top of page
Skills Gap:
According to the Mike Rowe foundation, we have been systematically pushing students away from great paying career fields in areas in high need for skilled workers (Rowe, 2019). The skills gap is defined as the absence of qualified or interested people with valuable sets of skills to meet the needs of society (specifically seen in the trades).
What Can Be Done To Close The Gap?
1- Destroy the myth that skills trades are not honorable professions.
2- Recognize the opportunities students have at RFHS to learn valuable skills and knowledge.
3- Establish partners in our community that can be a useful resources.
4- Seek out real-life authentic experiences for students at RFHS.
Battling the Skills Gap Mission/ Vision:
Mission:
Eliminate the skills gap by advancing curriculum and career exposure in the skilled trades to prepare students for entry into high demand and competitive paying employment opportunities.
Vision:
Create partnerships that will provide students with opportunities while they are in schools to experience and participate in real-world authentic work experiences through onsite and classroom visits and collaboration.
1. Destroying the Myth
Everywhere we seem to look we hear that the best way to earn a living and become self-sufficient is to go to college. It is a widely common thought in our schools today and we need to look into the legitimacy of this claim. As an individual with three college degrees I understand the importance and usefulness of advanced education beyond high school but I find it to be a scary approach to sell a college degree as the answer to all of our economical and societal status problems. In the right circumstances college is the answer. But in other situations, it is unfair of us to throw around the claim without discussing reality. In all cases, supply and demand drives a capitalistic society and the same can be said about the value of a college degree.
Lets look no further than my profession, which is teaching. Right now, it is extremely difficult to find special education or industrial tech teachers while those with physical education degrees often find competition much higher to gaining employment. Are both degrees valuable? The answer is yes but one has a higher chance of avoiding the unemployment line. So is it safe to say that any teaching degree will offer the same level of opportunities? That answer is no. Just like we are not doing our children a favor by universally saying college is the answer when supply and demand says we are in desperate need of welders, pipe fitters, plumbers, electricians and etc...
So what is the state of our college system at the moment? Take a look at the information to follow that I pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
By the Numbers:
*69-71 percent of students enroll in college
*Average year of public 4 year college is approximately $20,000
*Only 54% of these students will graduate with a degree
*75% of graduates will change their major at least once in college
*It is projected that only 27 percent of students will hold a job related to their degree earned.
(Bureau Labor Statistics, 2018)
What these numbers mean:
Using the numbers above, lets break down what it means for RFHS.
**Out of 150 graduating seniors, 105 students will attend college.
**Of those 150 college students 56 students will graduate with a degree.
**Of those 56 students, on average 14 will graduate with their original major.
**Of those 14 who graduated with their original degree, 4 will hold a job related to their major.
Local Skills Gap Needs:
Employers in the Sauk Valley area are in desperate need of new employees in welding, machining, and assembly. According to the employers at Dana Manufacturing, Aztec Mobil Screens, IFH, Woodward Governor, Allied Lock, Sewer Company of America, Etnyr, and several others they cannot fill the current positions let alone the expected number of positions they anticipate in the coming years. Average pay starts around $34,000 dollars and many of these businesses offer opportunities to continue their education at the companies expense. According to executives from these companies, a high school diploma and a wiliness to learn along with the ability to pass a drug screening is the key to getting a great paying job.
Unfortunately, the Sauk Valley area is a depressed community with residents who look negatively on the manufacturing industry because of the steel mill and National Hardware plant closing. According to Brandon Stangeland at Illinois Fluid Handling corporation he is running a skeleton crew on one of his shifts and is requiring his employees to work overtime to meet the demands in the business contract yet he cannot find applicants.
2. Skills Based Opportunities at RFHS
Industrial Technology: All of these classes expose students to professions that can be entered directly out of high school or offer careers that can be obtained through college degree programs.
Woods (Intro/ Woods 1/ Woods 2/ Woods 3)
Fundamentals of Construction
Computer Aided Drafting and Design
Machining Technology
Welding 1 and 2
Power Mechanics
3. Community Partners
Skills and knowledge these courses offer include: technical writing, blueprint design, blueprint reading, project analysis, applied math, oral and written communication skills, procedural knowledge, measurements and safety awareness.
The list of businesses have graciously opened their doors to allow my industrial technology classes to tour their facilities or have visited our classroom throughout the year.
4. The Experiences
It all started with a goal. A goal to provide as many opportunities for our students to succeed in life by exposing them to a wide variety of career paths. These paths can be obtained by going to college, attending a trade school, participating in an apprenticeship, or entering directly into the work force. It is not the goal of an educator to persuade a student one way or the other. Rather, we are responsible for providing the opportunities that inspire students to pursue the best possible path for themselves. Considering that we already have counselors, politicians, and other teachers promoting the college path, we need passionate people in our school districts to pursue technical and career paths.
Mr. Boostrom, who is another teacher in my department, has bought into this approach and is currently on board with helping me provide these authentic experiences. All students who are signed up for one of our classes throughout the year will participate in many community activities with the list of supporters above. In many cases we are now able to tour the facilities and speak with business owners. Below you will see the entire list of experiences that the students now have to help do our part in shrinking the skills gap in the Sauk Valley area.
Tours in the past year: IFH; Wahl Clipper; Raynor; Rayovac; Woodward Governor; Wal-mart distribution; IFH; Borg Warner; Micron Power; Dana Manufacturing; Frantz; Menk; Aztec Mobile Screens
Classroom Visits: Universal Technical Institute; Wyotech; Morrison Institute of technolgy
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019) College Enrollment and Work Activity of Recent High School and College Graduates Summary. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm
Mike Rowe (2019) Whats the Problem? Retrieved from https://www.mikeroweworks.org/about/
bottom of page