I was
really fascinated by some of the statistics we researched in class a couple of
weeks ago related to the percentage of students who met the standards for
English and Algebra I at high schools in Baltimore County and Baltimore
City. One of the schools I researched
was Carver Vocational-Technical School, which boasted a higher percentage of
students meeting the standards on the PARCC than many other high schools in the
area. I wanted to understand more about
Carver’s curriculum to get to the crux of its achievement strategy yet I
(unsurprisingly) had a difficult time finding information on what the
vocational component to the school actually is.
I did, however, find a website called “Great Schools” that allows users
to post reviews and see a report card and other details about schools, and I
found some information on Carver written by students and alumni.
One post
particularly caught my eye: “Carver focuses more on trade and less on college
prep, and in todays [sic] world that
could be a huge mis-step. Trade careers
are no longer as gainful as they once were.
Carver assumes that your [sic]
not college material.” This was
especially interesting to me because I had just come across an article in
Bloomberg entitled “What Germany Can Teach the U.S. About Vocational Education”
that said something pretty provocative: “America for too long has attempted a
cookie-cutter approach to secondary education: Stay in school; go to college;
and we’ll all be happy. To our continued
consternation, it doesn’t always work.”
The
article mentioned a lot of interesting points regarding the American
educational system and students within many schools across country who are “bored
by traditional studies” or might have a preference to work with their hands or
simply might not have penchant or aptitude for college. And while “Americans often see such students
as victims,” the article noted, “Germans see these students as potential assets
who might one day shine if they’re matched with the right vocation.” I found another article published by U.S.
News that referenced the value of vocational schools due to their ability to
prepare high school students for jobs immediately following
apprenticeships. In turn, this has a
positive impact on youth employment rates and benefits the overall economy.
We’ve
been talking about alternatives to traditional public schools, like charters
and vouchers, and I wonder what others’ thoughts are on considering opening
more vocational schools or having some public schools be more
vocational-focused. Are we as a country
too focused on educating students to make them college-ready rather than
life-ready? Would vocational schools
provide the appropriate means for students to gain the skills they want and
could use more readily?
Relevant links referenced:
No comments:
Post a Comment