Students have missed many weeks of school over the past few years. Some have suggested that reintroducing grade thirteen may be a way to ensure students develop skills they need for life after high school. But this touches on a much broader conversation; grade thrirteen has typically been used to prepare students for post-secondary education. With a deficit of people working in trades, how do we promote and encourage students to see the opportunities here? Is there a responsible way to do this that ensure streaming and other biased assessments don’t discriminately funnel students in one direction or the other? Why is this a viable, respectable route and why do we need to promote skilled work in trades in Ontario?