Our modern society has contributed to a vast number of unhappy and unfulfilled people. Since the dawning of industrialization, true craftsmanship and the art of working with one’s hands, allowing creativity to flow, has been buried beneath false notions of success. We have designed a system by which many fail because it does not honor who they are, but only what they can produce. We have an educational structure that is based on consumerism. Those who are willing to play the game: finish high school and complete a college degree, are not guaranteed a job. They wind up with thousands of dollars in debt for which they must work tirelessly to repay. The long road to their achievement often does not bring them satisfaction. In the end, they may descend into alcohol and drug addiction or they may end their own life.
The number of high school dropouts has risen. College is out of the question for many unless we vote in a president who will work to bring down the astronomical costs of a college education, possibly replicating those countries that offer free education for all. The desire to amass millions in the proverbial rush up the ladder is overrated. Most people would be content with a basic good life; but our current methodology is making that impossible for many.
Last evening I caught a segment on PBS about a school in Charleston, South Carolina. It is the American College of the Building Arts. Upon completion of a degree, they add a “journeymen level of expertise” and their graduates are given 100% job placement. They offer degrees in blacksmithing, carpentry, classical architecture, plaster, stone carving, and timber framing. Their tuition is 60% less than that of private colleges. I hope we will see more and more of these types of opportunities for high school graduates. Not only is this a way to allow those who prefer to work with their hands and to learn a craft as an apprentice; it opens the door to preserving ancient craftsmanship that might otherwise be lost forever. The opportunities and the needs that can be fulfilled are endless. Having true artisans trained in these areas can help in preserving historic towns across the country. Factory jobs, technology, traditional college, and business, are not for everyone. When we help a young person to find his or her true calling, everyone wins.
