By Steve Marino
We all know that an educated population is necessary to move our country forward. And, while it is absolutely essential for all children to read, write and have a working knowledge of mathematics, it is not necessary for every child in the United States to attend college. From my own experience I can tell you that college is not the only answer. I personally found school to be boring, inefficient and (according to my teenage attitude) a waste of my time. I wanted to work, get on with it, show the world what I could do! I’m not proud of this fact, but I graduated 280th out of 310 students. This wasn’t because of a lack of intelligence. (I actually could tie my shoes.) I was not interested, not challenged and bored.
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The Educational System Failed Me
It did not respect that I was an individual with a unique set of skills; skills that could be tapped, producing gushers of ingenuity, creativity, brilliance and entrepreneurship. Too often, educators fail to recognize that educational apathy results from a lack of challenge.
This country has long been a breeding ground of ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. And that must continue. It is the responsibility of both the government and private enterprise to grow and train American talent. But, how to financially support and foster that talent is the question I would like to raise here. Current federal budget proposals would cut funding for vocational education by 20% in the 2012 budget, in a misguided attempt to ensure that more students attend college. It’s discriminatory to neglect the funding of trade or two-year schools. It is my personal belief that an individual who does not go to college, actually has a head start of four to six years in building his or her career in the real world. This great country affords that, but these students need help. Young people need the basic training to begin to work. They also need hope and direction to succeed in the working world.
Real Need For Business Diversity
If we have learned one thing from the recession that has shattered southwest Florida, it’s that there is a real need for business diversity to maintain a balanced economy. And, diversity, by its very definition, comes in a variety of forms. As local government woos new industry to southwest Florida, we must be able to provide the skilled labor to staff those businesses. Local public schools can do their part, as long as vocational training continues to exist. This training provides students who have little desire, time, grades or funds to attend college and gain the skills they need to start to work in the “trades” of plumbing, electrical service, air conditioning, auto mechanics, etc. These schools provide the foundation. Then, local businesses that hire young men and women coming out of vocational education programs at High Tech North and High Tech Central, need to do their part to continue that training.
Funding for Apprenticeship Programs
Can you imagine how effectively our tax dollars could be spent if employers received funding to help in the hiring of non-skilled workers to apprentice? Several years ago, our business established an in-house apprenticeship program to grow and train our own service technicians. This program has been extremely valuable, helping us to develop a core group of talented individuals who are carefully trained to our exacting standards. It has been instrumental in helping our business grow, while hundreds around us closed their doors. Yes, this costs money. But we’ve always viewed this as an investment.
While I cannot find fault with the idea of increased funding for education, our eggs should be in multiple baskets, to be spread evenly between academics, vocational education and creative ways of offering incentives to job creators. Study after study proves that enhancing vocational education improves the overall quality of learning that takes place in our schools. Funding should not be cut. Instead, let’s remove the cap on this well and stand back.
Steve Marino is the founder of Home-Tech and continues as President and CEO. Based in Fort Myers, employee-owned Home-Tech has been an industry leader and trendsetter in the fields of home service agreements, air conditioning and major appliance sales and service since 1981. The privately held company has 140 employees and provides exceptional, concierge-type customer service to Lee, Collier, Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties in Southwest Florida.