‘They get bad grades and get deemed as the bad kid’: Gee calls school system archaic after Tacoma launches Maritime program

Tacoma just opened a first-of-its-kind maritime training program for high school students, and Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, believes it’s long overdue.

“Why is this the first?” Gee said. “Why now in 2026 is this the first? And by the way, I’m not bashing it. I’m glad this is happening. Thank you. But why don’t we have more of this?”

Maritime 253, a free program developed in partnership with the Port of Tacoma, allows high school juniors and seniors to spend half their day taking regular classes and the other half training at the port in manufacturing, logistics, and marine technology, according to FOX 13. By graduation, students can earn more than 1,000 hours of hands-on training, college credit, and professional credentials.

‘We are archaic with today’s school curriculum’

Gee argued that the American school system is fundamentally designed for one type of learner and leaves everyone else behind.

“Not everybody goes to school and is motivated the same way,” he said. “I think we are archaic with today’s school curriculum. We are archaic when we are just one type of student.”

He laid out a vision for how high schools could be restructured: keep the basics, history, writing, and accounting, for the first half of the day during junior and senior year, then let students pursue vocational training in the second half. Plumbing, HVAC, automotive repair, maritime technology — whatever matches the student’s interests and aptitudes.

“Some people, like me, I don’t want to touch no HVAC,” Gee said. “Give me my history lesson. Give me my accounting. That was me. That’s how I enjoyed school.”

But not every student is wired that way, he said, and the system punishes them for it. Gee noted his critique is not aimed at educators.

“I am not demonizing schools,” he said. “I’m not demonizing teachers. That’s not what I’m doing.”

‘They get deemed as the bad kid’

Gee turned the conversation to what happens to students who don’t fit the traditional classroom mold, creating a cycle of failure and alienation.

“Sometimes introverts or sometimes people who don’t like to sit in a classroom all day don’t do well,” he said. “So what happens is they get bad grades, and then they get deemed as the bad kid.”

KIRO Producer Andrew Lanier opened up about his own struggles in school.

“The first time I ever really thought of myself as a failure was high school, man,” he said. “I didn’t finish high school. School was boring. Sitting at a desk all day was not something I could do.”

Andrew said the turning point came when he started working in kitchens, where he could use his hands and see tangible results.

“Here’s an environment where I want to learn,” he said. “I can see how to grow and what to do here, and this is all fascinating. Books are not interesting. A whiteboard is not interesting.”

‘As long as you are doing your best, I don’t care what your grades are’

Gee shared a story from his own childhood. He recalled sitting in his father’s car after school in fifth grade, holding the manila envelope with his report card: two F’s, one D, an A in gym, and a C.

As he braced himself for punishment, Gee never forgot what his father said.

“Well, Champ, let me tell you something. Just because your grades are like this, that doesn’t mean you’re dumb,” he recalled. “As long as you are doing your best, I don’t care what your grades are.”

Gee said the message changed his life.

“Imagine getting those bad grades and then getting spanked, and then you’re in punishment,” he said. “You can’t do anything, you’re not allowed to play sports, then you feel like a failure. Every time you go to school, you wonder why you don’t want to go to school. You don’t want to go to school because that’s the place where I’m a failure.”

A 200,000-worker shortage

The timing of Maritime 253 aligns with a growing national crisis. The U.S. shipbuilding industry faces a shortfall of 200,000 to 250,000 workers over the next decade, according to a McKinsey & Company analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data.

The program is free to attend, primarily for Tacoma-area and South Sound students, according to FOX 13.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.