In his bestselling book "Shop Class as Soulcraft", author Matthew B. Crawford laments the fact that manual competence, as it relates to our built, material world, has fallen out of favor with our educational system. The teaching of trade skills such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and other specific trades have all but disappeared from our schools, leaving students who are not college bound to develop skills on their own or sit on the street. These "non-college track" students often fall prey to unscrupulous trade schools that charge exorbitant fees and provide training that is inadequate. And, for all you college educated cubicle hounds fixing to pass this article by, let me ask you a simple question: "Who is going to fix your stuff when it breaks?"
Enter the National Association of Home Builders workforce development arm, The Home Builders Institute (HBI). The HBI has developed an industry sponsored youth mentoring program called C-CORE. C-CORE uses coaches who are active in the building industry to mentor students age 16-18. Its goal is career focused: improved job attainment and retention, and community attachment by developing behaviors and attitudes that result in successful individual outcomes. In short, it takes "non-college track" students and puts them together with individuals who can show them that they can have a successful, financially rewarding career working in the building trades.
There is an old joke about the plumber who quoted a doctor a price for some plumbing work. "That's ridiculous," the doctor snorted, "I can't get that much for what I do!" "I know," replied the plumber, "I couldn't get that much when I was a doctor either!"
If we don't do something to reverse the trend of declining tradesmen in our community, then that joke may not be very funny anymore!
