That age old argument that we have seen between DuBois and Booker T.Washington; working class vs. middle or educated class; blue vs. white color. These are nothing but labels, distinctions, and tools to create an unnecessary "other", for academic and vocational training should not be pit against each other, but stand side-by-side. They should be classroom neighbors, and more importantly, classroom co-teachers- why should these two educational concepts have to be pitted against each other?
I taught at Options PCS, once a school geared towards children with varying special learning needs; it also housed a vocational program, with cosmetology, barbering, culinary arts, and ROTC. Cardozo SHS has/had a construction program. Fairfax County schools had a vocational program that send Centreville students to Chantilly to take vocational programs. And in all those instances, I know for certain many "black" or special needs students where participants.
Cognitive and historic factors play a role here. Many of our youth are hands-on, so they can understand chemistry through hair care or culinary arts; our boys master geometry by making calculations to build a house. Worldwide, people have traditional learned by doing more so than by being told. My motto is always that we are too busy training and not doing enough educating, but part of that requires us to know our students and know what and how to teach them. And that includes knowing how to prepare them for the future- and what future to prepare the for.
Most of us in the classroom are academics- that is how we got the jobs we have (with the exception of art and vocational teachers- you all are not only academics, but fall into another categories- the workers and doers). Our students may not want to follow our path. Instead of chastising them for bucking training for the present, let's change our attitudes and conversations. Perhaps we are not realistically at the future of our youth. Go to school and rack up loans? How many adults complain about this? And then urge students to go to school. Sound hypocritical, doesn't it? Or if they don't like high school or find it relevant, why go to college? Just because we say so?
I think education is a life-long process, but I think we must open up our views on what education looks like. Vocational schools are not to be frowned upon- our local plumbers and electricians are making 90,000+ a year, without school loans. Kinda changes the conversation on education and economics, does it not?
And how about other forms of education? Workshops, exchange programs, just to name a few. Some of the ideas I have do not even exist. How about a DIY school? That is to me is the education of the future, as it will teach people how to do for Self and be less reliant on others. It gives people a skill, a trade, something that they can take with them for the rest of their lives.
Vocation, etymologically, is your calling. We really need to re-think the concept of vocational education, for the sculpting and training of young people is not based on their calling, but on what policymakers, business owners, administrators, and teachers want them to learn, or believe they should learn.
I have the opportunity to talk to students about their future goals and help them make plans, as it is apart of a student's IEP to have a transition services. Students need to be exposed to more than just traditional jobs, but how to live off the their strengths and develop their weaknesses enough to become successful. They need a formula; that is what I think can capture and hook them, make them invested in school. I don't think they have given up on themselves like people say; rather, they have come to the bleak realization that their life is likely to be a debt-filled and grim as our own. And they want a way out and beyond that. We need to learn the keys so that we can pass them to our students.
#JustMyTwoCents
I taught at Options PCS, once a school geared towards children with varying special learning needs; it also housed a vocational program, with cosmetology, barbering, culinary arts, and ROTC. Cardozo SHS has/had a construction program. Fairfax County schools had a vocational program that send Centreville students to Chantilly to take vocational programs. And in all those instances, I know for certain many "black" or special needs students where participants.
Cognitive and historic factors play a role here. Many of our youth are hands-on, so they can understand chemistry through hair care or culinary arts; our boys master geometry by making calculations to build a house. Worldwide, people have traditional learned by doing more so than by being told. My motto is always that we are too busy training and not doing enough educating, but part of that requires us to know our students and know what and how to teach them. And that includes knowing how to prepare them for the future- and what future to prepare the for.
Most of us in the classroom are academics- that is how we got the jobs we have (with the exception of art and vocational teachers- you all are not only academics, but fall into another categories- the workers and doers). Our students may not want to follow our path. Instead of chastising them for bucking training for the present, let's change our attitudes and conversations. Perhaps we are not realistically at the future of our youth. Go to school and rack up loans? How many adults complain about this? And then urge students to go to school. Sound hypocritical, doesn't it? Or if they don't like high school or find it relevant, why go to college? Just because we say so?
I think education is a life-long process, but I think we must open up our views on what education looks like. Vocational schools are not to be frowned upon- our local plumbers and electricians are making 90,000+ a year, without school loans. Kinda changes the conversation on education and economics, does it not?
And how about other forms of education? Workshops, exchange programs, just to name a few. Some of the ideas I have do not even exist. How about a DIY school? That is to me is the education of the future, as it will teach people how to do for Self and be less reliant on others. It gives people a skill, a trade, something that they can take with them for the rest of their lives.
Vocation, etymologically, is your calling. We really need to re-think the concept of vocational education, for the sculpting and training of young people is not based on their calling, but on what policymakers, business owners, administrators, and teachers want them to learn, or believe they should learn.
I have the opportunity to talk to students about their future goals and help them make plans, as it is apart of a student's IEP to have a transition services. Students need to be exposed to more than just traditional jobs, but how to live off the their strengths and develop their weaknesses enough to become successful. They need a formula; that is what I think can capture and hook them, make them invested in school. I don't think they have given up on themselves like people say; rather, they have come to the bleak realization that their life is likely to be a debt-filled and grim as our own. And they want a way out and beyond that. We need to learn the keys so that we can pass them to our students.
#JustMyTwoCents
RSS Feed
