Show students full range of careers

Don’t block info on trades

How strange, that some schools in Ohio have to be forced to let potential employers talk to their students about careers as plumbers or carpenters. That’s the contention, anyway, of Ohio House Bill 98, which was approved by the House in November and is having hearings in the Senate.

The bill would prohibit school districts from imposing any restrictions on representatives of the trades if the same restrictions don’t apply to colleges, the military, business groups and others that might want to recruit high-school students. It would require districts to provide all such potential employers with at least two opportunities per school year for in-person presentations.

If, as backers of the bill say, some schools keep employers and trade schools out because they don’t want their students to think about anything but a four-year college, that’s extremely short-sighted.

Despite decades of programs aimed at encouraging college and preparing all students for it, as many as a third of Ohio high-school graduates still don’t go. And far too many high-school graduates languish in low-paid service jobs without benefits or hope of advancement.

At the same time, better jobs in skilled trades and other fields are going unfilled because not enough candidates have the training, experience or interest.

Karen Bryer, director of talent acquisition for Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, knows. She told the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 6 that the medical center has a lot of good-paying, open jobs in skilled trades but is getting fewer and fewer candidates with the skills to take them.

“Learning about these opportunities … can help give students a vision for the future, a reason to stay in school,” she said.

We would like to think that a state law wouldn’t be necessary for schools to open their doors to potential employers. But if such a nudge is needed, HB 98 is a good vehicle.

Helping kids now can make future brighter

Today’s children face challenges to growing up healthy and happy in a busy, complicated society that doesn’t always recognize their needs. The Dispatch recently featured two reasons for hope.

Just-introduced House Bill 508 would create OhioCorps, a program that would pair college students as mentors to high-schoolers who are at risk of dropping out — in many cases, because their families are ravaged by opioid addiction. The high-schoolers would have the chance to volunteer in their communities and earn scholarships.

The idea grew from the kindness of one police officer in the town of Waverly who tired of seeing children of addicts “getting the short end of the stick,” so he became an advocate and mentor.

In Columbus City Schools and across the country, schools observed “No One Eats Alone Day” on Feb. 9 by breaking up the usual lunch cliques, shuffling where kids sat and having conversations about how everyone needs to belong and feel accepted.

The simple act of caring adults leading a discussion, making it OK for kids to open up about the worries and stresses that isolate them, could make the path through school and on to adulthood easier and more promising.