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There are plenty of practical skills taught in American schools and plenty of opportunity for students to develop live skills and specific tech skills.
Students still need to master the basics and that is what graduation requirements are for. So many years of required math, English, social studies, science, and language. But there are still plenty of options.
The district I teach at actually has two magnet programs for students to get specific skills, either part-time or full-time.
There is a tech academy will all manner of specific things taught from construction to culinary science to aircraft mechanics: https://www.cascadiatechnicalacademy.org/
And there is a health/science academy with lots of specific training in biotechnology, nursing, pharmacy science, public health, etc. https://sites.google.com/evergreenps...enrietta-lacks Obviously most of those careers are going to require more higher education than just HS but this does give students a chance to start down those roads.
Most of the other larger districts around the country have similar options. Obviously small districts with limited resources can't offer as much as big districts. That is simply economies of scale.
Last edited by texasdiver; 02-07-2024 at 05:11 PM..
-No classes on impulse control, self-discipline, conflict resolution, etc.
We took a semester of health in high school. 3 years of health and 1 year of drivers ed.
For 1 of the health classes, let's have some sort of anger management training. But give it a more palatable name like conflict resolution strategies or something like that. Can't hurt.
It is one thing to have some understanding of financial issues. It takes some research to be able to teach all aspects of financial literacy such as IRAs, Roth IRAs, health, vehicle, and homeowners insurance, credit scores, buying a house, etc.
Good point! Look at the situation with the mother who was convicted of manslaughter because her son murdered four students at a high school in Michigan. I saw an interview yesterday with a couple of the parents and they wanted to sue the school. How much social responsibility should schools have for identifying students with mental health issues when the parents are not assuming their parental responsibility?
Well who does that type of evaluation ? CPS ? If so then hire them to be teacher aids as well as CPS and they bypass a lot of government paperwork because they will have witnessed first hand.
I know I got no mental health type of training ..I was strictly academic..
Learning about al the different spectrums of autism and how to deal with each came as OJT.....
Well who does that type of evaluation ? CPS ? If so then hire them to be teacher aids as well as CPS and they bypass a lot of government paperwork because they will have witnessed first hand.
I know I got no mental health type of training ..I was strictly academic..
Learning about al the different spectrums of autism and how to deal with each came as OJT.....
Schools do try to identify students who pose violent threats. Beyond that they don't really have mental health professionals on staff other than counselors who aren't really trained for that sort of thing but do it anyway.
There is a shortage of mental health professionals across all aspects of society. Schools can't afford to keep a bunch of them on staff. And it is exceedingly difficult for parents to find good mental health professionals for their children even if they are wealthy and have good insurance. We have gone through that with one of our kids. It was worse during the pandemic. And if the parents are poor and on Medicaid, or have no insurance, much worse still.
I was curious about the part of the question about trades, so I looked at our local high school's course catalog. I'm sure some of the following classes would sufficiently fit under that category:
Trade and Industrial:
Auto Collision Svc (1, 2 & 3), Auto Technology (1, 2, & 3), Carpentry (1, 2, & 3), Construction Tech (1, 2, 3), Cosmetology (1, 2), Criminal Justice (1, 2), Elec Const & Eng (1, 2, 3), Heating & AC (1, 2), Prof Photo Studio (1, 2), TV Media Production (1, 2, 3), Welding (1, 2)
Technology and Engineering:
STEM Design, STEM Pre-Engineering, STEM Engineering HN, STEM AdvEngineering HN, Engineering Drawing, Architect Drawing, Aerospace Science (1, 2), Electronics, Engineer Systems (1, 2), Robotic Systems (1, 2), Engineer Math
Marketing:
Marketing, Fashion Marketing (1, 2), Sports Enter Marketing, Sports Enter Management, Entrepreneurship (1, 2), Social Media Marketing
Health and Medical Sciences:
Expl Lang Medicine, Health Informatics, Health Science, Biotech Foundation, Medical Code & Bill (1, 2), Medical Assistant (1, 2), Intro to Nursing (1, 2), Patient Care Tech, Practical Nursing (1, 2), Phys/Occ Therapy (1,2), Dental Careers (1, 2), Pharmacy Tech (1, 2), Veterinary Science (1, 2), 911 Dispatch, Emerg Med Tech (1, 2), Firefighting (1, 2)
Family and Consumer Sciences:
Life Planning, Nutrition and Wellness, Child Dev & Parenting, Culinary Arts (1, 2), Culinary Operations, Pastry Arts, Fashion Careers (1, 2)
Business and Information Technology:
Business Law, Business Mgmt, Accounting, Information Systems, Adv Information Sys, Web Page Development, CS Programming, Cybersecurity Fund, Accounting, Adv, Accounting, Cyber: Oracle, Adv Game Design & Dev, Cloud Computing, Cyber: Net Admin (1, 2), Cyber: Cisco
I was curious about the part of the question about trades, so I looked at our local high school's course catalog. I'm sure some of the following classes would sufficiently fit under that category:
Trade and Industrial:
Auto Collision Svc (1, 2 & 3), Auto Technology (1, 2, & 3), Carpentry (1, 2, & 3), Construction Tech (1, 2, 3), Cosmetology (1, 2), Criminal Justice (1, 2), Elec Const & Eng (1, 2, 3), Heating & AC (1, 2), Prof Photo Studio (1, 2), TV Media Production (1, 2, 3), Welding (1, 2)
Technology and Engineering:
STEM Design, STEM Pre-Engineering, STEM Engineering HN, STEM AdvEngineering HN, Engineering Drawing, Architect Drawing, Aerospace Science (1, 2), Electronics, Engineer Systems (1, 2), Robotic Systems (1, 2), Engineer Math
Marketing:
Marketing, Fashion Marketing (1, 2), Sports Enter Marketing, Sports Enter Management, Entrepreneurship (1, 2), Social Media Marketing
Health and Medical Sciences:
Expl Lang Medicine, Health Informatics, Health Science, Biotech Foundation, Medical Code & Bill (1, 2), Medical Assistant (1, 2), Intro to Nursing (1, 2), Patient Care Tech, Practical Nursing (1, 2), Phys/Occ Therapy (1,2), Dental Careers (1, 2), Pharmacy Tech (1, 2), Veterinary Science (1, 2), 911 Dispatch, Emerg Med Tech (1, 2), Firefighting (1, 2)
Family and Consumer Sciences:
Life Planning, Nutrition and Wellness, Child Dev & Parenting, Culinary Arts (1, 2), Culinary Operations, Pastry Arts, Fashion Careers (1, 2)
Business and Information Technology:
Business Law, Business Mgmt, Accounting, Information Systems, Adv Information Sys, Web Page Development, CS Programming, Cybersecurity Fund, Accounting, Adv, Accounting, Cyber: Oracle, Adv Game Design & Dev, Cloud Computing, Cyber: Net Admin (1, 2), Cyber: Cisco
Also bear in mind that due to state laws (and not local schools) typical HS student doesn't really have a lot of extra room to dive deeply into those sorts of practical trades listed above. The last two states I have taught in were Texas and Washington which are on the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum but still pretty similar when it comes to high school. These are the mandatory graduation requirements established in STATE LAW in each state.
TEXAS
4 years English
3 years Math
3 years Science
3 years Social Studies
2 years language
1 year PE
5 years electives/CTE
WASHINGTON
4 years English
3 years Math
3 years Science
3 years Social Studies
2 years language
2 years health/PE
1 year arts (music/drama/art)
1 year CTE
4 years electives
Almost identical. The main difference is that WA mandates that one elective has to be arts and one elective be CTE. But gives students the flexibility to wave that and the language requirement if they develop a different specific pathway.
Basically this means that students even in magnet school programs only have a few free electives to actually do all those different career/tech classes. No one is going to learn an actual skilled trade in that amount of time. They are just going to get a taste of something that they might want to pursue further on. For example, Boeing doesn't hire aircraft mechanics straight out of a HS CTE program. That would be ridiculous. Nor do hospitals.
Because teachers need to stay employed, so public schools must teach silly subjects. Same reason college degrees are full of fluff courses.
If I had any say, every single grade K-12 would be taught personal finance/money management. Its one of the most important things you will do in your life.
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