Hot Topic : August 2002
Career education - quick fix or job security

by Kay Colley
Many people in today's society believe that a university degree is not only the ticket to perpetual employment, but an imperative part of life. But with the recent demise of the economy and the ensuing stagnation of the high-tech industry, high schools students are looking more at career education.

While the preparation for college, known as a general education, is not mutually exclusive, career education often has a tendency to exclude students from college.

Although the career education offered by high schools throughout Texas is to provide students with quantifiable skills when they graduate from high school, the emphasis on career preparation often leaves students with the attitude that college is an unnecessary continuation of their education.

While this is not the purpose of career education, it is sometimes the unintended consequence. So just what happens when high schools throughout the state continue to provide services for students who seek career education and not just a general education in preparation for college work? Does this focus on career education just provide a quick fix for employers and students? Or is it the solution of the future?

Career education is nothing new. Plano Independent School District is just an example of what high schools offer students who have other goals in mind than pursuing a college degree. Plano¹s career education program contains a director, Ron Winkelmann, and two coordinators, Judy Cordell and Dick Thedford.

Plano provides more than 80 courses that allow students to explore their interests and aptitudes. The courses can lead to internships and job experience that often give students a "leg up"" on their competition when they graduate from high school. According to the career education department, the skills that students gain in these programs are skills that business and industry say are vital to today's economy. The skills listed are reading and writing skills, team building, flexibility, communication, and skills designed for a particular industry or job.

Students can even leap frog from these programs into a vocational, technical or community college, to work on a certification or gain greater skills in their chosen field. Collin County Community College District offers certifications in at least 13 areas in addition to their standard Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degrees. Students can gain certificates in everything from applied graphic design technology to biotechnology, child development, and hotel/restaurant management.

CCCCD has support from many businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for these programs. Some of these programs, such as hotel/restaurant management, also require on-the-job experience, with the program boasting 1,000 hours of work experience directly related to the field upon completion of the program.

These programs that focus on job skills rather than a general education allow students who are interested in a particular field to get immediate training and begin their careers. But what if the economy changes? What if a downturn in the economy drops a bomb on one particular industry, and jobs in that industry go from bountiful to scarce? What do people who have a limited set of skills do?

They retrain. At least that's what many people in the dot com and computer technology fields did or have done. Some people who are trained in computer programming and technology have turned to sales as an alternative route computer sales, realty, clothing sales. Some have turned to teaching. Others have turned to colleges and universities throughout the nation to find new skills, updated skills, or additional skills to make themselves more marketable in a tight economy.
Some colleges and universities see training for specific job functions as counterproductive to their overall missions. Others see career education as a response to a societal need. And others, in response to business and economic development issues, work with area businesses to provide the training and education that workers will need for an evolving economy.

But just what is career education? According to Plano ISD, career education allows students to gain skills, allowing them to pursue their career goals successfully. Current types of programs offered at Plano ISD are semester or full-year courses, with areas of study including agriculture science, family and consumer sciences, health and science technology, business and information technology, technology education and trade and industrial education. Internships are also available, allowing students to meet daily for two or three hours, providing non-paid training in a field. Students meet on campus for a specific amount of time, and then off campus at local businesses. Internships are currently provided in health science technology, early childhood professions, automotive technology, and drafting. Some of these programs offer certification for students who pass state exams, such as an Emergency Medical Technician certification. Cooperative education is where students meet one period daily on campus within a particular area of study, and then are employed in a related training station for paid employment a minimum of 15 hours per week. Plano provides co-op programs in business and information technology, agriculture education, marketing education, home economics career preparation, and industrial cooperative education.

This type of high school preparation differs from a general education, whereby students take classes in history, government, math, science, English, and other traditional courses. This type of education has become synonymous with college preparation.

Many colleges and universities have been supportive of career education programs provided by high schools, and students who have been prepared for a career have often decided to further their education in college. So while the programs of career education and general education seem to be mutually exclusive, they actually aren't. Most colleges have even taken the idea of career preparation and fused it with college coursework, providing internship opportunities for students and input from business interests. Some universities, such as the University of North Texas, even have advisory boards of professionals that help departments make their training and education more relevant to today's workplace.

So how does this affect business, high schools, the universities, and most of all students? When business has the opportunity to work with schools to train prospective employees, business wins. When high schools provide business with well-trained workers and colleges with well-educated students, high schools win. When universities, get well-educated freshmen who need not be "brought up to speed," universities win.
Kay Colley is a freelance writer for Inside Collin County Business.

return to top of page

 
Inside Collin County Business Links

News
Business Beat | Briefs | Community Reports | Columns
Resource Directory | Search | Archives

Resources
Event Calendar | Business Resources | Subscribe
About ICCB | Contact Us | Advertising