Plumbers and electricians with Harvard degrees? It just might happen. The Ivys are in a showdown with the Trump administration over billions in frozen federal funds.
Here is the deal: require Ivy League universities to fund trade schools and vocational education as a bargaining chip to have their federal funds restored. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, said recently that the Harvard Vocational School “is just what America needs.” President Trump is mobilizing a reindustrialization crusade, and the Ivys may play a consequential role in equipping the workforce.
No one would have ever conceived of this becoming a reality for Harvard. Combining prestige, research, and hands on trades sounds like odd bedfellows. Right?
The Ivys have released high-value theoretical research and have been proponents of the resurgence of the trades and manufacturing. However, they have not been providing actual training to put boots on the ground.
That may be about to change.
A mounting Gen Z blue-collar revolution is gaining traction. Students with trade school certifications are making six figures right out of the gate with little or no debt. Regarding job security of trades, one author said, “you cannot replace plumbing, electrical, welding or HVAC repair with a chatbot.”
So, is vocational education the comprehensive employment prototype moving forward? Is this just what America needs?
If your answer is yes, then education becomes a transaction, like buying a television at Best Buy. You show mastery of the skills, get the certification, and get out and secure a job: A+B=C.
Or should the goal of education be individual transformation through knowledge and wisdom, which will develop highly sought-after employees and invested community members who are wise, just, and compassionate?
There is a higher purpose to post-high school education.
Since the mid-20th century, Americans have seemingly lost an understanding of the historic purpose of higher education, going back 1,000+ years in the West and 2000+ years if Plato and the Greek philosophers are considered.
Today, most people believe that the purpose of a post-high school education is to get a good job. Is the objective of our vocational calling to be technically trained, employed, and making a good wage? Is that all there is to life after high school?
I think not.
One must be deliberate and intentional about educational choices in aspiring to and preparing for a virtuous life.
Plato, founder of the first Western academy, endeavored to instill in his students the four cardinal virtues: temperance in vocational preparation as the very basic foundation of education; courage for military training; wisdom for societal leadership; and finally, justice which yields a just society. Faith, hope and love are the three Christian virtues which build upon Plato’s four. Plato’s virtues are humanly acquired, but the Christian virtues are divinely imparted gifts.
The pursuit of these seven virtues prompt individual transformation.
They provide a foundation for a fulfilling life by equipping people to overcome challenges, encouraging the development of deep, lasting relationships, and helping them find purpose.
If students pursue this framework of a higher purpose for higher education, they will be prepared well through a holistic approach to learning. The mental, social, physical, and spiritual dimensions of life must be examined and developed. People are not one dimensional. As a matter of stewardship, all of one’s talents and abilities must be revealed and cultivated to live a meaningful life of service to others and to demonstrate a sincere concern for the common good.
Vocational training serves its purpose in teaching job skills, but it falls short of appreciation of and investing in the whole person. Education must equip people of value and virtue, who in turn instill value and virtue in their homes, jobs, churches, and communities.
Is there an important role for vocational education? Absolutely.
But if it becomes the preferred and preeminent approach to post-high school education, the bills will be paid, but society will suffer in numerous ways. And Americans will be desperately yearning for more from life.
