The M.Lab21 Initiative goals are to modernize industrial arts classes, create connections between prospective employers and educators and to help develop 3D printing labs and high-tech manufacturing curriculums in US high schools.
The recently formed advisory board will consist of representatives from manufacturing industry organisation SME, 3D Systems, and America Makes as its founding members. They will be joined by representatives from Intel, GE, Johnson Controls, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The board members have committed to providing access to their extensive resources and industry knowledge and will help guide the development and advancement of the initiative.
“SME has been immersed in and supporting the additive manufacturing community for nearly 25 years, and working to accelerate the adoption of this technology across the manufacturing industry,” explained managing director of workforce and education for SME Jeannine Kunz. “We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with these industry advisors to drive awareness and education of additive manufacturing in U.S. high schools, and ultimately strengthen the next generation of the manufacturing workforce.”
The M.Lab21 initiative seeks to modernize the outdated industrial education programs in US high schools by installing an ecosystem of advanced hardware, software and new high-tech training and education programs. The advisory board intends to use their own spheres of influence to guide the development of modernized curriculums focusing on 3D printing, 3D scanning, prototyping and manufacturing. So high school shop classes will still make students build birdhouses, but they’ll learn how to design and 3D print them rather than construct it from wood.
“M.Lab21 is the latest commitment we are making to deliver 21st century technology skills to students through our Make.Digital initiative,” said 3DS Social Impact Director Leanne Gluck. “Collaboratively, 3DS and SME invite teachers, educators, nonprofits and companies passionate about education, addressing the skills gap and advanced manufacturing workforce development to join our M.Lab21 initiative and help us drive innovation, technology and learning.”
While I applaud any initiative intended to modernize the ridiculously outdated US education system – especially in regards to science and technology – I have reservations with our education system creating such close ties to so many for-profit businesses. We’ve already watched the countries higher education system tie itself to business and subsequently change the culture from ‘educate’ to ‘train for a job’ and now that same culture threatens to infect high school culture. High school, and college by the way, are by design not supposed to be trade schools.
I also worry about specific businesses with too much influence creating a situation where a school’s curriculum is subtly biased in favor of a specific brand or product, even unintentionally. That being said, our schools still need access to these modern technologies and no one else is lining up en masse to provide them. At least the new M.Lab21 advisory board is coming to the table to address the problem, when we can hardly get our government to admit there is one.
