

See my Doctoral Dissertation “Pre-Employment Training and Employee Job Effectiveness in a High-Technology Environment”, (1986) for how it was done.

It is time to get moving again on training that is relevant, focused and intense and compassionate. This has been lacking for quite some time.

John P. Mattei, D.B.A.

BS Engineering, BA Psychology, MS manaagement Technology, Doctorate Business Administration, FAA Certified Airframe & Powerplant Technician. Vocational Teaching Credential.

Former Dean, Institute of Technology, Northrop University.

Former CEO Rockwell,UAW Employee Training Organization, Inc.

Aerospace Engineering.

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To Helen,

The biggest roadblock to having informed guidance councilors is the beaurocracy holding up their hands to anyone other than one who has a teaching credential. There are many engineers and scientists with many years of experience managing diverse technologies and people who know what the term “hands-on” really means that would enjoy helping youngsters focus on meaningful technical career paths. It won’t happen with the present restrictions.

I offer assistance to young and old alike in selecting a career field, educational endeavors, and life focus on a pro-bono basis, as my way of giving something back. I enjoy seeing my clients succeed.

John

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I have read the comments of fellow bloggers and couldn’t agree more. However, there are a number of us “boomers” already retired, that would have stayed on and mentored some of these college grads had we not been ‘squeezed’ out of the workplace by those that have no use for older workers. Most of the larger corporations want us gone because we make more money than the beginners. And once you’re gone, age discrimination sets in and there’s no going back. Not only do we have to change the educational paths but also the attitudes of those now in charge.

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Some schools are doing good things. I am a mechanical engineer with two children in elementary school in Montgomery County Maryland (near D.C.).

My childrens’ kindergarten class has parents come in to talk about the work they do. I participated in this program and made a pitch for engineering. Over the course of the school year, my third grader’s science class learned a lot about the history and technical details of airplanes. They experimented, built, tested, and modified ‘airplanes’ in teams of two and had a grade-wide competition. This was beyond the required science curriculum. I work for a small maritime engineering and prototyping company in Baltimore. My company employs several high school students who are in vocational and science oriented programs. While I do not doubt that a great deal of improvement in vocational and technical education is required, I have seen that some schools are on the right track.

I read the ETA report referred to in the above article. It contains some good things and quite a bit of mush. The report itself is an example of one of the problems with government, business and education today. It took thirty five pages to say that: a) businesses, educators and government need to come into alignment to develop and maintain a skilled workforce for ‘advanced’ manufacturing; and b) manufacturing needs to improve its image to show that it offers good jobs.

Well, the first item is nothing new. Seems to me that for the last 150 years the U.S. has had to continuously develop its workforce for advanced manufacturing. We just need to get back on track.

The second item might be the tougher of the two. It will be hard to convince people the manufacturing it good place to seek a job when it is increasingly difficult to find anything ‘Made in the U.S.A.’, and when we hear much more about cutting jobs and early ‘retirement’ than about workforce expansion. A change in corporate leadership that puts more effort into developing U.S. assets and stops selling/sending our equipment and knowledge out of the country to save a penny on the bottom line would go a long way to improving the real image of manufacturing. Quite frankly, our business schools have done more to harm manufacturing than anything else.

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Though I agree with the above comments, no one
has addressed the basic fundemental issue,
that we as parents directly influnce our children’s career paths.

I come from an immigrant family, and my father was a machine operator all his working life. It was by his example that lead me to working with my “hands” as an apprentice machinist/welder. I encourage my daugthers to seek career paths as plumbers, framers, welders, etc. traditional careers that are not only well paying, but secure.

We cannot totally “blame” the education system. We need to aid and direct the next generation.

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I too read with great interest and find many worthy comments.

The subject is training and education, but the real subject is even more serious.

Consider:
-We pay (Read: value) sports figures, TV personalities, and, yes, politicians — but we mouth family values, children, teachers, police and firemen.
-We focus on me, my, mine and chase the latest “must have” technology.
-We support single-issue politics, fault politicians, but contribute for access and reelect the lesser of evils.
-We expect someone else to solve the problem, i.e., note Pres. Bush and Tony Blair ratings, but they got 50+% of those that voted.
-We have little patience and less commitment to anything that does not offer rather quick gratification.
-We preach religion but literally kill over those same issues.

Consider:
-We could live the “golden rule” and follow the Ten Commandments regardless of your religion or lack thereof.
-We could band together and focus on responsibility for one’s self, solving real problems, righting real wrongs.
-We have the resources, talent, opportunity, knowledge, communication, and skills, to make a difference. A real difference!

Ah, but the WILL!

We as a country need to recognize and prioritize problems er opportunities, quit fighting each other, especially over minor issues, and focus on “the real thing”.

Take a position of need not greed, help not yelp.

However the bottom line is/was indeed the bottom line.
“You have the knowledge and expertise to make a difference and can do it – (you supply the it)- in an after-school or outside program.” Bill Andrews at June 12, 2006 03:14 PM

- Just an old retired GE Purchasing Agent

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I co-own a plastics manufacturing business and I have interviewed many applicants. I have to say that most high school-level applicants are not ready for the industrial workplace, either technically or socially. Industry needs people who have good work ethics and are capable employees.

As far as higher tech jobs / higher education choices go, I can’t blame our college kids for looking to other “less disposable” jobs that pay well. American management has decimated our national manufacturing industry and our Gov’t has been assisting them to do it. The incentives to outsource are huge compared to the incentives to produce domestically.

I agree with the statement that our business schools (and Wall Street) have done more to hurt our long-term manufacturing prospects than anything else. We are becoming the “Wall-Mart” nation, only interested in the cheapest deal we can get. The attitude seems to be “who cares what it costs us (or our kids) in the long run”.

I remember my Economics professors preaching “outsourcing is the normal progression” theories.” So what happens when we send the next generation of Americans to universities in India because it’s cheaper and their math and science curriculum is better?

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I like some of the comments made. There is the education issue, when you can have a child go from one school to another and have the schools teaching differently. Example: First school teaching modern fast paced; second school teaching as if it was still the 1960s; third school teaching somewhere in between. When you bring it up to the education system, they do not care. The whole education system needs to be put on the same track.

Second, the manufacturing system needs to stop being so top heavy. When smart business people can come in and buy a failing company and turn it around, by keeping the jobs here, as cheap if not cheaper than making them overseas. Then there is a problem with the people in upper management making their cushy pay. And how those type of people do it is they get rid of the high-paying upper management jobs that eat away at the profits.

Peopl,e do some reading of our histroy of manufacturing. Henry Ford knew that if he did not pay his workers enough (but not to where it would eat into his profits) and keep them employed, his company would be doomed.

Third thing is I have seen lots of people out there that are very skilled but alot of companies do not hire them. Example: 1) The person had all of his qualifications, on-the-job training, skills, was not too old. Person was told over qualified. 2) The person was trained as a troubleshooter, knew what he was doing, self-learning person. Did not get hired because he did not look fit.

This is just some of the issue that seem to keep being ignored by people and if we do not wake up soon, it is going to be too late.

Please open your minds and eyes.

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