Community Colleges & Technical Training Archives

James Fallows
May 5, 2021

Two members of the Biden family, one a president with an "American Families Plan" and the other a First Lady known as "Dr. B" to her community college students, make the case for these schools as engines of opportunity.

Sinclair students in a machine-tool workshop.

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

Dayton, Ohio, Is ‘a Place That Knows What It Is’

James Fallows
December 19, 2019

Let’s take another look at Dayton, Ohio. For context, here is a report on how the city has dealt with the loss of major industries over the decades, and with the…

The science building at Central Oregon Community College, in Bend, Oregon (James Fallows / The Atlantic)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

The Power of a Community College

James Fallows
August 12, 2019

Last week I reported on a conference of community-college leaders that Deb Fallows and I attended in Michigan, and about some of the reasons we’ve come to believe that community colleges are…

The campus of Dodge City Community College, in western Kansas (James Fallows / The Atlantic)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

The Choices Facing Community Colleges

James Fallows
August 9, 2019

Decisions critical to the future of these institutions so crucial to this economic and political moment

The former Angola Christian Church, which has become the Furth Center for Performing Arts at Trine University (Courtesy of Trine University)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

An Engineering School Pulls Off an ‘Epic Trick Play’

James Fallows
May 21, 2019

Daring and Guts Pay off for Trine University

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

Another Look at Maine Maritime: Who is Providing Value, to Whom, and How?

James Fallows
November 1, 2015

In response to our series of posts about Maine Maritime Academy, we heard from a reader who pushes back on the notion that the merchant-marine academies provide very high career-earnings value to their students, at a low cost.

Bend then and now: left side, when the lumber mills were running full tilt. Right side, today's restored Old Mill district (Historic lumber mill / Wikimedia; Current Old Mill District / James Fallows.)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

A Community College at the Center of an Oregon Recovery Story

James Fallows
June 22, 2015

When the lumber industry left, the region bet its future on technology—even though it lacked a research university.

Campus scene at Columbus State Community College (John Tierney)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

When a Community College Transforms a City

John Tierney
October 29, 2014

Ohio State University may be the local titan, but Columbus State Community College has also become a formidable presence.

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

Raj Shaunak and the Economic Boom in Eastern Mississippi

James Fallows
July 8, 2014

It's one thing to draw high-skill, high-wage jobs to a place that has historically lacked opportunities. It's something else altogether to find people qualified to fill them. A local answer to a national question.

Head coach and players from the Davis Aerospace Technical High School in Detroit. They lost this game by 36 points, but "the Aviators always play with heart." (Facebook photo)

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K-12

A High School That Teaches Students to Fly, and Other Innovations in ‘Career Technical’ Education

James Fallows
April 1, 2014

"A lot of problem-solving skills grow out of the experience of doing things rather than thinking about things."

Part of the Engineering, Architecture, and Industrial Academy at Camden County High School (James Fallows)

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Community Colleges & Technical Training

‘Career Technical’ Education: More Middle in the Middle Class?

James Fallows
March 29, 2014

Training students for jobs that are less likely to be outsourced, de-skilled, or stuck at minimum wage.

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K-12

High School in Southern Georgia: What ‘Career Technical’ Education Looks Like

James Fallows
March 14, 2014

Earlier this month my wife and I spent about a week, in two visits, in the little town of St. Marys, Georgia, on the southernmost coast of Georgia just north of Florida and…