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When President Donald Trump recently suggested taking $3 billion from Harvard’s federal funding and redirecting it toward trade schools, he didn’t just launch a headline, he launched a national reckoning. And as a university president, I believe he touched a nerve that desperately needed to be hit.
For too long, higher education has drifted from its purpose. Elite institutions have grown wealthier and more disconnected, while everyday Americans shoulder massive student debt for degrees that no longer guarantee opportunity.
The result? A broken pipeline, rising costs, shrinking returns, and students who feel forced to choose between meaning and mobility.
Graduates celebrate during Harvard University’s 374th Commencement on May 29, 2025. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
But here’s the truth few are willing to say out loud: not every student is called to a traditional university path. And that’s not a problem to fix, it’s a reality to embrace.
HARVARD VS. TRUMP: ALL THE PRESIDENT WANTS IS FOR THE UNIVERSITY TO OBEY THE LAW
In my role, I’ve seen firsthand the power of aligning education with calling. That includes aspiring teachers, ministers and entrepreneurs, but also electricians, HVAC technicians, mechanics and builders.
I’ve met students who feel more alive on a construction site than in a lecture hall. And I’ve seen how learning construction technology can do more than build a career, it can restore confidence, dignity and purpose.
This is personal for me. I lead a university, yes, but I also lead with the conviction that education should serve the whole person: spiritually, practically and vocationally. That’s why I believe the future of higher ed must include the trades, not as a fallback, but as a foundation.
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Christian tradition understands this well. Jesus worked with wood and nails before preaching in synagogues. Paul made tents to support his ministry. Scripture doesn’t draw a line between spiritual work and skilled labor. It lifts both as sacred. As Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life… and to work with your hands.”
What we need now is a cultural reset. One that stops looking down on trades and starts investing in them, not just with funding, but with respect. That means parents affirming their child’s calling, even if it leads to a job site instead of a boardroom. It means pastors reminding their congregations that all honest work is sacred. And it means more universities embracing flexible, high-quality training that equips students for lives of both character and competence.
The goal isn’t to pit trade schools against traditional universities. It’s to restore balance. Because the future of our country won’t be built from ivory towers. It will be built from the ground up, by people with tools in their hands and purpose in their hearts.
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We need welders with wisdom. Carpenters with character. Lineworkers with leadership. And institutions with the courage to say so.
This isn’t just good politics. It’s the path to national renewal.
