Give the blue-collar kids a chance, too

Updated Feb 24, 2015

driver-training-2It was a throw-away line.

John Sullivan, director of maintenance for Michigan-based Reliable Carriers, was moderating the popular Shop Talk seminar as the Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting wrapped up in Nashville.

Shop Talk is an open session where fleet managers from around the country basically pick each others’ brains for solutions to problems they’re having. And, as things were winding down, the technician shortage topic came up. And John, just in passing, said, “I saw on the news the other day where the president wants to give free community college to students now. Well, why not free technical and vocational school tuition as well?”

Indeed. Why not?

Not everyone is cut out for college, of course. But today, it takes serious money to gain the training required to do many basic blue-collar jobs – diesel technician and truck driver included. And while the country isn’t hurting for any more lawyers, documentary filmmakers or accountants, we desperately need truck drivers and diesel technicians.

So maybe a little dose of blue-collar reality is needed here: Technical and vocational schools should be a major component of any government-sponsored secondary education program. That’s a no-brainer. And moreover, the trucking industry as a whole needs to get behind this concept and start pitching it to the powers that be as educational training that is absolutely vital for our continued way of life and standard of living.

Now, there’s no need to get in a tizzy about all this just yet. The idea for free community college came from President Obama, after all. And the chance of the Republican-controlled House and Senate acting on any idea he has is about as remote as me winning an Oscar next year.

That said, the idea is out there now and it’s under discussion. And the Republicans will one day lose their death grip on Congress. So it’s very possible in a couple of years that Hillary Clinton or another Democratic candidate for national office might trot the president’s proposal out as a way to win over younger voters. If that happens, then such a plan could very well become reality in this country. And trucking needs to be at the forefront of that discussion demanding that truck driving and technician education be included in any educational proposal.

Trucking needs smart young people now more than ever before. If the government wants to give young people a leg up in life, trucking needs to insist it be part of that equation.