Dive Brief:

• If manufacturing jobs do increase under a Trump presidency, as the candidate promised, they will be jobs for a workforce with technical skills — and apprenticeships could be an important path to filling them.
• Jeffrey Selingo, author of There is Life After College, writes for The Washington Post that students he met doing apprenticeships at Charlotte-area companies all had the academic credentials to get into a four-year college, but they chose the apprenticeships to be able to work with their hands — even if that meant doing so despite pressure from teachers, counselors and parents to go to college instead.
• Selingo argues the country needs to push back against the new norm that every high school graduate should go to college, and educators need to get on board with apprenticeships where young adults get paid while they train for good-paying jobs.

Dive Insight:

K-12 districts now focus on building a college-going culture starting in elementary school. The research is clear about how much a college degree can add to an individual’s lifetime wages, and schools are well-intentioned in wanting to ensure equity in who considers college an option for them. Black and Latino students, especially, are arriving on campuses as first-generation college-goers, creating a new cycle for their families and communities.

Still, career pathways are getting some attention in districts around the country. Sometimes these career pathways lead students to degrees that are necessary to get their jobs of choice, but some of them could lead to apprenticeships. High school leaders might consider keeping an open mind for non-college options that still lead to fulfilling work. It’s all about defining success.