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Show Sunday, December n EDITOR 'S NOTE -I- this unsteady world, a high school diploma may not only be insufficient, it may become a dead end. This has put a special emphasis on the trade school which is helping some locked-i- n graduates reach earning power they never dreamed of. PITTSBURGH (AP) High technology has thrown a monkey wrench into the plans of many a high school graduate looking for a job. Now an old solution to this relatively new problem is helping often-malign- ed - them cope. With the computerization of ev- erything from drafting tables to auto tune-u- p equipment, would-b- e mechanics, furnace repairers and accountants require more than a vocational high school diploma. And the nation's 6,000 or so trade schools are serving a large part of that training need. : "There's no work if you're not educated. You have to flip burgers," says Audrey Hoak, 54, a , . paralegal student at Duffs Business Institute, a Pittsburgh trade school. An estimated 1 .7 million people spend an average of $4,500 per year for advanced training and education at trade schools, according to figures from JBL Associates in Eethesda, Md. , a higher education consulting firm. Officials in the Atlanta school system noticed the demand for bet-- : ter educated students at least three years ago. Assistant Superintendent Barbara Whitaker says recent graduates without higher education reported they were striking out with employers. ( S, 13S1 THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Page A7 "They are expecting a diiterent quality student," Whitaker says. In her district, the trade schools have proved more attractive than colleges. While about 30 percent of Atlanta's high school graduates go on to college, 43 percent go to a technical school. A maintenance man for a suburban Pittsburgh motel, Michael Klaeser, believes the associate degree he's earning will help double his salary. After seven years maintaining motel refrigerators and air condi0 tioners, Klaeser, 34, earned reper year. Now he studies frigeration and heating at Triangle Tech in Pittsburgh. "I got so used to just working, I never really followed through with further schooling," says Klaeser, the father of three. He chose his trade school with care. Nationwide, trade schools have battled an unsavory image with their advertising television and with on tuition scandals that attracted government scrutiny. "They have a matchbook marketing that people equate with says JBL Associates President John Lee. In fact, trade schools reported they found not matchbooks, the most effective advertising, followed by television commercials. The shoddy image was reinforced when the U.S. Department of Education started to crack down on student loan defaults in 1986. It identified which schools had the most defaulters and told them to educate their students on loan responsibilities along with how to IF1 m i jp X .3fr&as v. I i ... gas, jt .4...' , $12,-00- low-budg- if - r - ;tf et late-nig- ht slea-zines- v word-of-mout- h, .V AP Laserphoio Brian Ferranie instructs student Rich Seever at the computer ai Triangle Tech, a Pittsburgh trade school. dye hair. Loan defaults will cost the Guaranteed Student Loan Program an estimated $2.7 billion in 1991, according to a Senate subcommittee's report in May. The schools feel a few rotten apples have created the image problem. To counter, they are spending more time with student-loa- n recipients. "We go over their rights and responsibilities. Halfway through the program I do a whole session on budgeting," says Margaret Stone, the student financial adviser for Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle. The institute teaches divers who inspect oil deep-se- a rigs, bridges, dams and nuclear cooling systems. Divers Institute reduced its rate from 28.3 loan defaults per 100 students in 1986 to 5.0 per 100 in 1988, she says. In October 1990, the U.S. De- " zsskl y a . 8 i J . & partment of Education stopped lending tuition money to students of 14 trade schools at least three in Calof them beauty schools ifornia, Georgia, Washington, Connecticut and Florida. Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos says the schools misled students, in some cases lying about the chance of finding a job after graduating. The president of Triangle Tech, Jim Agras, was indignant about the schools' practices, which left students with loan debts and no jobs. A founder of the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools, Agras recalls a conversation in which the manager of another school told him of the advan- - tage in signing up a student and getting the federal loan money whether or not the student stayed in the class. "We've seen an evolution that you can't believe," Agras says. "Schools are out there enrolling students that have no ability . ' Much of the trouble, he says, was caused by many schools expanding too quickly without qualified managers. The reputable schools make sure the skills they teach meet employers' requirements, which can mean spending a bundle to stay competi- tive. equipment, for d is something example, high schools can't afUp-to-da- te budget-squeeze- ford. A classroom designed for just 12 bookkeeping students needs about $20,000 worth of equipment, says Mark Scott, director at Duff's Business Institute in Pittsburgh. "There is a lot more money invested in training students now," Scott says. "It's not just computers, it's keeping pace with software and hardware. " The trade schools are using this equipment edge to increase enrollment. Students range from recent high school graduates to mothers returning to the work force to young adults who became disillusioned when they fail to find meaningful work. Many students see trade school as the first step on a long ladder, not only to higher earning power but to professional status. Denise Livingston, 26, went on welfare after divorcing a husband who made good wages as a truck driver. Now she wants to become a lawyer. Studying at Duff s to be a paral- egal, Ms. Livingston wants to build on her education by stepping up to community college and on to law school. Her classes, study time and ambitious plans leave little time to spend with her children, who at first had difficulty understanding why she's away a lot. She heard one child tell the other: "Mommy's doing this because Mommy's buying us this and that when she's done." Chris Galhes, 21, dropped out after a year at West Virginia University but didn't give up his quest to be an engineer. "My grades weren't strong enough," he says. "I wasn't strong enough in math . " He decided to study computer aided drafting at Triangle Tech. j Galhes drives 92 miles round trip to school, works nights and weekends in a bus garage as a me chanic's helper to pay tuition anjl lives with his parents to save mon-ey- . j AP Laserphoto Michael Thomas at the drawing board at Triangle Tech in Pittsburgh. To keep up with computerization, mechanics, furnace repairers and accountants require mora than a high school diploma. would-b- e Rediscover Responsive Banking, Future of industrial ghost towns tainted CALUMET, Mich. (AP) -C- opper mines turned this spit of land on Lake Superior into a boom town of stately mansions and free-flowi- money. Today the industry is gone, along with most of the people and all of the wealth. Buildings are decaying, and each winter's dumping of more than 300 inches An inglorious preserve of the past may stand in the way. The proposed national park sits within a Superfund site of lead, chromium, mercury and arsenic. For the past three years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been taking samples of chemical drums, mine tailings and slag piles left behind by a of snow brings down another century of copper mining and processing. The agency declared the mining areas of the county a Super-fun- d perior's Keweenaw Peninsula. site in 1986. In late October, the EPA made its first assessments of cancer rates: up to one death per 10,000 people for parts of the old mining territory. EPA officials say their findings fall within the agency's "acceptable" slot. That gives the EPA wide berth, including the roof. But the mining industry's glorious past still seems the hope of the future for 35,000 people in Houghton County, a rurai area encompassing most of Lake SuThey hope to freeze their communities in the past as a National Historic Park, a preserve of the country's first mining boom and all its glory. option of doing nothing. less optimistic. "A big reason for concern is we'd like to make historically significant areas available to the public ... and they really need to be safe," said Dean Alexander, acting chief of planning and environmental quality for the Na- tional Park Service's Midwest region in Omaha, Neb. Despite their concern, Park Service officials also say they have little choice if Congress orders the park, and Davis already has secured $1 .4 million to begin planning the $60 million to $70 million project. 10-sta- te EH KAtJpiDSfe, j .tw ' CHRISTMAS PHOTO GIFT PACKAGES t 1- - f i : III a I- - .ex w . ., ir a Rep. Bob Davis, chief backer of the Keweenaw National Historic Park, says the EPA findings aren't enough to derail the proposal. The National Park Service is : i Imaw! I I m 1 i With nearly 50 years combined banking experience in our Valley, you may recognize these gentlemen or know of them by sterling reputation. 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