As of late, students in the career tech center (CTE) have noticed how the program is changing with the removal of our wood shop program. Former teacher Mr. Robley is not instructing anymore and substitutes are doing their best to keep the terminated program going for the remainder of the school year. The concern among many is that changes in schedules will also mean program changes overall too. Already, we’ve seen start times, and advisory blocks being woven into the new system. Another massive change along the horizon is the possible introduction of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).

With the career tech program being challenged by this new set of core curriculum some find that the trade industry is being blocked from students. If the career tech classes offered start to go extinct, Portsmouth may likely have less graduates who take interest in the trades and get jobs offered to them after graduation. The real world application of these programs is highly important to the 14million students who are in 1,300 schools. (Jobs for the Future).

The goal of many CTE departments is that not everyone needs a four year college in order to be successful. The infrastructure of our country is just as important as the jobs that work within it. Former U.S Secretary Arne Duncan had a “Blueprint for Transforming Career and Technical Education” In this address he had stated that “The need to strengthen and elevate CTE is urgent.” Despite the address being given in April of 2012, it is still very relevant today.  CTE Month in February celebrates the various programs that are offered in schools that prepare students for high-wage and high-demand jobs including: Hospitality, child care, the trades, health care, business management, and many others that are not conventionally offered in the core curriculum.   

To see these programs in jeopardy is an alarming as this shows that Portsmouth High School may begin to devaluing trades in the school system. This leads many of our students with no hands on learning to turn to since not everyone conventionally learns well in a classroom or is interested in those types of subjects.