I have just recently found that Clark Community College no longer offers a General Automotive Technician program. Now they only offer a T-10 Technician program, where-in a young person must either be sponsored by a Toyota dealership or agree to go to work for a Toyota dealership upon completion.
Excuse me for my ignorance, but I thought community colleges were a place where primarily young people could go and acquire a vocational education and gain the specific skills needed for some trades. I do know that in the past they had a very good General Automotive program because I have hired young people from that program, but now Mr. Crone, the Automotive Department head informed me they had to pull the aforementioned program “offline” to upgrade it and mostly because he didn’t have the instructors to teach it.
I find that excuse troublesome. First of all, if he lacks instructors for a general program but he does have enough instructors for a Toyota program? Question: Is Toyota paying for those instructors? Secondly, why shut a program down to upgrade it? I wouldn’t shut my business down to upgrade. I would plan for the future and continually upgrade. I as well as any other successful business owner do that instinctively.
My immediate concern is the hundreds of young people in Clark County that desire an automotive education and are not being served, unless they want a specific Toyota education. Our taxes are being used to fund Toyota’s Human Resources. You have to go through an application process, get the training the go straight to work at Toyota.
What a deal, for Toyota. For the taxpayer or the automotive industry, not so much. Our industry demands highly skilled workers, our community colleges should be providing that education and businesses like mine further that training. But no, Clark has sold out.
If you want to be a nurse fine, but that’s it. I guess General Automotive Technicians have little value at Clark. Well Mr. & Mrs. Clark County, the next time you have your car repaired and it takes several days or you have to take it back because it wasn’t done properly or completely that is most likely due to a lack of trained quality technicians and our taxpayer funded community college only supports Toyota Dealerships.
Yet another injustice and waste of tax money.
Robert A. (Bob) Ford
Ridgefield
