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Technical programs can led to good-paying jobs

September 30, 2009|By HERB BROCK

Back when Steve Rinehart was in high school, students with technical aptitude and interest had few education or career options.

Some four decades later, Rinehart says things have changed — and for the better.

Today, these students can benefit from what used to be vocational education but has evolved into technical as well vocational education, he said.

Today, these students don't necessarily need a four-year college degree to get a good, well-paying job, he said.

"In days gone by, vocational education was regarded as place where kids took shop classes and worked on cars or did welding or carpentry," he said. "While those fields are important, the new vocational education now features technical training in such fields as electronics, computer science, electrical engineering."

The vocational-technical schools in several area counties as well as the technical programs in some area high schools all offer "excellent technical educations" which can lead to good jobs or to enrollment in post-secondary schools which can lead to even better jobs, Rinehart said.

Rinehart cited the engineering and technology lab at Boyle County High School as an academic program that teaches technology and also develops technical skills badly needed in the work place. But he noted that the program wasn't developed for manufacturing workforce development, although it is indirectly helping it.

Dudley Spoonamore, who teaches the lab, created it several years ago as a hands-on educational experience that addresses both academic and vocational needs of students. It helps prepare students for a variety of careers, including various fields in engineering, and some of those careers may be in manufacturing situations.

But he stressed that while students from his lab may well use what they learn from it and other technology-related courses to boost their qualifications for factory work, the lab addresses much more than manufacturing topics.

Rinehart said a more direct pipeline to manufacturing occupations is coming from the Bluegrass Technical and Community College, the National College and other similar institutions that offer two-year associate degrees that can translate into well-paying jobs in manufacturing and health professions.

"The fact is that industries don't require most of their employees to have four-year degrees," he said. "They are looking for people with two-year degrees in technical fields, and they are willing to pay them well," he said.

In the past, a high school student with an aptitude in electronics might be guided away from vocational school and toward a four-year degree in electrical engineering, Rinehart said.

"Today, he or she can go to the vocational-technical school, get a two-year degree from a post-secondary technical program and get a good job."

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