North Carolina needs technical training programs

News that one of Wilson Community College's signature programs, heavy equipment operator, might be in danger from state budget cuts is the culmination of a steady retreat from industrial/technical training as North Carolina's community colleges focus more and more on the college transfer curriculum. Heavy equipment operator, though it trains people for important jobs that are much in demand and well-paid, involves the potential of getting dirty on the job. North Carolina's 58-campus system would much prefer to provide students a dirt-free step toward a four-year degree.

Like many other N.C. colleges, Wilson Community College has dropped the "technical" from its name. Important technical training programs, including heating and air conditioning, tool and dye, and earth-moving equipment have either disappeared or have been put on an endangered list. We cannot be a nation of white-collar workers shuffling paper from office to office. Someone has to build houses, weld steel, repair engines, wire buildings, install and repair water and sewer fixtures, service air conditioners and furnaces, and so forth. The state's technical institutes used to provide training of that sort before the public and educators developed an aversion to getting their hands dirty.

Wilson Community College's heavy equipment operator program is expensive, as budget writers have noted, but it is popular and much in demand. Its graduates are needed across the state, and it is the only public school in the state offering this curriculum. Eliminating technical trades from community colleges will hurt North Carolina's ability to fill jobs that are essential to modern life.