Sadly, most trades programs and facilities in high schools have gone the way of the Dodo. My kids both went to Issaquah High, and the academics were fine. However the 'trades' consisted of a hobbyist level wood shop and that's about all. They just want kids to go into finances, basically. Because heaven knows, that's what America needs.. more people who only know how to rub money together to make more money.
My high school had a wood shop, a metals shop, a well equipped (for 1987) print shop, auto shop, and a pretty respectable electronics lab. And that was in the high school that fed the most wealthy LDS (Mormon) ward in the world at that time. So, even among the wealthy back then the trades had value.
I think the trades are starting to make a comeback, though. Right now in Seattle, it's easily possible to get a job flipping burgers at [censored]'s starting at $23 an hour with full healthcare, vacation, tuition assistance and daycare assistance. Pretty amazing what a family owned company can do when they're not feeding shareholders first and foremost, but anyway.. In six months at [censored]'s, you'll be making more money there than you would using that expensive Bachelor's you just got so you could test software on a no-benefit six month contract for Amazon or Google.
Kids are seeing that HVAC guys clear over $100K pretty fast and working with your hands beats manning a call center while waiting for it to be outsourced overseas. Also, the tech sector is really decades behind in unionizing, versus the trades. Linemen, plumbers, sparkies, carpenters, HVAC, automotive.. unions offer security, benefits, pensions.
