The State of American Trade Schools

Over the past year, media from The Wall Street Journal to PBS have hailed technology schools and programs as harbingers of a new economy and reformers of a postsecondary education system that’s become over-priced, over-valued, and often irrelevant.Statistics are a big part of the story. Into this breach have stepped trade and tech schools with a seductive promise: instead of spending four years and amassing life-crushing debt chasing a four-year degree with softening value, spend less money and time—typically one or two years, but as little as nine weeks, for a coding boot camp—training for a specific job in an industry that pays well and has a massive need for workers. In 2017, the Carolinas Association of General Contractors rolled out its Build Your Career (BYC) program, which sends “construction industry leaders out into the school system to educate students, educators, and parents about what a terrific career the construction industry offers.”

Source: www.popularmechanics.com