An Open Letter to the Kahn Academy

September 8, 2021

An Open Letter to the Kahn Academy –

As the Director of Research and Education at North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), a labor organization representing more than 3 million skilled craft professionals in the US and Canada, I think a lot about what students need to succeed. NABTU is composed of fourteen national and international unions, which, in cooperation with our contractor partners, have long sponsored and promoted Registered Apprenticeship programs as the most effective mechanism for bringing new workers into our industry, training them to understand all aspects of a trade, and providing them with the skills to safely perform complex tasks under ever-changing conditions.

All told, our affiliates operate over 1,600 apprenticeship programs and invest nearly $2 billion annually in training programs that have prepared hundreds of thousands of workers for stable, middle-class careers.  Our Registered Apprenticeship programs comprise one of the largest, privately funded post-secondary education programs in the US. NABTU also sponsors the largest network of Apprenticeship Readiness training programs (ARPs) in our industry.  Partnering with community-based organizations, workforce development boards, public colleges and CTE high schools, and construction contractors, our Building Trades Councils have created more than 180 ARPs across the US that focus on recruiting and preparing women, people of color, the justice involved and transitioning veterans for Registered Apprenticeship programs.

I am also a great fan of the Kahn Academy. In fact, I have used your materials for many years to help working adults conquer their fears of math and statistics. The Khan Academy’s model of high-quality math instructional materials delivered at no cost provides students with limited means the much-needed resources required to work on their math competencies as they seek to advance in our society.

That said, there is one extremely large group of students in the US not currently served by your website.  This population includes the hundreds of thousands of Career and Technical Education (CTE) students who are currently not planning on going to college, but who are more interested in careers in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, the Building Trades, and other industries. These students don't need – or are not interested in – abstract math.  They need the tools to better their knowledge of applied mathematics. These students are also not interested in taking the SATs.  They are more concerned with passing the entrance exams for vocational programs or, even better, high-quality Registered Apprenticeship programs.

This is where the Khan Academy could provide a vital service.  It would be great if the enormous brainpower of the Kahn Academy team would create the self-paced instructional resources necessary for CTE students to achieve their career goals. Currently, there are no free resources on the Internet for CTE students with the quality of the Kahn Academy materials. 

Opportunities abound for these students.  The Biden Administration is currently working on a set of policy priorities that are designed to rebuild our nation and create millions of good paying jobs for hardworking Americans. For young people to access these jobs, however, they will need cutting edge applied math skills, including reading a tape measure, multiplying and divining common and decimal fractions, and calculating volume and area. The Khan Academy could provide the resources to encourage the development of these skills, which will empower CTE students to qualify for high road careers. 

If we are going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure – and I hope we are – we may as well rebuild our middle class in the process.  And one way to do this is to provide CTE students the resources they need to successfully obtain careers in Registered Apprenticeship and other high road vocational training programs.

Sincerely,

Thomas J Kriger

Tom Kriger

Director of Research and Education

North America's Building Trades Unions