Have you ever had to worry about the next step in life you would take? Or the next goal you would want to accomplish? These are ideas that lingers in the mind of many people. All over the world, majority of teens, worry about the choices they have to consider to follow through and achieve. There is a bundle of uncertainty that graduating high school brings into their lives; would they go to college or go straight into the working field? While many may worry about whether they would graduate high school, Career and Technical Education has proven that it is one of many pathways that have benefited a large number of people furthering their educations. It has been able to bring in a new mindset to further their education, and also to ready them for real life expectations in their careers. Although Career and Technical Education has the disadvantage within financial support, but it has impacted many children in communities and a multiple of teacher to pitch in and make Career and Technical Education happen within their district.
Many students come from low-income families and the thought of college can be alarming; especially when considering the thought of the high tuition rates. After high school, college should be the next step in getting a career; in particular, families who have high expectations of their children. The idea of college being a must in people life can be a bit stressful, even more when they still have yet to decide the major they would like to go into.
There are faulty assumptions about college and the future it leads to without seeing the whole picture of the many paths they can take. In the article, “Beyond One-Size-Fits-All College Dream,” by RosenBaum, Stephen, Rosenbaum, explain the false ideas that college may be placing in the mind of variety of students. “Too many four year colleges still make exaggerated claims about students future earnings, too many community colleges advise nearly all young students to enroll in BA-transfer programs (regardless of how many remedial courses they will need), and most students and parents only consider BA plans, without any awareness of trade-off or alternatives”(Rosenbaum et al.).
College is a tough choice that many consider taking in their lives, and sometimes they might not be prepared for it. The responsibility that comes along with it can take a toll, and it might be an eyeopener to how their career and future life can actually be. “With thousands of higher education institutions offering open admissions, it is true that virtually all students can go to college. Yet less than half of high school seniors planning to get bachelor’s degree succeed in this goal, and completion rates are less than 20 percent for low-achieving students. Those who are poorly prepared end up in remedial courses – many drop out without earning a single college credit. Meanwhile, they have wasted precious time and money that could have been spent on career-focused certificates or associate’s degree that have better outcome than are generally recognized.”(Rosenbaum et al.).
College is a big commitment to get through. It is a couple of years away from being able to achieve that goal the goal that was set, but it is a tough road to get through. Many of colleges offer many great programs that will have you set for once they graduate, but what are the chances when they drop out? If college is one of the few choices that they would want to take then, no matter what, they should aim for it. But if it really is not the path they want then why waste money and time for it when there are a variety of opportunities that they can possibly take. Career and Technical Education, offers the likeliness to explore many careers that they can delve into and starting at a young age can help shape the mindset that the children would want to achieve. Innovation Central High School is one of the few that offers to transpire these type of programs. The programs that can help them decide and explore the courses available.
Within multiple high schools, most lack the support through the financial factor to be able to obtain many programs that can benefit children in various of ways. Career and Technical Education in West Michigan, is one of the few programs that have started to make their way back into high schools, but is unable to profit or obtain the appropriate equipment for them to be able to bring in the diverse students attention into it.
Jenny Abuma, within her article, “Not all career and Technical Education Programs Are Created Equal,” includes the statements of one of the few teachers that is trying to make CTE a program for students to take a chance on. “John Harrison, a teacher at Inwood, Leadership Academy (a charter high school in New York City), started a woodshop program last year in his school to offer students, who didn’t seem bent on going to college, alternative career pathways. However, with no active business partnerships and limited money from the school, their program is severely underfunded and underdeveloped.”(Abamu).
Various of teacher from various of schools are trying to bring in the option of different possibilities that they can take. Jenny Abuma, within her article, “Not all career and Technical Education Programs Are Created Equal,” includes the statements of one of the few teachers that is trying to make CTE a program for students to take a chance on. Harrison tries to make sure that children’s have the opportunity to take this as a step closer to their future, and even includes profit from within his pockets or searches for the sources to be able to make the woodshop program happen. “ ‘You want to know how I fund this program? I just pay for it,’ says Harrison. ‘Our school has no money, so they gave me a modest budget.
To get the woodshop running, I wrote a few grants and got a few thousand dollars, but basically, all the tools were mine. Most of the other materials I supply myself, or I found in the garbage.’”(Abamu) John Harrison, is one of many teachers who would make this happens for his children, but also Daniel Morse, a Grand Rapids Publics High schools(GRPS), who works alongside Ferris State University to make Teaching another possibility in students choices.
In Charles Honey article, “ Academy Aims to Groom Future Teachers for GRPS,” includes the examples that Morse has been able to inhibit within his classes. “‘As a GRPS grad myself, I always wanted to come back and serve this community,” he said. “That’s a big piece of why I have this job, to help kids do what I did.’”(Honey). Although students have different ideas for their future plans, having someone there to be able to introduce you to various of careers can be insightful to what the next step would be. Bringing in the idea that things are possible at a young age, and Morse expands on the idea that it can happen as long as you actually take the opportunity to get there and the chances offered. And one of these programs is leaded by Daniel Morse, for public teaching. “The class is Foundations for Teaching, the introductory course of the Academy of Teaching and Learning.
A partnership between GRPS and Ferris State University, the academy, which began this fall, aims to motivate students to go into teaching. They can earn up to 10 teacher education credits at FSU by sticking with it and, upon graduating from there with a teaching certificate, be first in line for teaching jobs at GRPS.” (Honey) This class has many benefits in which students can gain from. Not only is preparing them to get a degree within the Teaching career, but also to be able to get the opportunity to explore those opportunities at a young age. Many of these Career and Technical Education programs are advantages that students can take in preparing for life.
Grand Rapids Public schools all over the world are filled with a vast population of students with a diversity in each one of them. The programs that they each offer can have an impact on the students. Each student can be given an immense knowledge about what the real world can be expected of them, and especially the careers that they decide to be part of. Innovation Central High School (ICHS), Union High School(UHS), along with Ottawa Hills High School(OHHS), are partnering up with a many of business, companies and even colleges to be able to get the students to see the different paths that they can take. ICHS is known for the four STEM academies they offer in their buildings.
The Academy of Health Science and Technology, the Academy of Business, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship, and the Academy of Modern Engineering. Each of these academies focus on the main careers there are outside of school, and each of them branch out with smaller fields that are connect within them. A lot of these help explore more about those fields and a lot of them are the expectations that one must know when going within those fields. Having the knowledge that these schools are offering, make it so that these students are not left feeling clueless when they join the real world life.
Also, all three of these high schools are giving the offer to take college courses to be ahead of the game. College classes can be expensive, considering that they are charged per credit, per class, or per hour; and to have the opportunity to take this as a high schooler can help them be able to consider furthering their education and getting accustomed to a different scenario from high school. Also to get the chance to get the credit for the career that CTE has brought into their plans to accomplish. CTE can encourage them to further their education within that career and expand on their knowledge to get a degree behind it.
Above it all, every adult in the school board and district would want the students to be able to make it far in life and take a chance on what is offered towards them. If not, then they would take it to their hands to make sure it will be their with open arms. Career and Technical Education has brought in many advantages in students life to be able to further their education without their minds set only with college as a choice. It offers them a different path that will help them be able to take chances while it still has them. What they would want to be able to achieve in life may still be question that stays in their minds, but if they know about the opportunities there are, the less afraid they will be to take on the challenges that they could possibly face. Having Career and Technical Education can be an amazing thing that public schools could offer to students.
