Bob Arrington: Community colleges will lead us into the future

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column extolling the performance of four Northeast State Community College students in the Jack Kent Cook scholarship competition. A week or so later, I wrote another about recent developments in (1) using 3D printers for the manufacture of tooling for auto parts and (2) sodium fuel cells.Last week, I read the announcement of an agreement between NSCC and the Morristown campus of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, which will allow for the transfer of credits from TCAT students who are credentialed in welding to NSCC to be applied toward an associate's degree in applied science in welding and metal fabrication.The credits eligible for transfer include credits in college and lifelong learning, general welding, applied welding, industrial safety, welding blueprints, industrial concepts, inert gas arc welding, and pipe welding. The two institutions also have like agreements for graduates in aviation maintenance technology and computer-aided design.How does this all tie together?It gives me the opportunity to write about the other arm of NSCC's mission, which is the education and training of skilled workers who are not necessarily seeking positions that require four-year degrees. It also allows me to write about the pressure continuing advances in science and technology place on institutions that seek to educate and train skilled workers, and how community colleges like NSCC are well-positioned to respond to those challenges.First, let's consider the benefits of a credential or degree in welding on its own merits. Skilled welders are needed in various industries — manufacturing, construction, building maintenance, automotive and so on. Employers in these industries offer welders well-paying jobs that are not foreseeably susceptible to being replaced by artificial intelligence or automation.At present, the positions that appear most vulnerable to being rendered obsolete by AI are white-collar jobs such as court reporting and routine record maintenance. Blue collar, "dirty" jobs like welding are not nearly so much at risk. That's something for a young person to think about in selecting a career path.Secondly, even those positions that may be automated by the use of 3D printers and the like are going to need skilled workers. Someone is going to have to run and maintain all of those 3D printers. Those persons are going to have to have training on how to do so, whether they are trained while they are young, or older workers who need re-training to continue to be competitive in the job market. NSCC's programs address both groups.The same is also true about emerging technologies like sodium fuel cells. At this point, it is impossible to predict their future. Although plans are already underway to develop sodium fuel cells for commercial use in vehicles, boats and even aircraft, there is certain to be much research and development, as well as engineering applications, ahead before any of us have the option of purchasing an automobile powered by fuel cells.The same is true of the electric vehicles on the market now. I discussed in a prior column some of the limitations and drawbacks of the lithium-ion batteries they use. Yet their mere presence on the market has already created the need for workers who manufacture such vehicles, for others who know how to repair and maintain them, and for still others who manufacture and install charging stations.We may be about to enter an era analogous to the early 20th century, when the internal combustion vehicles that ultimately won out competed in the marketplace with those powered by electric batteries and steam. Steam-powered vehicles were available until well into the 1930s. Those who drove them at the time thought them better than the competition.All of this presents challenges for institutions that seek to educate and train skilled workers. They must at the same time seek to train workers in existing technologies and to try to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate what the next generation of workers will need to know. Doing so is not easy and is likely to grow still more difficult. If you don't believe that is true, consider how quickly VCRs gave way to DVDs and DVDs gave way to streaming.Our community colleges are well-positioned to respond to the challenges. Local community colleges like NSCC offer training, credentialing, retraining and degrees in computers, welding, electrical contracting and automotive mechanics. That is outside the mission of four-year colleges. Grades K-12 do not have the infrastructure.Community colleges will lead us into the future.Bob Arrington is a Kingsport attorney. You can email him at r_arrington@chartertn.net.Institutions that educate and train skilled workers must seek to train workers in existing technologies and try to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate what the next generation of workers will need to know.