Career & Technical Ed
I am a member of the expert elite class. I hold degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Women’s Studies. These degrees have served me well mainly because I am STEM-based and the world compensates STEM. Although I would not trade my degrees, this way, I understand, is not the only way.
Career and Technical Education has taken a back seat in recent memory. When I was in High School, CTE was extremely important. In fact, I was well-studied in computer network engineering in anticipation of going the CTE route after High School. This option was concrete, reachable, understandable, and approachable for a young high school student. Further, a CTE certification commands high compensation. Many of those who take CTE seriously can earn $60K or more without going $200,000 in debt to a university.
This is one (among many) reason I made my way to Ellis County, TX. CTE is well respected and well-supported in this area. When I was young, I had the option of CTE and I would not have done as well as I have in life absent that option. I want the same for my children.
The choice to get the training necessary to complete a certification and enter adulthood with a title is a great choice. The people I know who have certifications did far better than those without in the COVID lockdowns. When your set of skills builds and maintains the infrastructure relied upon by today’s society, you tend to weather storms well.
Here in Wacahachie, high school students have the express option of taking up a technical education path. They can leave high school certified and ready to work. The main differences between CTE and college are
CTE starts you the day after high school graduation if you are successful in your certifications
CTE incurs significantly less debt
CTE is more hands-on and focused on the vocation whereas college is more general
Both CTE and college can be foregone in early life and taken up later if one would like making both a good option after a life event or for a change of pace.
The generality of college can give some pause to families. Not all colleges are created equal. Some colleges have been referred to as “indoctrination camps”. The breadth of agency a college is given in the shaping of our youth is a factor these institutions have been tuning for quite some time. Some colleges are more liberal and provide just about everything imaginable as a focus area, minor, or major so the student can choose the education they seek to receive. Other colleges have a more classical interpretation of their place in society and have tailored curricula that has been curated mercilessly to provide the precise education they seek to provide.
All of this fluff is left to an individual’s own reading and curiosity when taking the CTE route. As far as I can tell there are no gender studies or critical race theory CTE programs offered. CTEs provide a focused program to the very pursuit for which it has been written.
This is all to say there is a choice students can make. College is not the end all be all. For some careers (like software, data, and AI) college makes a great deal of sense. For other things, it may not make sense. I know a lot of people paying off student loans for programs they don’t use in jobs they could have gotten without the debt; I don’t know anyone certified in electrical or pipefitting who is in that same position.