The dead-end hyperinflationary policies of the Biden-Harris administration have put the American Dream out of reach for many young people. I have talked to my 21-year-old daughter about this so many times that it breaks my heart.
Ruby, like so many young Americans, is doing everything right. She works hard, she saves up, but that old-fashioned notion of the white-picket fence seems to be slipping away from her grasp. Part of the reason I am running for Senate is to make America affordable again. And I know that bringing down out-of-control housing prices is the key to restoring access to the American Dream for our young people.
Per Federal Reserve data, in 1984, the median U.S. household income was $22,400 and the median home price was $78,200, or about 3.5 times the median income. By 2022, median household income had risen to $74,580, but median home prices had risen to over $433,000 — or nearly six times median income.
Elected officials owe it to our constituents to take clear and decisive action to reduce housing costs.
There has been so much focus on the role of interest rates, but the answer to bringing them back down, while hard to achieve, is fairly straightforward: the federal government needs to stop printing money we don’t have so that it can pay bills that we can’t afford. Taming that imbalance won’t be quick or easy, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods.
But there is another key element of the housing crisis that we can address quickly and effectively: a lack of skilled tradespeople. According to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors, the United States is short over half a million skilled construction workers. The lack of skilled construction workers combined with rapidly increasing costs of materials is creating a roadblock to building the millions of additional housing units that are needed to relieve the cost bottleneck.
Bringing down the cost of materials largely hinges on three things: reducing the price of energy and fuel, eliminating excessive regulations created by the Biden-Harris administration, and increasing the number of skilled workers available to producers. Limitations on oil-and-gas production and refining are leading to rapidly increasing fuel and energy costs that have inflated the price of building materials by tens of thousands of dollars per home.
Likewise, excessive regulation and DEI mandates being forced on producers by the Biden-Harris administration are also increasing materials and labor costs, without appreciable benefit to society in terms of reduced inequality. Lastly, the rush to send every high school graduate to a four-year college, with massive government subsidies, is draining the workforce of skilled tradespeople which both increases the cost of construction and delays additional new home starts.
Solving the first two problems is very simple. Replace President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with Donald Trump, overturn the current administration’s pointless and counterproductive executive mandates, and you are two thirds of the way there. The last step — increasing the number of skilled construction workers — is going to take more effort.
But with some simple changes in federal education funding and policy, we can turn that deficit around in a matter of just a few years by revising federal education funding and loans to stop discriminating against trade schools and technical education and support the development of a skilled workforce sufficient to meet the demands of our housing market.
First, we need to revise the guidelines for Pell grants to allow them to be issued and used for more students to attend trade and technical schools. Second, if the government is going to continue to back student loans, eligibility for those loans needs to be aggressively expanded to include more trade schools.
Currently, trade-school students can access government-backed student loans, but only if their trade school is federally accredited. Many are not. Getting the vast majority of trade schools nationwide accredited so their students have access to government-backed loans should be a major priority for the next administration and will be a priority of mine in the U.S. Senate.
Lastly, the government needs to aggressively partner with industry to expand trade school opportunities by making low-interest loans available to companies and unions to invest in new and expanded trade and technical-school facilities.
The cost to attend trade and technical schools is far less than the cost of a four-year degree, and the returns on that investment are astronomical. A few thousand dollars of up-front investment in these careers yields a lifetime of high earnings, and resultant increased tax revenues. As a result, investing in expanding our skilled workforce is responsible governance, and must be a priority going forward.
You know something is seriously wrong with our nation’s universities when the ultra-liberal Bill Maher vigorously advised our youth, on his nationally syndicated cable TV show, to stay far away from college because “it just makes you stupid.” Clearly the majority of Americans agree with Bill’s denunciation, for according to a survey by Gallup, just 14 percent of Americans—and only 11 percent of business leaders—strongly agreed that graduates have the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace.
Charles J. Sykes, author of Failed U:TheFalse Promise of Higher Education, succinctly describes the circus-like campus atmosphere that is currently indulged by university students:
The four-year or longer sojourn in the groves of academe is a kaleidoscopic experience of classrooms, frats, lectures, keg parties, all-nighters, political correctness, hookups, alcohol, athletic spectacle, and the occasional intellectual insight.
At some point in their college experience, students are thankful that their parents have only the vaguest idea what they have been paying for on campus—not just the extracurricular drunken feasts but also the bizarre cultural intolerances, the obsessive rituals of conformity, the absentee faculty, teaching assistants unable to speak English, the hair-trigger racial, cultural, gender, and political sensitivities, and the junk courses with their effort-free As.
To drive this point home, a progressive college preparatory book entitled: The Her Campus Guide to College Life (please note the absence of a Him in the title), unwittingly exposed the amoral world that is commonly experienced nowadays on a college campus near you. The book’s contents are filled with wicked subtitles:
PREVENTING THEFT • PROTECTING AGAINST INTRUDERS • STAYING SAFE AT PARTIES AND BARS • BEING SAFE WHILE HOOKING UP • STAYING SAFE LATE AT NIGHT • PREVENTING SEXUAL ASSAULT • STALKERS • EATING DISORDERS IN COLLEGE • DRINKING • SMOKING • VAPING • DRUGS • STRESS • ANXIETY • DEPRESSION • EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HAVING SAFE SEX • HOOK-UPS • SEX • ROTTEN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS • FRENEMIES • TOXIC FRIENDSHIPS • ROOMMATE CONTRACTS
What responsible parent would knowingly want to send her beautiful child to this depraved environment for four years? But if not college, then what? Well, realize that there are over 12,000 occupations to choose from, yet the typical university offers roughly 76 majors—just 76 career choices. It’s this vast world of 12,000 occupations that is largely ignored by high school guidance counselors, who for decades have forcefully issued a dire edict: any high school graduate who fails to attain the right to walk the hallowed halls of a university will be banned from achieving the American Dream. The lie worked. College was tattooed on nearly everyone’s lips, and the nation’s parents suddenly took issue with the son or daughter who wanted to join the ranks of the “washouts” who were enrolled in a “lowly” trade school.
So now, the country is inundated with unskilled college graduates who are recipients of useless diplomas, a mountain of debt, and a seething hatred toward capitalism and Old Glory. Nevertheless, because of a staunch belief in the college “dream,” a young alumnus will proudly reference to potential employers the degree she earned five years ago in Women’s Studies from State University, even though she is currently living in her childhood bedroom while earning $13.65 an hour as a coffee shop barista. Meanwhile, due to a huge shortage of skilled trade professionals, millions of open and high-paying trade positions will be left vacant. The nation urgently needs more security, fire, and service technicians, solar energy technicians, 3D printing technicians, pipe fitters, sales representatives, plumbers, pile-driver operators, drone pilots, stonemasons, diesel mechanics, dental hygienists, cybersecurity experts, glaziers, physical therapy assistants, reinforcing iron and rebar workers, pilots, and elevator mechanics—who can earn $50 an hour without a college degree!
In reality, the land of opportunity is found in over 30,000 apprenticeship programs that will pay a student to learn a blue- or white-collar skill. It is also found in trade schools, cyber bootcamps, sales, community colleges with corporate alliances, mentorships, entrepreneuring, and jobs offered to high school graduates. So long as a young adult can solve every day math problems, can read, write and speak well, it is within this vast world of career training opportunities—offered outside the college arena—that young adults will find the positions in life that will be both financially and spiritually rewarding.
For example, we had a deeply shy young man come to our home to repair our refrigerator ice making machine. After nine months of training, and 14 months of work experience, he is now earning $72,000 annually at the age of 22. Then, too, the new CEO of Costco started working for the company as a forklift driver. And the high school dropout John Marriot, founder of Marriot Hotels, started his career as a long john salesman to lumberjacks in the Pacific northwest. There are millions of similar inspirational stories that serve to utterly destroy the college-is-superior myth—over and over and over again.
In summation, what do each of the following trade school programs have in common: Plumbing, Ship Building, Dental Hygienist, HVAC, and Surgical Technician? Well, they each provide a graduate with a real, high-paying job skill that will serve him or her for life. Now, let’s pick five Harvard University majors that are deemed by its governing board to be worthy of a $217,000 tuition price tag (excluding room and board and other fees): Folklore and Mythology, African and African American Studies, History of Art and Architecture, International Relations, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Seriously, what job skills does a Folklore and Mythology graduate bring to the table? And couldn’t this subject be mastered inexpensively simply by reading $300 worth of textbooks? And how are these graduates going to afford to pay a $2,500 monthly student loan payment while possibly earning $100 a day for regaling entertaining folklore stories at a Renaissance fair?
So, Bill Maher was spot on when he emphatically declared: “Don’t go to college!” For their sake, and the sake of our country, may our young adults heed his clarion warning.
Bruce Goodmansen is the president of Fire Up the Soul, LLC, and the author of the bestselling book: 100% Success Without College, which can be reviewed at anythingbutcollege.com. He is often invited to speak at conservative and homeschooling events.
Not all students in our schools are destined for college, but this does not mean that they are lesser in their social standing. Every student is different, and each one deserves the opportunity to explore alternative pathways with equal standing in their career development.
Take trade craftsmen, for example. These people work with their hands to create the things that stand all around us, and their respected professions have long histories of easily identifiable accomplishments—like the buildings we live in and the roads we drive on.
But to acquire these skills, students need trade school education, which often involves apprenticeship programs typically offered by trade union associations and sponsored by the business contractors that need these skilled employees. They usually start at age 18 and require a high school diploma or GED along with a willingness to work. Most of the time, the training is free to the student, except perhaps to purchase tools, and can involve a job placement during the apprenticeship so the student “earns while they learn.”
“North America’s Building Trades Unions’ (NABTU) world-class registered apprenticeship programs train workers to become highly-skilled, six-figure earning construction workers through a debt-free, technologically-advanced education. These earn-as-you-learn programs pay family-sustaining wages and provide health care coverage and retirement benefits from day one.”
At the end of the apprenticeship program, which is usually three to four years in length, the student can be certified as a journeyman and be free to apply for employment in the general workforce or even start his or her own business.
Why Do I Have to Go to School?
Inevitably, just about every student wants to know why they have to go to school, but how do you explain to them the importance of learning the things that schools are required to teach?
Perhaps one way is to start presenting various career pathways to students as early as fifth and sixth grade, and then develop their interest in these pathways through middle school. This would prepare them to specialize their education in high school and help them to understand that they need to learn basic education skills in reading and math so they can progress to the more practical applications of developing a career pathway.
What Is My Exit Strategy?
Presenting career pathways to students earlier in their education is an important first step, but it’s not enough. It is critical to prepare students for the next step in their lives once they graduate. Unfortunately, many of them have no idea what they will do after high school, and that demonstrates a disappointing failure of the school system.
I often hear from trade union recruiters that they cannot get any serious attention from guidance counselors and that they do not get much opportunity to talk to students in the way that college recruiters often do. The education system appears to favor college enrollment at the exclusion of other viable alternatives. This does a disservice to our students and to the community which needs more skilled workers.
A working wage through school with no debt, job placement after completion, and in-demand skills are very attractive features that should appeal to students trying to decide their future after they graduate from high school. Schools and career counselors should take these trade career pathways more seriously and include them as options they promote.
How Do We Do This?
One way we can begin to implement this is by looking at what is working well in other areas. The NABTU has already developed a curriculum in use by several high schools around the country. It introduces students to the apprenticeships and career opportunities available in the building trades. They call it “The Other Four-Year Degree.”
In addition, we should start taking an honest look at our communities and the skills that are needed to make it function effectively. Below is one arbitrary list of skills, but there are plenty more.
The “Big Three” – professions where we often heat about critical shortages: teachers, police, and nurses
Trade Craftsmen – electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, HVAC, steelworkers, brick and tile workers, plasterers, boilermakers, and more
Health Care – doctors, nurses, medical technicians, therapists, medical assistants, medical records
Engineering and Technology – hardware and software research and development, design, manufacturing
Business (Public and Private) – general management, legal and accounting, human resources, sales and marketing, project management, entrepreneurs
Who Provides the Training?
One of the primary objectives of public education should be to fulfill the needs of the community. Below is a list of the educational organizations that can address that objective. But the key is they need to work together cooperatively and seamlessly to be effective and show value for the funding that is invested in them.
K-12 Schools(District, Charter, Private) – general education, career pathway development, and introduction to job skills training
Trade Schools (West-MEC and EVIT) – trade union apprenticeships
Community Colleges – technical certificates, professional degree programs
Universities – research and development, professional degrees
Military – probably the largest and most sophisticated job skills training organization available
Local Businesses – job specific skills
Why Should We Spend So Much on Education?
In Arizona, we spend more than half of the state budget on education. There should be a very clear and convincing reason to justify this massive expenditure. If this funding is regarded as an investment, where is the demonstrable economic benefit that shows a return on that investment?
The practical answer to both questions may lie in the concept of economic development at both the personal and community level.
The student attends school so they can develop into a productive adult capable of supporting themselves through employment.
The community benefits by having skilled employees available to move forward on growing business enterprises that provide goods and services to the community.
That’s why we should focus on providing all viable career opportunities for our students, By doing so, we can make this investment pay off for their futures—and for ours.
Kurt Rohrs is a Chandler resident and incoming member of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board.
In the ongoing struggle between academic and social instruction in schools, perhaps we are leaving out the most practical instruction of all—job skills training.
As our local economy continues to develop, there has been a shortage of both skilled and non-skilled workers who can take jobs that are available. This has frustrated business owners and slowed economic growth. A prime example is Intel, which is building two world class wafer fabrication facilities here in Chandler. These projects will employ thousands of workers in high-paying jobs during their construction and once it is completed. We should be preparing our local Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) kids to fill those jobs. That requires a plan.
What Would It Take to Get There?
An education plan that incorporates job skills training could take the following form:
Elementary School (PreK – 6th grade). Provide a firm foundation in reading and math skills that prepare students for the next steps in their education. In fifth and sixth grade, introduce general career choices for students to consider.
Middle School (7th and 8th Grade). Broaden curriculum into other education areas such as science and history, and also introduce specific career path opportunities to students to form a basis for potential career choices.
High School (9th and 10th grade). Students should start making choices on specific career paths and learning the details about these choices.
High School (11th and 12th grade). Involve students in off-campus work/study programs, internships, and job training programs in addition to classroom learning programs in their specific fields of interest.
Present a Broad Array of Choices
One criticism of CUSD is that they are too narrowly focused on a university education as the preferred, if not only, goal of a graduate. Career counselors typically do not present other options as equally beneficial to students. This ignores the reality that not all students are suited for a university education and not all good-paying jobs require a university degree. There are also some university degree options that have rather doubtful economic value to students. They can then become saddled with excessive student debt and little opportunity for reasonable job prospects.
In addition to a university education, other suitable options that should be presented to students are:
Trade Schools. There is a significant shortage of skilled trade workers. These are often well-paying jobs with detailed training programs. Students typically complete these programs with no debt and have a good job waiting for them.
Technical Certificate Programs. The technology field moves very quickly. In order to keep pace, many technology companies often offer their own certificate programs specific to their technology, such as application development, database management, cybersecurity, and network management. These are the jobs of the future.
Military Enlistment. Some of the best technical skills training is provided by the military. They are very proficient at taking young people from all types of backgrounds and training them in complex operations.
Keeping Students Engaged and Motivated
One of the common complaints heard from parents and teachers is the challenge to keep their kids engaged and motivated. Igniting a student’s interest in a career path early on in their education may help them be more keenly aware of their purpose for being in school. Students who typically ask the question “Why am I here?” or say things like “This is boring” would have a clear and immediate reference to the purpose of being in school and participating. The goal changes from just merely “graduating” to “I have a plan after graduation, and I know what I need to do to realize it.”
K-12 education is sometimes regarded as a monolithic entity unto itself with tenuous connections to continuing activity after graduation. Perhaps it should be regarded as just one part of a journey of a student’s development into a productive adult.
Partnering with Other Education Entities
Effective cooperation with other educational entities, such as the East Valley Institute of Technology, Trade Schools, and Community Colleges that offer critical opportunities is the key to developing the pathway to successful careers for our students. However this can be hampered by interagency squabbles, mostly about control and funding since there is a lot of money involved here. Which entity “owns” the kid and the funding that comes with that kid is often a serious point of contention. These obstacles need to be removed for there to be effective cooperation between these entities. This may require some legislative fixes since funding rules and regulations come primarily from State statutes. But when it’s all said and done, these fixes shouldn’t be about the institution’s best interests. They should be about the student’s best interests.
Partnering with City Government and Local Businesses
The City of Chandler also has a keen interest in the availability of a skilled workforce as an integral part of their economic development plans. Companies will be reluctant to locate here if they cannot hire the employees they need to operate their facilities. The City should be sharing critical information on projected workforce needs to help CUSD develop useful programs and for students to better understand what opportunities are available to them. Local business hiring managers should frequent the schools to talk to students and explain the expectations for when they eventually enter the workforce. This should also help connect students to the business community outside the classroom and expand their perception of the very real world that awaits them after they graduate.
So, What Is the Purpose of Education?
Schools should be more than just “babysitting” duty or fulfilling a state-mandated curriculum. There must be tangible and well-defined goals that engage our students and develop a sense of purpose in them. Teachers may find it useful to help motivate students if those students more clearly understand why they are in school and what the intended result of their education is. It’s time to redefine the purpose of public education as the process of producing capable adults who can effectively participate in the economic activity of the community.
Kurt Rohrs is a candidate for the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board. You can find out more about his campaign here.
