Equality in education would mean good jobs for all

Spectrum, by Kelly Sidebottom

I am writing this to mention a couple ideas I have for Alaska's issues with No Child Left Behind and the Highly Qualified Teachers Act.

I do not have much confidence that the federal government will come up with a mandate that will help in the long haul. I watched the 1968 College Education Act take effect and watched it bury the Vocational Education Act. Then OSHA came along and took the students' ability away to learn on the job in most jobs. Vocational and trades programs were cut and trade schools closed. All because the people who make the rules, like the upper 20 percent in the academic world for instance, all have a college degree and are probably on the whole very comfortable and talented in the area of academics. But if you are a person who was not born rich, extremely athletic or academically talented, or just someone who would rather be educated with their hands, the system that was created left behind many, many people, especially those who are non-academic but very talented in other ways. Many of these are our tradesmen and women that have been beat up and neglected in this country. We've created an education system that was supposedly for all and then turned around and created a system that is only for the haves, (those who have academic talent, money or athletic talent). That is because it is the haves that set it all up. For those who have academic talents it makes perfect sense to them. But if you are not one of the haves, the one pathway, college, is closed. Well, I am here to tell you that we can do better than that, for this country and the people we are neglecting. We can create multiple pathways to the good jobs through more trade schools, more partnering with businesses, allowing the businesses to partner with the trade schools to start taking in apprentices again and getting great tax breaks for doing so. Also OSHA should be being willing to work with us on inspecting and approving education apprenticeship programs so businesses feel comfortable taking apprentices under their wing. Colleges should be encouraged to partner with trades and career schools to create more bridging for classes that might be needed for the certification programs that the trades school would have.

There are those that think all people can learn to be academic. They are mistaken. This concept is so hard for a highly academic person to understand. They don't understand that some of the testing processes seem easy to them, but are impossible for people who did not receive the God-given gift of academics. Teaching all to be academic is no more possible than it would be for one of these big government mandates to teach all blind people to see! What we have forgotten is that a non-academic most likely has other talents. Some talents I dare say that the academics might not have, but nonetheless, no less important. Think of that the next time your car quits, your electricity goes off, the telephones don't work or your plumbing backs up! Yet this country as a whole has not taken the time to encourage trades and certification programs in our schools.

Those of you who think that the tradesmen of this country are not equally important as our degreed people, just remember how you woke up this morning. Was there a nice bed with warm blankets, was there a roof over your head and clothes to wear? Was there a car in your driveway? If the only people that existed in this country were degreed people, you would not have woke up on a bed. You would not have a roof over your head. You would be waking up on a large pile of papers in an open field with no road system, no cars and no electricity. Not even a toilet. Why, because all you would have is designs for all these things. The tradesmen and women who built them, if not allowed to exist, would not have created all that you touched today. Yes the person with the degree and the knowledge is important so they can create the designs and concepts on paper. But without the tradesmen and women, no one will ever get very far.

All I want is for the people of this country to really realize that all of us are needed and important and if we could all learn to treat the academic and the non-academic equally and get them to work as equals together there is nothing and no country who could ever beat us. We are out of balance, top heavy. We will continue to have a large amount of people who drop out of school and end up hopeless, on welfare, in prison, etc. Mostly we must see that we are losing out on so many things that could have been created if we would have cultivated the other types of knowledge our people have. There really is no reason why we can't create multiple pathways to the good jobs. The Vocational Education Act needs to be reenacted.

If we could make equality in the education world for all learners we would help our country, our schools, but most of all our people. How people feel about themselves they take with them for life and right now there are no true pathways for non-academics. Unless you are a non-academic, or are close with someone who is, you could not understand how this damages the self-esteem. But most of you out there know what I am trying to convey.

We must find a way to unite the trades, trade schools, colleges, businesses, OSHA and the U.S. government. If this can be done and it can, we will never be beat again in the economic world and we will again be the greatest nation. Until then, I consider this a country that discriminates against its non-academics.

Kelly Sidebottom is a Palmer resident.