Hello Class!
I chose lack of education for my topic; however, I think my interpretation differs from others. I interpret a lack of education as a lack of education within the trade’s education realm and not traditional university education. The lack of skilled tradesmen in a dynamic country is alarming for future growth, sustainability, and quality of life for citizens of the world. Specifically, in the United States, the lack of skilled tradesmen is causing a skilled worker shortage and forcing the price of everything associated with them to be increasingly higher.
Lack of education within the skilled trades is causing a worker shortage in the workforce because the value placed on traditional education is considered to hold more value.
The global societal impact of the lack of education does not delineate between specific populations rather than demographics. The demographics can afford to pay for a college education, which means paying with cash flow and not going into debt with predatory student loans. The debt incurred is at an all-time high, whereas the cost of a trade college has only risen with the price of living on average. I view it as too much of a good thing, the good thing being a college or university education. Traditional education has decreased over the past few decades, and the rarity of a trade college education experienced the same fate of becoming scarcer. The ability to exploit what a trade college offers for a societal impact will only be realized when the creature comforts that we take for granted, like water, power, automobiles, and housing, to name a few, are removed from our lives.
According to Reynolds, R. (2004) “For a few, high school is the first step along a path to a successful career. The students who are of concern here are those who are not necessarily going to college. Students who are not going to college deserve as much attention and assistance as do those bound for college. But it is precisely those students who are most often forgotten.” The date of this publication is what surprised me, 2004. I knew the intense persuasion for high school graduates to attend a university was apparent today; however, this path to success was evident 18 years ago.
References
Reynolds, R. (2004). Vocational Education and the Great Divide: Have Student Needs Been Overlooked?. University of Arkansas, Spring 2004, Volume 4, Number 1. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ848206.pdf
