Encouraging vocational education at 16 will help empower young people with the skills needed to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

President Obama has recently called for more apprenticeships for young people in order to address the jobs crisis. David Luke cautions that while apprenticeships may be a useful tool to encourage employment, President Obama should be mindful of their history of maintaining white privilege in American workplaces. He argues for an education reform, which would allow students to pursue an alternate career path at 16 through two years of vocational training, and would leave them in a position to earn a living wage after finishing school.