I am disturbed that the the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center may close.
Students shouldn’t be considered as part of a cost-versus-benefit formula.
Why would this type of analysis be applied to students being readied for the employment world?
Would it follow that kindergarten should be eliminated because the cost of all-day kindergarten outweighs the benefit gained in learning skills used in the elementary grades?
Why not eliminate eighth grade?
Young teenagers already know everything, so trying to teach them anything is a large cost with very little benefit.
Our company employs over 125 people locally.
Only 10 percent need a college education for their job, but the rest of them need computer, writing, math and mechanical skills.
Our company has jobs in construction and welding; we employ diesel mechanics, equipment operators and delivery drivers.
All need skills taught at the skills center.
As of about six years ago, only 30 percent of all Port Angeles School District students were expected to go to college, with 70 percent entering the workforce with a diploma or a GED, according to the North Peninsula Building Association.
The center gives this 70 percent the opportunity for obtaining family-wage employment right out of high school.
I disagree with people who say kids don’t have time to fulfill the new state requirements.
Doesn’t measuring, cutting and putting together pieces of wood to build a house require math and engineering knowledge?
If we adapt the curriculum, could these classes qualify for math or science credits?
We should use our administrative, planning and intellectual skills and find a way to make all high school graduates an asset for our community — not just another export or welfare recipient.
We need to keep the center in our community.
Bill Hermann,
Port Angeles
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hermann is part owner of family-owned Hermann Bros. Logging & Construction Inc., Evergreen Fibre Inc. and Sunset Hardware.