My philosophy of Career and Technical Education revolves around a few basic principles. First, I believe that formal education is a necessity in the recipe for success. Gone I believe are the times where a student could drop out of high school and still find a rewarding modest paying career. Another belief of mine is that education should prepare people for specific jobs rather than just a broad field education. Having a highly skilled workforce is dependent on people being well-versed in their field. My third belief is that legislation has provided the foundations for Career and Technical Education and will continue to be influential in the future. Lastly, I believe that the explosion of technology over the last 20 years has helped Career and Technical Education grow and will continue to be a driving force going forward.
I strongly believe that people need a formal education to succeed. The education process is essential to the positive growth of our minds and our personalities. Education serves as the exercise that our brains need to become fully functional. Marian Cleeves Diamond writes, the nerve cells have more dendrites in college-educated people than in people with only a high school education. In addition, education helps to form and grow our personalities. The education process helps to give us the information and discipline that we need to shape our values and morals. If the education process was out of the equation then students would have to fend for themselves to learn these things. That can be a scary proposition depending on where they turn to.
Another belief that I have is based on the purpose of Career and Technical Education as being there to prepare people for specific jobs. It is essential for a student to get specific training and education in their field of choice. The general degree requirements serve their purpose in building our minds and personalities, but at some point the focus needs to be narrowed. There is the need to fine tune the education to match the specific skills and knowledge that are necessary to perform certain jobs. Each job has a set of proficiencies that are needed in order to be successful at it. If one does not attain these proficiencies from education they will struggle in their position.
Legislation has and will continue to have an impact on Career and Technical Education. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 is one such piece of legislation that has had a significant impact. One of the provisions of the act establishes a Twenty-First Century Workforce Commission. The purpose of the commission is to study matters related to the information technology workforce. The commission of 15 members was comprised of industry leaders, educators, and government officials who were to study the issue and report back to the President and Congress. The commission in 2000 published the report A Nation of Opportunity: Building America’s 21st Century Workforce.
In conclusion, my philosophy is simple and I will infuse my beliefs into my future teachings. I believe that education is necessary for success in this world. I also think that there is the need for being educated to do a specific job. Legislation in our country has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for Career and Technical Education. Our countries legislators will continue to be there to help pave the way for Career and Technical Education in the future. Finally, as technology evolves so too will Career and Technical Education. The demand for a highly skilled technology work force that is needed to support technological evolution will be feed by Career and Technical Education. Things have come a long way from the Apple IIe days on the monochrome screen to the full color glory of Internet to most recent times with the explosion of mobile computing applications.