School to Work Programs Initiatives

School-to-Work Programs

Every school board now offers school-to-work (STW) programs, which are designed to meet the needs of a large portion of today's students - those who are work-bound as soon as they graduate high school. Many of these programs allow students to enroll as apprentices and accumulate hours and experience towards a qualifying certificate in a specific profession while earning credits towards their high school graduation diploma, as well.

While advocates of such programs argue that they give additional relevance and meaning to the educational process as a whole and give students real opportunities to make connections between theory and actual practice, opponents believe that these types of programs are pervasive and prevent students from receiving a thorough and valuable education.

This paper supports the opposing viewpoint of school-to-work programs, arguing that education that concentrates on job training results in graduates who are less adaptable and less able to change occupations without retraining. Without training in liberal arts, many high school graduates have difficulty learning new skills and adjusting to new jobs.

About School-to-Work Programs

In 1994, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWO) was passed. According to supporters of the law, it "provided a national framework to broaden educational and career opportunities for all students by encouraging partnerships between business and educational institutions at the state and local levels." Basically, the law combined classroom instruction with work-based training in an effort to prepare students for college or careers with a future.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2001), in order to create a national school-to-work system, the departments of labor and education provide start-up grants to states and local communities. In addition, the federal government, states and communities can build on programs such as vocational education, technology preparation, youth apprenticeship, career academics, school-based enterprises, job training programs, and cooperative education to create school-to-work systems and transform learning in high schools.

Problems with STW Programs

Supporters of school-to-work programs claim that they help students make a connection between what they learn in school and the opportunities that arise when they graduate. However, by the use of interest and ability inventories, these programs often guide students into careers they will not be happy with.

In addition, these programs encourage students to make career decisions when they are still in high school, guiding them to pursue educational paths that will support these decisions. However, few high school students have a firm idea of their goals for the future.

It can be argued that school-to-work programs place too much emphasis on the needs of businesses and ignore the rights of workers. Many educators feel that a curriculum that focuses on career skills deprives students of knowledge and activities that promote their growth as individuals.

School-to-work programs tend to transform the mission of high schools from teaching students knowledge and skills to training a workforce to support the local and global economies. In the future, these programs are likely to wear away academic work by substituting job training for traditional education.

Vocational-technical education has been available to high school students for decades. However, when these types of courses replace basic skills such as reading, science, and history as primary sources of education, children are losing the most valuable part of their education in order to help improve the economy.

According to Cook (2001), "Research reveals that education oriented to job training produces graduates who are less adaptable and less able to change occupations without considerable retraining. However, graduates of liberal arts education can readily learn new skills and adjust to new jobs. Gaining knowledge of history, science, and the arts has value far beyond the world of work. It is most important for our schools to educate Americans to be vigilant guardians of their freedom, and to teach them how to be able to take advantage of the social and economic opportunities that a free society affords."

Conclusion

Learning about history, science, mathematics and the arts has intrinsic value that stretches beyond the work world to affect the personal, social and professional lives of people. Thus, schools have a responsibility to teach students about the roots of their freedom, and educate them on the social and economic opportunities that a democratic society offers. For this reason, school-to work programs are robbing students of a greater future by simply training them to be skilled at a specific trade.