Leaders Encourage Tech School Option

Air Date:01/18/2011

By Kealey Bultena

The president of Mitchell Technical Institute says some students waste time and money taking classes they don’t need. Greg Von Wald says not all students think of tech school as a viable option after graduation.

Von Wald tells state senators on the education committee that, when he worked in business, he had a hard time finding trained technicians. The Mitchell Technical Institute leader says South Dakota schools encourage education after high school, but that doesn’t always include technical education.

"Thirty-three percent of our students already have some sort of post-secondary education before they ever come to Mitchell Technical Institute. If you misdirect students to the wrong place, you’re going to get a shortage in your workforce. That’s going to hurt our economic development," Von Wald says.

Von Wald says not all of those students started in the wrong direction. Some students who enroll in tech schools already have bachelors or masters degrees. Von Wald says tech school programs can make people with existing qualifications more desirable to employers.

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