Chris Price: A new model that is the sane approach for our children

We’ve all heard the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. But what if you slightly tweak what you’re doing? Sorry. It’s still insane to expect a different result.

For proof, look at how Indiana has tinkered with its process for preparing young people for the working world. After countless adjustments over the years, our student-to-worker pipeline continues to fail, our schools send fewer kids to college, and many kids who do go to college drop out with nothing to show for their enrollment except student debt.

I’m particularly aware of how this affects the construction industry, but I can’t ignore the bigger picture. The state’s economic strength relies on a ready workforce, and my industry does best when the state is strong. At the same time, if my industry can’t find workers, the state’s economy will falter. After all, companies won’t locate or expand here if we don’t have workers to build their facilities.

Now we’re in the midst of another high school reconfiguration process. By all indications, we can expect more minor adjustments rather than substantive change.

Not everyone is satisfied with minor adjustments. That’s why a number of Indiana educators, business and nonprofit leaders, and government officials have been investigating a new model, one that already has proven successful in preparing high school students for their next chapter.

In the 1970s, Switzerland faced workforce and education challenges similar to ours today. So the Swiss revolutionized their approach, creating a system that offers two pathways to young people—one aimed at college and one built around apprenticeships—that both led to equal opportunities. A student could become a nurse, an architect, a banker and more by pursuing either course, with both pathways leading to equal qualifications, certifications, status and pay.

A key feature of the system allows students to move between the pathways if they choose, with the result being that fewer young people run into dead ends. Today, two-thirds of Swiss students participate in the system. Indiana leaders who have visited Switzerland with the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation report that the students and industry leaders they met are delighted with it.

Integral to this system is the involvement of employers. In addition to signing on to participate in apprentice-style training programs, employers help identify in-demand occupations and required competencies. They also agree to pay students during their apprenticeships and facilitate the work toward necessary certifications and skills. Business involvement ensures students are appropriately prepared for their chosen careers.

Already, more than 150 Indiana businesses are involved in assessing this system, and seven pilot projects are engaging 450 students with more than 100 employers in advanced manufacturing, banking, health care and life sciences.

Now, a second wave of industries is invited to participate, and I hope to see the construction industry at the table (some construction industry representatives will visit Switzerland in March to see the system at work). The construction industry leaders I’ve talked to believe that a similar system would be good not only for the industry but also for the state’s economy, for our young people and for the overall workforce pipeline. If we don’t get on board now, we’ll continue to be left behind in the competition for talent.

The time for tinkering and making minor adjustments to our educational system has passed. It’s time for bold and innovative change. As recent results would suggest, anything less would be, well, insane.•

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Price is president of the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation.