Senator: Trade jobs better for inner-city kids than college

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Senator: Trade jobs better for inner-city kids than college
Updated 11:34 am, Tuesday, February 21, 2017



HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Senate Education Committeechairman is being criticized for saying minority students from "inner city" public schools would do better in vocational careers than in college.

Republican Sen. John Eichelberger (EYE'-kuhl-bur-gur) said during a town hall last week that minority students are being pushed toward college and are dropping out. He says they'd succeed in a less-intensive track.

. . .

Eichelberger, who's white, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that he blames failing urban school systems, not skin color, for minority students dropping out of college.

Democratic Sen. Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia says Eichelberger should be removed from the committee chairmanship. Hughes says many minority students are victims of Pennsylvania's unfair school-funding system and some drop out of college because they can't afford it.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/State-senator-gets-heat-for-comments-on-minority-10947856.php

[DonViejo]

1. Gee, A GOP rep said that, who'd a thunk? eom

[Skittles]

2. fuck you Eichelberger, you ELITIST ASSHOLE

[heaven05]

3. well we all know

an educated AA, unlike our current boy-potus, could become one of the greatest, classiest Presidents in american history, even with unprecedented RW obstruction. Ohhh wait!!! It already happened.

Who does this pigshit racist think he's helping/??? AmeriKKKas cancer of racism is metastasizing, daily, hourly it seems...it will be fatal.

[Phoenix61]

4. Tiny, very, very tiny bit of truth there

The loss of vo-tech high schools hurts all students and the country as a whole. There is nothing "less" about being a skilled electrician, plumber, HVAC, auto repair person etc... Doing any of those jobs well requires intelligence which I have and a certain natural talent that I know I don't have. Having rehabbed a 1948 house, I know what plumbers and electricians make. There are a lot of college degrees that won't come close to that.

[dembotoz]

5. truth not that small...skilled trades can make good bucks

apprenticeship pays while learning....


had a tech ed teacher who wanted my youngest to get one....he would have needed 3 votes for approval and she and another teacher he had were already on board....60 k after relatively short training....

he did not want to....i still cringe......

oh well

[LisaM]

6. But it shouldn't have to do with the inner cities versus anywhere else.

We spend time in the San Juan Islands (in Washington state) and every year they publish an edition of all the high school seniors from the various islands and what they plan to do. Many do go on to college, but I always take note that on one of the islands, there's a fair number who say they are going to electricians (maybe they have an apprenticeship program or somewhere to get a 2-year associate's degree, not sure). I always figure those are the ones that are going to actually end up doing what they say they want to do with their lives. A lot of the others are "start my own company and retire young", "have a job where I'm happy", "change global warming"......nothing wrong with any of it per se; less grounded in reality than a skilled vocation. I think it's the inference that all inner city kids are the same that's the problem.

[dembotoz]

9. i totally agree with you

but i think skilled trades are way undervalued in this country

kids should be able to do what they want....but in terms of straight return on investment there are some alternatives to universities that look really attractive.

it seems where my kid went the school the options were university or the military....would just like kids to know there also is a door number 3.....and good lord with trump in the white house...to pick the military behind door number 2 could be a real zonk

[LisaM]

14. I completely agree that skilled trades are undervalued.

It's ridiculous how we've treated them, not just by not steering kids into them, but by acting as if tradespeople are of lower social status.

[mainer]

20. This advice holds for white rural kids as well.

We have a yawning shortage of plumbers and electricians in Maine. My hair stylist can't find any employees to hire to cut hair. These are the sorts of Vo-tech jobs that would earn good incomes.

[Danmel]

7. Reminds me of Scalia's remarks

About African American students.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/09/politics/scalia-black-scientists-scotus/

[haele]

8. Odd, I would think rural kids need voc-tech just as much as urban kids would...

When there are limited resources to maintain infrastructure, voc-tech is a good way to go and to "stay near home" or in the neighborhood.
Because of the way most of the U.S. funds education by districts, rural and inner-city schools have the same problem with quality and availability of education.
The reality is this - poor rural district faces the same funding short-falls as the poor "inner city" neighborhood districts. A wealthy suburb/rural area district has the same funding glut that gentrified city neighborhood districts do.

I'll bet that the public schools in the wealthy parts of the city of Philidelphia have more teachers per student and programs for the kids that live in the district, than the public schools in more "affordable" or subsidized neighborhoods, no matter what "school choice" and "school improvement" products Education Co. is selling to the public.
The only real difference in school funding between inner city and other parts of the state other than district wealth/tax base is the population density.

As for what this senator thinks - the innate potential future for each child is not dependent on where they live - nor is it based on gender, race, or religion. It's on what's inside the child, and how that child is able to learn to express and grow that potential.

This guy, like a large number of politicians in this country, seems to be perfectly willing to stifle the next Einstein or Salk - turning him or her into a plumber or medical receptionist - just because of a street address or the perceived class of the child's parents.

Haele

[muntrv]

10. Reminds me of the scene in the Malcolm X movie

where the teacher tells Malcolm that "being a lawyer in an unreasonable goal for a n****r" and that he should be a carpenter.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Thanks for the memory refresher. n/t

[MedusaX]

11. "Inner City"

One's true personal beliefs, philosophy & motivation are often revealed unintentionally by one's word choice...

• People who live in the "Inner City", in my experience, are not demographically homogeneous.
• The collective training, knowledge & skills required to be successful in Today's average "vocational" career is NOT "less intensive" than that of a non-vocational one...
• there is no evidence establishing a 1:1 correlation between "drop out" and "lack of aptitude"

But this guy obviously thinks so...

[safeinOhio]

12. If only Ben Carson

Had known that.

[packman]

13. The trade school graduates are going to run the world

someday - who else is going to fix their boats, expensive cars, fancy toys, heating and plumbing?

I remember standing in a transmission shop many decades ago hearing the owner complaining he couldn't get any kids out of high school as trainees. He told me after a few years of apprenticeship they would be making 40k a year. There I was with my college degree waiting for my clunker to be fixed making about 8k a year.

[DeminPennswoods]

15. Skilled tradesmen are badly needed

While trying to limit this to just "inner city" students is wrong, there is a crying need for skilled trades and these jobs pay well. Lest we forget, encouraging students to get into the trades was a big part of Hillary's campaign jobs program. Shell is building a huge ethane cracker plant where I live and they are having to hire out-of-towners for the skilled trades jobs because there's too little local talent available to be hired.
These jobs are also not very likely to be outsourced overseas since no one from China or India is going to hop on a plane and come over to fix your broken water heater or install a new roof, etc.

College isn't for everyone and I've seen kids who were good students in high school go to college, only to drop out. If a kid has the aptitude to work with his/her hands and practical problem-solving skill, I'd tell them become a tradesman with no qualms at all. The biggest obstacle might be the trade unions that haven't always be very accepting of minorities.

[hollowdweller]

16. No matter where you live

If you can do sheetrock, plumb, or do electrical work you can have a job.

I have 2 college degrees and worked at a job that required a degree and 2 years of training to be proficient. But I know plumbers and electricians that make way more than I ever did.

In between college semesters I had a summer job working in the maintenance dept of a paint plant. Helped them construct a water treatment plant. My boss was a mine electrician who was working there while the UMW was on strike. He took an interest in me and taught me to wire stuff, plumb, and do other stuff. I can't tell you how much money that saved me.

Now writing off inner city kids as only able to do technical jobs is wrong. But the idea of teaching kids practical skills is a good one.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. What a bonehead. The trades are better for lots of people

not just kids in the inner city. Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" has a foundation that awards trade school scholarships. He said there are 3 million jobs in the trades that can't be filled because of the skills gap.

[Blue Idaho]

21. Yeah - we don't want them "uppity"

Inner city kids dreaming too big now... Better they should know their place...

[IronLionZion]

22. how about rural kids too, and suburban, and everywhere else?

Trade jobs are good honorable jobs and it shouldn't matter where someone is from.

People who know what's best for others can just go to hell. What an asshole.

[dawn frenzy adams]

23. In other words...

You're not smart enough for college.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Historically, white trade unions kept blacks out

and in order to get "trade jobs" (at least in the urban areas in PA) you had be a part of one of those unions. Couple that with those in the trades (plumbing, roofing, electrical, carpenters, masonry, etc) not offering apprentice programs or positions to urban students (saving that for their own children), plus the money being cut from the state for the Voc-Tech schools, and you are left with trying to push to get as many as you can into college instead (even if 2-year).

[Thor_MN]

25. So what trade are his children persuing instead of college?

[Lanius]

26. Yep, those inner-city kids just don't have the potential of the mutant yokels living in meth country

[maxrandb]

27. Maybe they can pick cotton

You racist piece of shit!

I weep for my fucking country. This guy is an elected official???

Reading that made my hair hurt!