On January 27, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona toured programs and spoke with Information Technology, Broadcast Production and 3D Design students at Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma City, OK. The Secretary spoke in a roundtable session with the students about the ways in which Francis Tuttle is preparing students for successful careers through CTE.
”I came here because I heard this program is great, and it’s providing real-world learning opportunities for employment,” said Secretary Cardona after visiting Francis Tuttle’s programs and learning about the projects that they are currently working on.
”This is an example of what we want to see across the country,” said Cardona. “If we can, what I call ’blur the lines’ between our high school systems, our college systems and our industry, I think our students are going to have better opportunities throughout the country.”
The Secretary also noted his desire to expand CTE in comprehensive high schools nationwide. “Students need to have real-world experiences in the industries that are prevalent in their communities.”
Secretary Cardona’s comment that we should “blur the lines” between high school, college and industry are right on target, and CTE is uniquely qualified to accomplish this by providing relevance to the classroom. In fact, we should ideally seek “erasure” of the line by providing relevance that answers the question: “Why do I need to learn this content or skill?”.
Relevance of “academic” content is a much overlooked, yet critical, source of motivation for students. Tying course content to their futures can motivate students to want to learn. Every teacher should be able to explain how their content relates to the “real world.”
Ultimately, this linkage can only lead to a discussion of their careers.
Posted by: Wade K. Talley, Ed.D. | 02/01/2023 at 11:41 AM