Thanks Josh for your idea that vocational training is key to helping people be upwardly social mobile and rise out of poverty. It seems that public schools got derailed with the "no child left behind" nonsense that led to schools teaching to the test for the bureaucrats rather than to the needs and preferences of their students, families, and communities.
Many social programs have iatrogenic consequences - that is they make the very problems they were meant to address worse instead of better. The phenomenon of iatrogenic consequences is more lively when decision makers are thinking in linear and reductive ways rather than systemically.
One of the interesting things is that much better outcomes might be achieved by children when their parents are nurtured and supported though job training and vocational support themselves. When the parents are helped to function better their children do better. Adult educational opportunities for working parents is another aspect of CTE that can provide huge benefits for the parents, their children, and our community.
The k-12 educational journey is, at its foundation, the answer for addressing poverty, generational poverty and building a bridge which would eliminate the "cliff". Rochester, NY is a prime example. When you cannot provide a relevant education, you get kids that get educated on the street. They never even experience the "cliff". They just reside on the streets and experience to police, the crime, the drugs, teenage pregnancy and generational poverty. All kids have innate skills and or gifts. The K-12 journey needs to discover that skill/gift. Show them nothing but academics and you get dropouts. Dropouts who's first question is when dropping out....."what do I need this S--- for anyway?" Show them professions and careers and they will connect those perceived boring academics with those opportunities. This is not that difficult. It is, however, something the RCSB and the RCSD cannot seem to understand. So much education and intellect and zero ingenuity. Bring back the Edison Technical and Industrial of old. That was the crown jewel of the RCSD. It was systematically destroyed by the same intellect that is in charge today. The "cliff " highlights the educational failure. It would be greatly reduced with a comprehensive vocational education program. Those suggestions fall on deaf ears.
Thanks Josh for your idea that vocational training is key to helping people be upwardly social mobile and rise out of poverty. It seems that public schools got derailed with the "no child left behind" nonsense that led to schools teaching to the test for the bureaucrats rather than to the needs and preferences of their students, families, and communities.
Many social programs have iatrogenic consequences - that is they make the very problems they were meant to address worse instead of better. The phenomenon of iatrogenic consequences is more lively when decision makers are thinking in linear and reductive ways rather than systemically.
One of the interesting things is that much better outcomes might be achieved by children when their parents are nurtured and supported though job training and vocational support themselves. When the parents are helped to function better their children do better. Adult educational opportunities for working parents is another aspect of CTE that can provide huge benefits for the parents, their children, and our community.
The k-12 educational journey is, at its foundation, the answer for addressing poverty, generational poverty and building a bridge which would eliminate the "cliff". Rochester, NY is a prime example. When you cannot provide a relevant education, you get kids that get educated on the street. They never even experience the "cliff". They just reside on the streets and experience to police, the crime, the drugs, teenage pregnancy and generational poverty. All kids have innate skills and or gifts. The K-12 journey needs to discover that skill/gift. Show them nothing but academics and you get dropouts. Dropouts who's first question is when dropping out....."what do I need this S--- for anyway?" Show them professions and careers and they will connect those perceived boring academics with those opportunities. This is not that difficult. It is, however, something the RCSB and the RCSD cannot seem to understand. So much education and intellect and zero ingenuity. Bring back the Edison Technical and Industrial of old. That was the crown jewel of the RCSD. It was systematically destroyed by the same intellect that is in charge today. The "cliff " highlights the educational failure. It would be greatly reduced with a comprehensive vocational education program. Those suggestions fall on deaf ears.