The average American college student graduates with $30,000 in debt, and the cost of college has more than doubled since 1985 even after accounting for inflation. Unfortunately, due to a lack of other options, many students feel forced into this expensive system even when they can’t afford it or don’t really need a traditional college degree to pursue their future goals.
But an apprenticeship program recently profiled by the Wall Street Journal could offer an example for future programs to follow. It shows how to offer accessible, affordable, and practical jobs training to the millions of young people our current higher education system is failing.
Known as “FAME,” the Federation for Manufacturing Education, the program was founded in 2010 by manufacturing employers struggling to find suitably skilled employees. It now works with community colleges and almost 400 employers across 13 states.
“Students of FAME—a mix of new high-school grads and older factory workers well into their careers—typically spend two days a week in class and three days on the factory floor, earning a part-time salary,” the Journal reports. “They learn to maintain and repair machinery; traditional subjects such English, math and philosophy; and soft skills such as work ethic and teamwork.”
“After earning an associate degree, most work full time for the factories that sponsored them,” the report continues. “FAME graduates fill what might be called ‘grey-collar’ jobs, which involve both traditional blue-collar manual labor and the kind of critical thinking and communication typically associated with a four-year degree.” [Full Story HERE]
Look Ma — no college! Colleges, as we know them, are unsustainable. They spew out Communist debt-ridden punks and offer a perfectly terrible return on the investment of $50K, $100K and rising. Hypocritical, anti-capitalist professors shriek about profits in other industries, and now demand the federal government pick up 100 percent of the tab for their own NEVER ENDING tuition increases … at a time of lockdowns THEY, the professors, support, meaning that colleges are doing one-quarter of the work for the continuing outrageous costs. Why are colleges still in existence? If making a living is the criteria for success, then we already have alternatives on the horizon.
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