Giving Students a Strong Foundation : Palmdale Home-Building Program Gives a Boost to Career Aspirations of Participants

The knock on high school vocational education courses here and around the nation is that far too many involve outdated offerings that have little to do with the modern workplace. At their worst, these programs are also misused as dumping grounds for students who have displayed limited academic promise. The consequence is a steady stream of young adults whose skills are too unsophisticated for a job market that demands high technology expertise or effective training in specialized tasks.

Well, a couple of years ago, educators in the Carolinas, Oregon, Wisconsin and Rhode Island came up with a better way. They had begun to re-examine the old concept of apprenticeships in which high school students were taught core academic subjects while also working and training with businesses. Their program was designed to give students basic and up-to-date training under the watchful eye of skilled adult workers.

A Howard County, Maryland, program drew students from every high school there to build houses from the ground up, under the watchful eye of professionals and county inspectors.

Now, we are pleased to note at least one California school district that is matching the progress found in other parts of the nation. It can be found in a partnership between the city of Palmdale, the Antelope Valley Union High School District and a developer called Centex Homes. Under its auspices, students have built two three-bedroom, two-bath homes with lots of amenities in east Palmdale. Before, students there had mastered nothing more ambitious than the occasional shed or gazebo.

In disaster-ravaged Southern California, we can’t think of a better trade to master than home construction. And that’s exactly what some students, like Ben Balagtas, are now considering. Balagtas had no post-high school plans before the home-building project. Now, he’s eyeing a career in carpentry.

This is the kind of program that ought to be duplicated by other school districts in the region, and with other types of professions and businesses as well.