WASHINGTON, D.C.—At Malik Henderson’s graduation party, everyone wanted to know what he planned to do next. While his friends were getting ready for college, Malik had a different plan. Smiling, he said, “I’m going to trade school to become a plumber.”
His family and friends were surprised, which is common for a generation taught that a four-year degree is the only way to succeed. But Malik is not alone. More high school and college graduates are choosing vocational training instead of traditional universities. Malik told The Final Call, “I want a job AI (artificial intelligence) can’t replace.”
Malik’s decision is more than just a practical response to the changing job market. For Black and Latino students, it revisits a debate that has lasted over 100 years in the Black community established between two of our great leaders: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
The historical context
After Reconstruction, when many freedoms continued to be erased by the government on all levels, Booker T. Washington became a leading voice for Black progress through industrial education. He established the Tuskegee Institute and promoted the idea that Blacks in America should learn trades, become self-sufficient, and work in agriculture.
He believed that even in America, a person could rise and earn respect through skill and hard work.
“I want a career and job security. I don’t want to worry about AI replacing me,” Malik said.
A career and job security are goals Mr. Washington would probably understand. He supported learning trades like plumbing, mechanics, and engineering as the best way to become independent. His message spoke to people seeking stability when few options existed for Black people just up from slavery.
But W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed and viewed things differently at the time. In his book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” he said Mr. Washington’s approach accepted the unfair social order and could keep people oppressed. Mr. Du Bois supported liberal arts education for a “Talented Tenth,” a group of Black leaders who could fight for civil and political rights. He believed that economic progress alone was not enough without the ability to challenge injustice.
The modern reckoning
Today, more people from the group Dr. Du Bois may have hoped would be leaders as a “Talented Tenth” are choosing the path Mr. Washington suggested in terms of careers in trades. The numbers show this trend.
A recent report from Validated Insights, a higher education research firm, says that education in trades and certain healthcare professions, are now the fastest-growing parts of American education, outpacing expectations.
“We’re seeing some pretty fast, amazing, and strong numbers in the trade education and health education sectors,” said Brady Colby, head of market research at Validated Insights, in a press release.
The report, “Validated Insights Report: Training Market for Skilled Trades is Growing Faster Than Expected and Leads the Education and Training Market,” released June 30, found that trade education programs made $19.1 billion in 2025. This is about 12% of the total U.S. education market, which is around $164 billion.
For Black and Latino students, choosing trade school is not giving up on dreams. Instead, it is a smart move in a world where AI threatens office jobs, but the need for electricians, plumbers, and construction workers is rising fast.
A new synthesis?
For Malik Henderson and many others, the rise of trade schools is not turning away from Dr. Du Bois’s vision. Instead, it is bringing back Mr. Washington’s ideas in a new way for the age of AI.
Today, plumbers and electricians can earn six-figure salaries without the heavy student debt that often affects Black families. For many, this is not just a smart financial choice; it is also empowering.
“When you have a skill or a trade, whether it’s masonry, carpentry, or plumbing, no one can ever take that away from you,” Brother Abdul Majied Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam and a Newark-based construction entrepreneur, told The Final Call.
“You can eat forever. You’re able to take care of your family. I think the three essentials of life are food, shelter, and clothing. Add an extra one: skill. The trades are one of those skills,” he said.
“From an economic standpoint, it’s also security,” he continued. “When you go off to college and get a degree in some areas, you can benefit, like lawyers and accountants. But when you have a skill, it’s life-changing. I always say, ‘You can eat, you can eat.’ You’re able to provide and maintain for yourself, for family, for a Nation.”
Even with this growth, there are still not enough spots for everyone who wants to join. In both skilled trades and allied health, more people want to enroll than there are spaces available. For example, in the health field, about 7.7 million people said they wanted to enroll over the next two years, but only about 571,000 actually did.
“Even though the jobs and programs are there, there is still a massive, persistent gap between what people say they want and what they actually do,” Mr. Colby said. “If you’re looking at these markets, that means they’re growing, investment is coming in, returns are going out, and it’s still deeply underserved.”
As Malik gets ready to swap his graduation cap for a toolbelt, he is doing more than starting a job; he is building his future. For young people facing a world shaped by automation, hands-on work like building and fixing things is becoming a strong and thoughtful choice. This path offers more economic security.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has spoken positively of both Dr. Du Bois and Mr. Washington and sees the value in what each man taught and advocated for on behalf of Black people. He also explained that due to the enemy of those wanting to stop Black progress, many people misunderstood both men and other Black leaders.
“We misunderstood Marcus Garvey until long after he was gone; we misunderstood Noble Drew Ali, we misunderstood W.E.B. Du Bois, we misunderstood Booker T. Washington; we misunderstood Frederick Douglass, David Walker and Denmark Vesey—we misunderstood our giants!
And it is not until after these giants have gone that the establishment feels you can get a proper understanding, because you are too far removed from that person to properly act on the principles that that man or woman taught us.
So, what they do when they lift up that kind of leader: They give us a ‘personality,’ but never a ‘program,’” Minister Farrakhan said in a January 10, 1982, message titled, “Let My People Go.”
“So’ you can always have birthday celebrations for the great leader or the great teacher, but never concentrate on programmatic steps that would lead us to the goal that that leader had in mind for us,” Minister Farrakhan said.
