We need them both: research universities and technical education

 Whether public funds should be used to support either publicly funded tech/trade schools or research universities is not a choice between the two. We need them both. One for research and development, and the other for the application of what universities have discovered and developed. 

Often, research efforts do not make a practical profit for years or fail in blind alleys, but are responsible for breakthroughs that separate us from "old school" to new, better, more efficient, and effective ways of doing things. Here are some R and D discoveries and inventions that originated in research universities: "the world wide web and Gatorade, to pivotal innovations, such as X-ray technology, birth control pills, and the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, famous inventions from higher education institutions"  https://blog.halo.science/modern-day-inventions-university-r

Someone needs to take the financial risk and still be funded while undertaking research and development. .Often, there is no profit generated while doing it.  That is what research institutions do so well. Still, they require investments by the government and the private sector for R&D. Without research and development for applications, technology would still be back in the nail, hammer, and hand wrench, and diseases would remain spreading, dependent on those who can treat the symptoms or watch patients die. 

 Those in trade-related education have the opportunity to be educated on how to utilize the latest tools developed by research upon graduation or certification. Usually, years of experience are required to hone their skills.  If they do not keep learning new things, they could be left behind by those who adopt them. 

For-profit trade schools are ever problematic. Some are certificate mills with no real value in the labor market, and others are worth the tuition. Apprenticeship programs like unions provide are winners.  Therefore, I only referred to those publicly funded tech/trade schools now mostly tied to community colleges, mostly locally and state-funded. That was the choice Trump, himself famous for fraud in Trump University, tried to make when he threatened to divert federal contract funds from Harvard R&D and allocate them to trade schools. https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/trade-school-advocates-cheer-trump-threatens-redirect-harvard-federal-funds    Let's just let other countries become the innovators and lead us into the new tech and scientific future, right? 

Here is what I learned from watching my own children and grandchildren learn and enter the workforce.

 My own children hold profession-oriented master's degrees, and all four grandchildren (and their spouses) are involved in or have completed higher education graduate degrees that will enhance their income and/or their pursuit of happiness throughout life. Some will be paying off student loans for years to come. I have both a Harvard and  2-year community college certificate holders in my very immediate family. The pursuit of happiness is a personal preference, and some individuals prefer the intellectual challenges of higher education and the higher salaries that accompany it. In contrast, others derive pleasure from a job well done, even if it is physically demanding. Within my family are now or have been physicians, other healthcare service providers, investment bankers, business consultants, marketing data services, a skilled transportation bus and airplane mechanic, an elementary school teacher, warehouse supervisors, nonprofit administrators, restaurant managers, culinary chefs, a mathematician, and a computer scientist.  

Those headed for higher education can think in abstract, deductive terms and/or deal with students and coworkers. Some are just born educators. Others are born to be analysts of complex things. Others, such as those who repair things and solve problems, are fascinated by how machines and systems function. Most possess the talent to apply their special skills, using tools and up-to-date knowledge, to what they know from experience.  Some individuals possess both kinds of talents, which is a blessing because they have such a wide choice of professional lives to pursue.  To each their own. All are able to make a living doing what they enjoy. In some instances, the skilled, tech-educated make as much or more than those with a more basic liberal arts higher education. They are the skilled ones who have received a trade education, learning how to keep up with new skills and advances in technology that have often been first developed in the research halls and laboratories of higher education. Learning new skills is a lifelong pursuit in an era of rapid discoveries and rapid obsolescence. They will be the ones who survive AI.

The smartest thing I did in mentoring young trade-oriented family members was to equip them early, over 30 years ago, with computers, and I insisted they become computer literate. This, in turn, enabled them to learn more effectively and efficiently and apply this knowledge to their trades.  Keeping up with innovations is key to success in the trades long after individuals obtain their community college certificates or even the school of hard knocks.