Jobs like the ones John Deere offers are still associated in people’s minds with students who performed poorly in high school, those considered “not college material.”
But to succeed in programs like those at Walla Walla, students need to take advanced math and writing in high school, academics typically encouraged only for those going on to four-year colleges.
The National Skills Coalition, a nonprofit organization, calculates
that middle-skill jobs — in computer technology, health care, construction, high-skill manufacturing and other fields — account for 54 percent of the labor market, but only 44 percent of workers are sufficiently trained.
Struggling to fill jobs in the Charlotte plant, Siemens in 2011 created an apprenticeship program for seniors at local high schools
that combines four years of on-the-job training with an associate degree in mechatronics from nearby Central Piedmont Community College.
“Higher ed,” he said, “needs to respect the dignity of labor.”
Faced with a skills gap, employers are increasingly working with community colleges to provide students with both the academic education needed to succeed in today’s work force
and the specific hands-on skills to get a job in their companies.
