When we were working on projects at the university the shop was still out of date (decent shop, 2 manual lathes from the 60′s and 2 bridgeport mills) so too low tech for a number of projects that needed multi-axis NC operations to make properly. However, the shop instructor didn’t want me using the machines and locked me out of the shop on a number of occasions since he didn’t train me… I ran lathes and mills starting when I was 14 years old in high school and started fixing them for the teacher when I was 16, ran CNC’s after high school and I couldn’t run the same 1950 bridgeport the high school had when I was at the university because the instructor didn’t trust me…

It’s not always a question of the skills, but I’ve seen too many people who feel that the uninitiated are incapable because of their skill set. For example, programming a microprocessor does not gain anyone bonus points on programming a CNC. However, most students programming assembly language simulate dangerous scenarios before risking destroying or crashing a system. The language and skill set may be unusual, but that has nothing to do with the math, thought process, and outcome of a successful program and repeatable part. and lastly G-Code is essentially an assembly language that gets read the same way.. if you can write a program, you can write a program.

I am being general, there are always exceptions. But this is what I see most of the time.

My company is a dealer for engineering equipment for schools; CAD/CAM/CNC and Festo Automation and Mechatronics products. As well as other vendors of Robotics. I worked in Job Placement for a Career & Technical Education Center, 9 years as National Sales for Denford, who makes CAD/CAM/CNC equipment for education and now as President of my own educational reselling organization.

In some ways you are correct, but there is much more to all of this. All Career Tech programs have industry advisory committees whose duty is to provide industrial relevance to CT programs, whether secondary or post-secondary. Some do well to the programs , some don’t. Often it comes down to dollars. Haas has had a program where they bring in CNC equipment on loan to a school, but reserve the right to take it out if they have a customer who needs that piece of equipment. I think they actually replace it too. We used to sell larger CNC equipment,until Haas came out with a buy 1 get 1 free program for large CNC equipment at schools. Hard to compete. Denford refocused on selling CNC routers, which teaches the basic concepts. Many machining teachers feel that students should know the feel of a manual machine before they move on to CNC. Of course, there are older teachers who are tenured and have no interest in furthering their skills beyond what they know.

One big problem is that students aren’t signing up for these classes. The math & science requirements (STEM) are scaring them off. Mom’s and Dad’s are telling them that when the economy slows, they will be the first to be laid off and it’s not prestigeous to be a CNC Operator, they should go on to be a lawyer or something else etc. The dirty, dungy, grimy environment still comes to peoples mind, even though we know that is not true. I have been battling this issue for 25 years! Also, on the high school level, counselors try to send their least able student to the Career Centers, because they want to dump them, get them out of the rgular high school. Often, these students are ill prepared to handle students of this caliber. Doing advanced work is tough to do. Sometimes, it is 60-70% of the instructors student base. As one of my old instructors used to say, “It’s hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but we try”. He was a fine teacher too.

Regular high schools goals are to get every student into college, not a tech schools. Perception is we need more business majors, socialologists, lawyers, etc.

And sometime industry sends mixed messages. At a Philly area post-secondary school recently, the Job Placement coordinator complained to me (as I was instlaling some additional engineering equipment) that the local employers reviewed their program and said this is good, we need some of your students. When they went to apply for the jobs, they said they didn’t have the skills and preparation they needed. They were not happy students. Other students got turned away by other companies for similar reasons.
I know this may be one situation, but there are many on both sides.

I guess the best you can do, if looking for future employees, is to work with your local CT programs (HS & Post-secondary) to insure they are able to get being taught the right skills with the right equipment for your area.