Imagine a choice, one single choice that could have extraordinary benefits to both life now and far into the future. With benefits ranging from decreased stress levels and personal pride in school, all the way to increased salary in the a future career .This choice is simple, take CTE classes or don't. CTE classes are taken by 14 million students in 1,300 high schools and 1,700 colleges across the country (Clagett), and many schools are overhauling their old CTE also known as vocational classes so they too can increase the career readiness of their students. But it still isn’t enough. There are many jobs available for students with the skills provided by these classes. The US economy is based on the strength and skill of the workforce, which …show more content…
In more densely populated areas, this number increases to almost 50%. Many students drop out because while still in school they cannot see any use for the information they are learning. Many ask themselves, ‘When will I use this in life?’, and for many of them the answer is never. Eighty-one percent of dropouts claim that if they would have had classes in which they could see a clear ,real world relationship it would have kept them in school. That is a huge number of students who are now stuck working in minimum wage jobs or struggling to earn a GED. CTE education has an unmistakably clear connection to the real world and could potentially have helped prevent these dropouts. Studies show that students who concentrate in CTE classes have a 93% graduation rate. That is almost 20% higher than the national average. Seventy-five percent of these graduates go on to some form of postsecondary education (What …show more content…
Well, to begin with, it is extremely costly. This is especially true for schools without some pre-existing vocational education setup (Duncan). While CTE class requirement varies widely, they almost all require the students to become proficient in handling the tools for that specific trade. For a carpentry class, this could mean saws, hammers, lumber, etc. For a marketing class, the tools may be computers and software to run business simulators. In addition, these classes need space. This often requires construction of new workshops and classrooms which adds additional costs. All of this can be overwhelming for any school administration. They put forth all of this and if the programs are not executed properly, they can become faulty if not completely useless. Furthermore, there is a set number of classes that a student can take before graduation. Therefore, if they take CTE classes it limits the number of additional core classes that can be taken. With these pretty major consequences, it is not surprising that some schools are hesitant to embrace CTE (TeGrotenhuis). Even with the massive cost related to starting CTE programs, the benefits, listed in the paragraphs above, clearly outweigh the costs.
Ultimately, the application of CTE classes and programs will greatly add to the employability and transferable skills of any student. This will lead to a rise in employment rates, the