Colette Marie McLaughlin: Don’t look down on ‘blue-collar’ skills, they pay well
Re: “Five reasons career technical education makes sense” (modbee.com, Nov. 27): As an Industrial and Technology educator who has observed SHOP (Superior Hand-On Programs) being decimated over the past three decades, the recent onslaught of articles written by “experts” who have been “enlightened” about the value of Career Technology Education is comforting.
Nevertheless, reading another academic espouse misguided Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics rhetoric devoid of “shop” is troubling. This emphasis on theoretical book learning is costly to all students, especially recent college graduates burdened with incredible debt unable to find high-paying jobs needed to pay off student loans.
Stanislaus County Office of Education administrator Scott Kuykendall echoes the cringe-worthy prejudice against shop courses used to kill shop and its associated skill-building programs in his op-ed. This flawed belief that academic training is an improvement over what he alluded to as antiquated “blue collar” training.
Yes, CTE is invaluable. However, decision makers need to realize academic analysis is no substitute for shop prowess. Until they do, our schools will continue to produce graduates who are unqualified for high-skilled, high-paying jobs that are going unfilled as way too many debt-strapped college graduates are unable to find decent jobs.
Colette Marie McLaughlin, CTE Instructor, Gavilan College, Gilroy
This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Colette Marie McLaughlin: Don’t look down on ‘blue-collar’ skills, they pay well."