Let’s Be Wary of Dropping Shop

Study English and math and get on the college track. Take shop in high school and be guaranteed a job for life. Of late in Orange County, the college option is winning over the choice of working with your hands.

The dwindling number of high schools offering classes in fields such as automobile repair, machining, woodworking and drafting has provoked criticism, especially from businesses that require workers trained in those fields.

But it’s encouraging to see schools prove adaptable at finding outside help to supplement what courses they do offer.

Santa Ana schools have reached out to businesses in the area to provide internships and mentoring programs. For their part, companies offering such help realize that if the schools will not or cannot provide the training, it’s up to the companies to do the job.

The county also has a number of regional occupational programs, which specialize in manual-arts classes. Additionally, some community colleges provide training geared specifically to help students get jobs in their chosen fields.

There also is the problem of a falling number of shop teachers. The vocational education supervisor for the Garden Grove Unified School District says he can use teachers in plastics, wood, automotive, “everything.”

Shop teachers who retired have not been replaced in schools that find more parents want their children taught college preparatory classes than vocational. Other teachers have moved into private industry. Even schools that do want to keep shop classes going find it difficult to get teachers.

One problem is that while the California State University system plays an important role in training teachers, only Cal State Los Angeles graduates teachers with the credentials to instruct in industrial education.

If the demand for teachers continues to grow, other Cal State campuses should consider adding that major.

There is an argument to be made for having all students take at least one shop class sometime in high school. The training can come in handy when the students grow up to be homeowners, and it provides a better understanding of what students who do not go on to college have to go through in order to become tradespeople in today’s society.

There’s also the economic argument, easily made by Ian Gordon, a Monte Vista High School student who earns up to $50 an hour working part time as a precision machinist. Gordon has received five offers of full-time jobs. Machinists are in short supply.