Reading Monday's editorial, "Tickets to success" (March 23) took me back to the late 1960s and early 1970s when the career education movement envisioned a "meaningful education" for all students, K-12. All teachers, not just guidance counselors, were asked to help students recognize that what they were learning in school was important to them as they eventually graduated from high school and entered the world of work or went on to college.
High school was viewed as a two-way street with one street leading to preparation for college and professional careers and the other street leading to preparation for immediate careers in the world of work. Vocational high schools had an important role in this process. However, as the workplace began to change and manufacturing jobs disappeared, educators began to wonder if a high school education was going to be adequate preparation for the emerging service and technical centered economy. Unfortunately, this led to the notion that all students must now be prepared to go to college, and, vocational education programs were de-emphasized.
Instead, schools started to encourage more and more students to take Advanced Placement classes, and the STEM Movement focused on science, technology, math and engineering preparation for college. Magnet schools also appeared as an option for some students who were deemed worthy to attend. This left the traditional high school with many students who were not part of these programs sitting in classrooms with little or no guidance about future career plans but still with the notion that they were all college bound. And maybe they are.
Your editorial is right on the mark. Perhaps the community colleges must now take on the crucial role that vocational high schools once played in the 1960s and 1970s. This is not to say that they must give up their role as a stepping stone to a four-year degree for those students pursuing careers requiring one. In fact, this dual role of community colleges is more critical then ever as the cost of a four year college education is now beyond the reach of many students.
But more importantly, the two year programs offered by community colleges in the areas now emerging as growing career opportunities are often of far more interest to students in today's world. They see little reason for attending the traditional four-year college, taking academic classes of little interest to them. Many of them then spend years looking for a job, often ending up working in an area that only required a two-year degree or less.
As your editorial suggests, "in an economy that depends on a highly educated workforce, job applicants with marketable skills are always at a premium." Community colleges and K-12 educators can help students get these skills by working together to provide career guidance and the programs for students to meet their career goals.
Robert Jervis
The writer is the former coordinator of career education for Anne Arundel County.