Learning to Earn

I have to agree here and add a little bit. I believe one of the worst things we did to our education system was dropping shop classes. They aren't completely extinct yet but they are heading there and schools are steering students away from such pursuits more than ever. In most cases the student who want's to explore these classes has to enroll in the Vo-Tech programs and leave behind the acedemic pursuits of a college prep type program. The problem here is that it tends to apply only to students with a specific interest. The old system of shop class allowed young people to explore a number of vocations and learn which ones they had an apptitude, interest or talent for. While I never pursued a career in it, I learned I have talents in Mechanical drawing and Cabinet making because of Shop class. Other friends developed skills in maintaining their own vehicles. To be honest the program was already on it's way out when I was in school in the 1980's and the program in electronics that really interested me had already be dropped. These sorts of classes give an introduction to various professions that allows the student to decide, based on experiance, if he or she is interested in that field. Scouting still offers some options on this sort of training but is limited to what the leaders know and are willing to teach. Perhaps the best we can do is take an active role in programs outside of school and attempt to give our children the maximum exposure to life that we can. Then perhaps they can find the interests that will lead to a lifetime of achievement.