As university enrollment skyrocketed in the 2000s, college was touted as the golden ticket to a complete education. However, universities have since experienced a steady decline in matriculation. Vocational schools, in contrast, have seen a shocking 20% increase in enrollment since 2020. While many specialized skills of previous generations — for instance, blueprinting, bookkeeping and manual calculations — are now supplanted by computers, artisan labor continues to rely on human qualities. Such physical engagement is critical to our learning experience and something we all could benefit from. Georgetown University students should reevaluate four-year education and consider the type of scholarship we can adopt from trade school.
Prior to coming to Washington, D.C., I was a member of the Central Virginia Blacksmith Guild. One of the organization’s primary goals is to teach young people the art of forging. Though the majority of blacksmiths in the guild are of older age, I witnessed a surge in young people attending our events after the pandemic bound them to a virtual world. Attendees seemed to desire experience with the physical, something I believe is too neglected in our college curricula. Some of these young people even went on to attend dedicated blacksmithing schools, like my friend Noah Stusse.
When I recently spoke with Stusse, he argued that working with your hands is a necessary, fundamentally human endeavor, one that is stifled in many modern careers. Further, he discussed how the essence of human creation turns mundane tasks — like building a gate or constructing a home — into modes of beautification. As such, skilled labor offers value beyond productive capacity or material efficiency.
Stusse’s thoughts on the quotidian particularly struck me. While our world continues to become homogenized and dull (e.g., any standard office building), the dually utilitarian and artistic nature of trade kindles projects that are profoundly human-oriented. A cubicle in Lauinger Library compels me to study, but a step inside the Library of Congress fills my soul. Technical schools help to bridge the divide between what is useful and what is meaningful.
Liberal arts education cannot neglect engagement with the tangible. By focusing solely on what is in books or lectures, universities deprive students of the human desire to create with our hands. While I appreciate the Maker Hub and Georgetown’s requirement that students take at least one “Humanities: Art, Literature and Culture” (HALC) course, physical art is still mostly relegated to the status of hobbies or electives. Yet as our world becomes inundated with pictures and videos generated by computers, art that fills the third dimension is more necessary than ever.
Recent trends on campus further point to students’ enthusiasm for physical art. The reinstatement of GU Arts Week last school year and overwhelming support for the STAGE Act exemplify persistent support for tangible art. The student body evidently desires to make campus life more focused on beautiful and fulfilling activities. Georgetown can continue this movement by making 3D and performing arts a distinct requirement in the university core. Whereas many of the course offerings under HALC serve as an extension of Georgetown’s emphasis on literature, an arts requirement could truly expand our scholarship to other mediums.
My choice to discuss physical art in the context of vocational school is deliberate. I feel that tradespeople are often looked down upon by supposedly “more educated” individuals, particularly as employers have sought out even more years of study in new hires. Though many in the professional sphere view college as the apogee of scholarship, our institutions ought to look to trade schools for ways to improve their curricula. Learning is not just found in the mind, but also in the body. To ignore either facet of the student limits their growth.
University education indisputably provides incredible value to students and society. We can further improve college learning by embracing the little-discussed benefits of vocational schools. Every institution likes to tout how its students are “well-rounded.” Without training our naturally innovative selves, however, universities can never achieve this goal. As Georgetown students, we must place greater emphasis on the physical arts and continue to advocate for areas of study neglected by contemporary higher education.
Kendan Hopkins is a first-year in the School of Foreign Service. This is the second installment of his column “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
