Education Technology

College is not for everyone. But, education policy loves to say that we are making students "college ready", whatever that really means. We need to focus on giving students certain knowledge and skills, but college ready is not the only focus we should have.

A report I saw today (sorry, can't find link) said that 2.1 million college students are MIA. They were tracking the number of college freshmen, and then the number of graduates. The data is hard to get because there isn't any true data collection. I'm sure everyone knows some students that have not finished college. College isn't for everyone.

College is expensive. If you really don't know what you want to do, should you really spend all that money to "find yourself", or would it be better to work for a while and explore things. Some students are not mature or socially or emotionally ready for college. Some students have interests and job wants that don't require college.

I think we need more career/job training in schools. We need plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and carpenters. They make good money too. We really need skilled machinists in this country. CT has a huge shortage. Engineers I know tell me that their companies can't find enough machinists, and they make very good money.

College is great for some people. It's not for everyone. Schools should not focus on "College Ready", we should focus on "future ready." We should focus on giving students the skills to succeed in college, technical school, apprenticeships, or any job.


Related:

10 Important Skills Students Need for the Future

Choosing a career is a tough thing for students. The more exposure they have to information about different career fields and what they do, the more informed decision they can make. Career shadowing, field trips, and guest speakers are great ways to expose them to these things.

The CBIA (Connecticut Business and Industry Association) has a great site with education resources. One part of it is called "Career Pathways." In this section, there are videos and teacher's guides for helping students learn about different careers. I've used them and the resources are excellent. For the engineering career one, they have interviews with engineers and follow them on their daily work. The teacher guides have lesson ideas and student resources that make these very easy to use.

I recommend them to career teachers and counselors as well as class room teachers. You can use these to connect what you are teaching to real world careers.

The career areas are: Energy and Green Technology, Engineering, Health and Biosciences, and Manufacturing. Even though it is geared towards Connecticut, anyone can use these resources.

CTEduOnline - career and technical education resources