Saturday, February 13, 2010

Vocation Vacation

Somewhere along the course of my college application experience I had a conversation with my father in which he plainly asked me, “Do you want to go to college?” Apart from his seeming desire to be relieved of the financial burden, he was hinting at the more trenchant observation that college isn’t necessary for a “successful” life. Growing up where I did and when I did, however, that concept seemed preposterous. This wasn’t because I didn’t think it was true (we’ve all heard success stories of people who didn’t go to college) but because I had never even considered the possibility. Almost everyone around me, down even to my lowest achieving peers, went to college and we all accepted this as the norm. Obviously, I followed suit.

A couple of times over my 4-year tenure at Syracuse I’ve thought back to this decision and considered it through what I know now. What I think about has little to do with the fact that I’m looking for a job in the midst of a severe economic downturn, though you could say it does play a role. What I really brood over is the time that I might have wasted here when I could have been (1) earning a living on my own (2) learning vocational skills necessary for potential success in my career, likely for a lot less money than I’m paying now and (3) becoming a productive, contributing member of society.

Like most of my high school classmates, I guess I didn’t exactly “know” what I wanted to do with my life at that point and attended college apparently to find out. And to some extent it worked; I now have a better understanding of how I want my career to take hold, maybe if only in a general sense.

But let’s suppose for a second that I didn’t grow up under the circumstances I did. Let’s suppose I lived in a district where unemployment was at 28%, where an average of 40% of students attend high school classes regularly, and where just 36% of college-qualified students complete college. If I lived there and achieved the same grades I did in high school, would I still think my father’s question was preposterous? Likely not. Alongside looking for scholarship money to college I would probably be looking for a job. And if those scholarships fell through, I would hope that I was prepared to work somewhere requiring more than a minimal skill set. I would hope that I learned skills in high school that I could fall back on to earn a respectable living. This brings me to the Hunts Point High School for Sustainable Community Initiatives.

The school, proposed by local teacher Steve Ritz, aims to integrate job training into conventional academic study to prepare students in the South Bronx for careers in “green” technologies. The initiative would then foster expansion of important areas like urban farming and natural resource management, areas that my tree hugging, hippie ass obviously loves (read more about it here). It would also take hold in the very district where those statistics I mentioned above actually live, in the Hunts Point district of the Bronx.

By all estimations, there should be no reason why this high school doesn’t yet exist. Vocational and post-secondary schools are already prevalent throughout the country, many in high-income suburban areas. Yet despite a Bronx Community Board voting unanimously to pass it, the proposal has been rejected twice by the U.S. Department of Education. It’s not hard to guess the reasons why – starting with a lack of funding and adequate teachers – but that’s not what I’m here to do. Nor am I here to necessarily advocate for this school in particular even though I agree it should pass.

Rather, I want to look at Mr. Ritz’s rejected initiative as an emblem for the current systemic failures in our country. Above all, it represents government’s inherent reluctance to approve any idea that requires money, no matter how innovative said idea actually is. Here we have an idea that’s beneficial on 3, if not more, fronts: it will create “green” jobs (which Obama recently called “the driver of our economy over the long term”); it will raise graduation rates among low-income students by teaching them on-the-job skills; and it will stimulate the kind of environmental progress this country desperately needs.

That it hasn’t yet passed is a shame. That ideas no longer stand alone – instead subjected to a stifling rigmarole determined by bureaucrats who care only about the number of zeros behind them – is a shame. The status quo is so fixed that it seems to actually hinder independent ingenuity.

While there is no easy solution to this labyrinthine dilemma, there is one thing I have learned these past few years that might help. That’s that all companies, and green businesses in particular, need specialized vocation. Whether they are biotech fuel-cell generators or simply recycling companies, employers need all the fresh thinking and help they can get. Students, particularly those who might end up on the streets or even worse, can lend invaluable manpower and innovation to the burgeoning race over green technology.

Knowing what I do now, it would’ve been tough to pass up an opportunity to learn a valuable green technology in high school, especially when the field was just emerging. We must capitalize on an opportunity to teach this legion of young minds about a field they can truly get behind. If green business is really the twin economic and environmental boon society needs, we shouldn't let it be thwarted by an outmoded education system, but should instead make every effort to let it grow.