College Recruiter’s Advice


It was my son’s junior year in high school and the prospect of looking towards his future must have brought him a blend of excitement and trepidation. His grades were top notch—and his small high school offered all the required courses and a limited choice of electives to fill his course load.

Then came the visit with a college recruiter from a big Texas university. I was invited to join, so Tommy and I sat across from him in a Seattle hotel lobby. Tommy’s vital statistics were spread in front of this age-40-something, tie and sports jacketed, cowboy-booted professional.

 


I saw the man’s eyes narrow as he looked at my son’s current course load—besides the required courses, Tommy decided to take Auto Shop as an elective. The man shook his head and advised Tommy to double down during his senior year and not “waste” his time on courses that didn’t look good on his transcript.





The recruiter didn’t see the merit of a trade course—and many colleges don’t. But he didn’t realize that Auto Shop wasn’t a fluff class—just an easy "A" on the transcript. Indeed, it was a hard-earned grade. Mr. Cooke, the shop teacher, demanded action each day—working on rebuilding a car engine from start to finish—and it culminated with that engine roaring to life or you didn’t pass.


Besides that, there were weeks of useful lessons on the right tools for certain repairs, and learning how various machinery worked. Putting your tools away properly was mandatory. This wasn’t a course for slackers.




Sadly, many schools aren’t offering Auto Shop anymore —maybe college recruiters got the word out. But this much is certain—my son didn’t miss out on an amazing class that equipped him in ways that have lasted.


He's not a car mechanic, but he knows enough that in his free time he’s tackling rebuilding his great-grandfather’s 1965 Ford pickup. Besides the auto maintenance, how much else did he learn in Auto Shop? I can see that he learned some patience, meticulous attention to detail, and trial and error. Maybe the college recruiter wouldn’t be impressed with my son's efforts, but I know his old shop teacher would be. And so am I.




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