I found an article from a little newspaper in North Carolina that discusses Bush's education cuts for vocational education specifically. The article is interesting because it is local and personal. I think this is the worst idea! A strong workforce is imperative to a strong nation. Not everyone can work at Taco Bell or Wal Mart--children whose talents are not academics deserve training so they can support themselves and raise healthy families.
Proposed cut by Bush could hamper vocational education classes at Person - 2/19/05
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series.
By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT, C-T Staff Writer
Career and Technical Education (CTE) benefits every student at Person High School by giving them hands-on experience that prepares them for life after high school and/or college. But a proposal by President Bush could cut about $1.2 billion in national spending that supports vocational education.
From developing small business plans to working in the hospital emergency department to computer-assisted design to working on a NASCAR car to designing golf courses, PHS students are able, through CTE, to find out about the careers of the future and decide which one best suits them.
And according to teachers at the high school, teaching across the curriculum while focusing on real-life, real-work situations makes high school more relevant and rewarding for students. There is a current push nationwide to revamp high schools in order to make them more relevant for students and to promote relationship building that would help prevent drop outs. PHS Assistant Principal Margaret Bradsher was appointed last month to head the effort here.
Pennie Wright, who chairs the CTE department and teaches Medical Science I and II, said, "in a nutshell, relevance is what we’re all about" in CTE. "Our classes give kids one-on-one mentoring. We are also friends as well as teachers and that is important in their decision making" when it comes to students choosing a career.
Many of her students, she said, work at the hospital, in doctor’s offices, veterinarian’s offices and dentist’s offices in order to get hands-on experience while also learning from classroom work. Incorporated into the classroom lessons are the more typical subjects of English, math, social studies and computer applications. By using those subjects in conjunction with real-life, on-the-job situations, said Wright, students see for themselves why it is important to have math skills in a nursing career or English skills in a marketing career.
In fact, said Wright and Loudell Long, teacher and chair of the business and marketing department, students continually come back to them with stories of how CTE helped make them better prepared for work or helped them make a career decision.
A majority of the fastest growing jobs between 2000 to 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, will require specialized training in computers and technology and many jobs will be in the health care field. And, most of those jobs require two-year associate degrees or certification and on-the-job training rather than four-year degrees. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "18 of the 20 fastest growing occupations within the next decade will require career and technical education."
Number one on the Department of Labor’s fastest growing job list is computer software engineering, which requires a bachelor’s degree; next in line is computer software specialist, which requires an associate degree. Also high on the list are desktop publishing and medical records/health information technology, each of which requires an associate degree.
But CTE is not just about preparing students to go straight to work after graduation or to steer them toward a two-year degree or certificate program. Many of the jobs of the future also require bachelor’s degrees and CTE prepares students for those fields of study and work as well. Those who want to study and work as computer and network administrators must have a four-year degree. But they can get some hands-on and classroom experience in the subject while at PHS. Students who think they would like to become physician’s assistants must prepare for four years of college and they can work at Person Memorial Hospital or in a local doctor’s office while taking Wright’s medical science classes in high school.
Those students who may want to become teachers after graduating college are able to get classroom experience while still in high school through Person High’s Teacher Cadet program.
In Person County, one of the hottest areas for future jobs is at Progress Energy and other power plants. Students at PHS can get hands-on experience in the field while also working toward a degree from Piedmont Community College that, many times, means automatic employment upon graduation. Through a cooperative agreement between the school system and the college, students are able to take college courses for credit while still in high school. Progress Energy and PCC also teamed up two years ago to offer the Power Careers program that prepares students for high-paying entry-level jobs and also ensures the power companies of a future workforce after today’s baby boomers graduate.
Students at PHS are also able to do apprenticeships and internships while in school. Many area businesses and industries cooperate with the high school, said Career Development Coordinator Sally Humphries, to allow students the opportunity to explore career paths. And many times those apprentices or interns return to the county after college to work in the business where they did their internship.
According to Long, Career and Technical Education classes, along with teaching across the curriculum to ensure reading, writing and math skills, "teaches students how to be self-sufficient and contribute to society." Long said all CTE courses include a leadership component that "gives kids the opportunity to develop leadership skills and that helps develop self-esteem." CTE, she said, "helps bridge the gap between school and work."
But President Bush, in his proposed budget, wants to take funding away from CTE and channel more of it toward improving academic achievement under the No Child Left Behind Act he signed into law in 2001. Should he succeed, North Carolina could lose over $30 million in federal funds now dedicated to vocational education. Of that $30 million, $21 million goes to public schools and the remainder goes to community college training programs.
The $2.5 trillion budget proposes to eliminate funding for the federal Perkins program, which Humphries says is vital to education and job training in Person County. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act provides funding for nontraditional training and employment in fields such as computer science, technology and other emerging fields.
Humphries and others in CTE have drafted letters to representatives in Washington. In her letter to North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, Humphries writes, "CTE makes a positive investment in America’s future by providing relevant learning experiences for students, effective and proven links to skills-building and enhanced academic opportunities, and improves employment outcomes. CTE reduces drop out rates and employers in my local area continue to need well-trained workers with good skills to compete in the 21st century economy."
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