Bill Would Aid Students Seeking Vocational Training
Mario Lozoya, with Toyota Texas, whose plant is located in San Antonio, told the Senate Public Education Committee on Tuesday that the plant is "the high tech" manufacturing facility in South Texas. That's why he regularly visits Central Texas high schools to make sure students are being trained to meet the plant’s job skill requirements.
Audio: Ben Philpott's story for KUT News
But he said that on many occasions, those expectations are not being met.
"It pains me when I go into a bay in Career Technology Automotive and there’s a '73 Chevy, with the instructor ...
Comments (11)
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
I would like to thank Senator Patrick for momentarily focusing on a relevant issue that might actually help education. All to often, his priorities are paranoid fantasies of the lunatic fringe. We don't need further gynecological regulation or pandering to people with fears of a United Nations takeover of whatever it is they're afraid of. Now, if we can just get you to provide the funding for the mandate you are considering, that would be great.
visule
Allowing students in Vo-Tech to substitute other classes for state mandated Core Math and Science would help many students complete their AA degrees. My own son has completed all requirements for AA Welding Technology but can’t pass the state required math class. He has taken remedial math classes for 5 years. I tried tutors, math labs, and school counselors, and he will never pass it. He has a math dyslexia. It’s the only requirement he has left. He just wants to be a welder, why can’t the junior college let him substitute another class so he can finish his AA degree. He is welding now, but not having that AA degree is a hindrance. How many other kids are in the same boat?
visule
One more thing, maybe highschools should offer non-college tracks that integrate with local colleges that offer the Vo-Tech.
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Excellent! This is long over do. I am sure that the education establishment will not be please since they convinced school districts to do away with vocational training.
Elizabeth K. Burton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The loss of technical and vocational training in high schools, and the lack of financial support for same post-graduation, is a prime example of people in charge trying to force everyone into their own image. As Matthew said, this is long overdue.
Shawn AndMichelle Wehmeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We have seen the opposite. Our district has seen the loss of a diverse vocational programs in our district (cosmetology, auto mechanics, marine trades, building trades, tech training, etc..) only to have them replaced with vocational programs that benefit local industry....( two years ago we cut traditional vocational programs, but added a process technology program and a industrial training facility that is for anyone post high school) The danger we are facing is having big business funnel our kids into their workforce, by eliminating other choices that do not include the regular college route! Kids in our district who are college bound beyond the local junior college are pretty much on their own as well. No college day, no specialized programs that help guide students interested in careers in the arts, sciences, engineering, medical field, etc., no GT/Honors programs, just random over filled AP classes where the main focus is the STAAR test, no magnet schools, no career or college counseling. Our district's biggest goal is having as many as possible pass the STAAR and graduating as many as possible as Texas Scholars. Two futile achievements for these students.
FYI: The increased "rigor" was never intended to prepare kids for college. The STAAR accomplished it's goal....increased student failures! What they didn't account for was the backlash from the high achieving schools' parents over the amount of testing and the 15% rule! The true intent has always been privatization of public schools! Preparing students on any level has never entered into their equation! It has always been about profits!
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Shawn, vocational training to some extent has always been tailored to the needs of the jobs in the locality. That is because part of vocational training is not only the school component but the hands on job training they get with local companies. For the most part the training they get can be used elsewhere. But the point was to provide them with a education/training so that they can get on with life in a meaningful manner. What vocational training there will be will vary. In Kingsville, TX, vocational training includes aircraft repair. They received a training jet from the Navy to use. There is a Naval Air Station in Kingsville as well.
I do not think you will have to worry about big business eliminating choices like going to college. Schools have been preparing kids for college for over a century now. That is not going to change. More colleges and degree choices now than 30 years ago. But our need for skilled labor is also increasing and our school have shortchanged those who are more inclined for that path.
What it boils down to is our school system has been subverted. Not by conservatives or big business but by the liberal elite who look down on people if they are not "well Educated" (i.e Masters or above education). The also forgot how to teach. The just want the funding. That is why we saw so many kids going into college in the 80's and 90's who supposedly graduated but were woefully prepared for college. Many of them were having to take remedial English and math. To create accountability end of year tests were started by many districts and then State wide testing. The State was tired of wasting money on poor performance. Look at North Forest ISD. So
So what did the school do? Well they certainly in many cases did not actually start to teach the material. They just trained kids to take a test. Which is not why schools exist. Is there too much testing? IS there too much emphasis on testing? Perhaps but if schools were being accountable for the product they are putting out and not just passing the buck then perhaps things would be different.
Perhaps the return to vocational programs along with the college prep programs, school would then be producing students who can succeed in society once they become adults. Test scores would go up and there would be a lesser need for all the testing.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Matthew,
Part of our problem in discussing education is that we cannot agree on the basic facts. I doubt you have set foot in a school since high school, however, the education you received allowed you to go on to college, graduate and work on Herman Cain's campaign. You can whine about the "liberal elites" and make derisive comments about the "education establishment,' however, the reality is that the curriculum is dertermined by the State Board of Education. Last time I checked, conservative Republicans were fairly dominant.
If you set foot in a school, you would realize that schools that are low performing are almost always educating poor students and students with limited English skills. Their parents probably have limited education as well. If a parent is working a minimum wage job and struggling to pay the rent, it's kind of hard to take time from work to go to a teacher conference or attend a PTA meeting. School districts, such as HISD have invested considerable resources in hiring and training effective teachers and in exiting teachers who are determined not to be effective.
As a parent with three kids in public school, I want more time devoted to learning new material and to the teaching of material in greater depth. The response of schools to the high stakes testing is a natural response to the stakes involved. If they don't meet AYP, there are fairly draconian sanctions. Consequently, about 1/3 of the school year is devoted to preparing for testing. You can blame the current situation on the liberal boogey man, however, the current system is George Bush's baby.
Like it or not, public education is one of those original provisions in the Texas Constitution. Those who founded the Republic of Texas understood that a well educated population was essential to a healthy democracy. People like you, who seem well educated seem to have forgotten that or wish to subvert our state constitution, in favor of a radical program of privatization. That notion is what is truly subversive and un-American.
Shawn AndMichelle Wehmeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Matthew I think you have missed the mark on so many levels! First, I totally understand the need to tailor vocational training for the immediate job market.....and those were the vocational programs we had in place before a school board full of industry reps dismantled and replaced them with training tailor made for the chemical plants in our county. I totally endorse hands on training, but am opposed to industry or any other entity limiting the choices our students have for their own profit! As for limiting the choice for college, it is not so much that they are eliminating the choice, rather that they are trying to dictate accessibility. While I will agree there are more college choices , the explosion of online for-profit universities and their widespread lack of credible coursework, credible degrees, and accredited faculty, while increasing the quantity of institutions of higher learning, have actually caused a decline in the quality. In addition, college is also less affordable and the percentage who are able to financially complete their degrees is also declining. While there always has been, and will continue to be a need for skilled labor, I think we shortchange our kids when we funnel them into a narrow career path that suits business and leaves them with little to no choice when and if the job they are trained for is outsourced, becomes obsolete, or simply fails to meet the needs of the worker. There simply is no substitute for a good education. It opens unlimited doors, provides the ability to create new paths for oneself and provides an abundance of opportunities not available otherwise.
As for the "liberal elite", by whom you seem to mean educators, "undermining" our schools by having the audacity to actually strive for a well educated and literate society, I say thank God they have been and continue to be the backbone of our schools. Were it not for the miracles they manage to perform every day in their underfunded, overcrowded, insufficiently supplied classrooms, the testing movement would have completely and successfully defeated our schools years ago.Your remarks are nothing more than partisan rhetoric that do not serve any purpose other than to demonize schools and teachers. The fact is teachers have not forgotten how to teach, they have simply been forbidden to do it in classrooms and curriculum across the state and nation, instead forced to adhere to a test driven curriculum that is neither appropriate nor effective. If you want to see kids woefully prepared for college, simply look at the intelligent, eager minds that been denied the opportunity to explore, to create, to challenge, and to apply true knowledge. They have been reduced to test taking drones who have spent their entire educational experience expected to perform on cue in testing marathons, choosing the less absurd answers, while maneuvering twisted and illogical testing landmines designed for failure. Check the number of students taking remedial coursework in our colleges across Texas and I think you will find they are on the rise.
The actual facts are that the entire testing fiasco has been and is still driven by ignorance on the part of big business! Their shortsighted greed is threatening to undermine our nation's greatest asset...the next generation of great minds! There is no denying the influence of big business in systematically turning our schools into testing factories. They have lobbied for it, funded it and even used it to bully not only our teachers, but our students into predetermined paths of failure. The mere reference to our students' education as a product, rather than a process, serves to exposes a blaring level of ignorance on the topic. I mean that not an an insult but a fact. Those who possess insight into how children learn understand and will attest to the fact that there are a million ways that teachers can and do evaluate learning everyday in their classrooms that are more meaningful, accurate and productive than the current testing protocol.
As for training, that could arguably be the only real use for these tests...they train kids to mindlessly jump through hoops, and follow directions that lead nowhere. They train them to abandon real thought and choose from predetermined answers, even if they don't agree with them. They train them to deny themselves the ability to challenge and engage in their own learning, becoming a passive rather than an active learner. One trains another in order to control them, one educates in order ensure their freedom!
There is no doubt in my mind that the past 2 decades of reform have led exactly where the architects of the corporate reform movement intended it to....to the verge of a new frontier of a corporate owned, corporate controlled, corporate designed educational system, whereby the hundreds of billions in education dollars, once out of reach for private entrepreneurs, are now ripe for the taking! While Pearson led the way, there have been many other greedy scavengers that have fallen into step, ready to pick at the bones of what they hope is the dying institution of free public education. From lobbyists to publishers, from politicians to testing consultants, from for-profit charter schools to disingenuous "education advocates", they have all had a part in crippling our schools and robbing an entire generation of an engaging, meaningful, and well rounded education.
From vocational training to college readiness, it will not be the business model or corporate reform that leads our students from this testing hell and back onto the path of an educated and successful future. It will be the educators, parents, and true education advocates who fight for them daily, who recognize and protest the harm that is being done as a result of the misuse of standardized testing. It will be those who call for a return to child centered, developmentally appropriate curricula in schools that are supported by communities who understand we all have a vested interest in the limitless potential rather than the profitability of our schools. It will be their unyielding ability to foresee each child's promising future as an adult with the determination to choose their own path, the passion for knowledge to prepare them for their chosen vocation, and the confidence to be engaged and deliberate participants in their own life, their community and their community as they leave their indelible mark on the future....that is what will secure our students' success in society, not a test score!
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
1) You have posted a contradiction. You say that you “understand the need to tailor vocational training for the immediate job market” but then lament “training tailor made for the chemical plants “ Remember that school districts are administered by people elected to the board by the people. They know what the local job market needs. They are charged with educating for that region and not the whole state. If an area like the Gulf Coast have a predominance of Chemical plants then that is going to be the need of the immediate job market. While that training may be industry specific, the training will still have much applicability outside that industry.
2) Colleges have always had and suppose to have a limited accessibility. That accessibility is based upon academic achievement. If there were not such limits colleges become nothing more than diploma mills which devalue the education given. That is why there are a varying level of colleges ranging from the elite to the average to the open admissions (which is not a desirable thing to have)
3) That has been true to some extent since institution of higher learning have been around. As I stated before there has always existed varying levels of institution of higher learning. Some are more prestigious than others. It is one of the trade-offs on having education accessible to more people.
4) To run a college, it cost money. If you want top rate instructors you are going to have to compensate them more or else they will work in the private sector. A College education should not be a given right. If you want it then you have to find the way to pay for it. Texas has done a pretty good job at funding colleges and producing top rate students. But it cost money. The State considers it an investment. At one time they paid about 80% of the cost. But that has dropped as the cost increased. When the Legislature increases tuition, it is always considered too much for the student and too little for the university to properly fund the programs. So the legislature allowed the Board of Regents to set rates to mix results. Texas is still by far very competitive costs for higher education compared to other states and produce good graduates.
5) Jobs becoming obsolete are a fact of life. Whether it is change in technology or “outsourcing” or relocating an industry, people have to be prepared to adapt and retrain. The education system provides a foundation but after that it is upon the individual to adapt to change.
6) by liberal elite, I do not lump all educators into that category but there are some educators in that group. They have been undermining the point of education with their social engineering agenda. They are the ones who come up programs that fail time and time again because they are the ones who are the farthest removed from the classroom that they have lost touch with reality of education.
They are the ones who abhor vocational training. As a result of their “everyone MUST go to college” mantra, we have so many students who drop out of high school and college, who are left floundering. They have discarded them by social promotion yet they are unable to read and write or do math despite funding increasing over the past decades. They are the ones who oppose testing to hold them accountable for the abysmal education system they have fostered and created.
7) My remarks are not partisan rhetoric but based upon the reality of the situation. I see it in the schools. I have taught in public schools. I know the history of much of our system being a 3rd generation teacher. You are right that teachers have forgotten how to teach. That was because they were not being held accountable for their work. They lost the meaning of being a professional. They were being dominated by the liberal elite who were more concerned about social engineering than education. Instead of teaching students the material they do teach the test. IF they taught the material then they would pass the test.
8) Students were already coming out of school not prepared for college prior to all the state testing. That was seen when state colleges were offering numerous remedial classes. That is why the state testing was implemented. To hold schools accountable. Why should the state waste money on school districts who consistently fail. Look at North Forest ISD and Premont ISD. Both are about to be merged with other school districts because they have FAILED to educate.
9) You ignore private enterprise. If private enterprise schools are so bad, then why is it that charter school are out performing public schools. Why are private school out performing Public schools? It is because they know that they do not have unlimited funds and that they are held accountable for their results. Just like a business. I am not saying that we need businesses taking over our schools but clearly there is much to learn from them in terms of management. Our education system is slow to react and change. But with each delay, more students are allowed to fail. Big Business only comes into the picture to supply books and materials but that is AFTER the Liberal Elite determine what curriculum that teachers must follow. You forget about that important step. Go through teacher training and you will see what I mean. The methods and materials are developed by PhD’s who are out of touch with reality.
10) Finally, you have to have accountability. Testing does provide that. There is really no other way to measure the success of a product along the way. You may not like the business models but it is true. Take any product and as parts are made, they are tested to see if they meet the standards required. Through out the whole process that is done to ensure that that not only are to components good but that they ultimately work together as the product should. Testing that is measured and documented and is verifiable. That is done before the product goes out to the public. Why is that done? Products that are produce that fail ultimately results in no one trusting that company. What then? The company identifies the problem and holds the appropriate people accountable.
The same is true with schools. We have trusted teachers for decades to produce students who are educated and they did but then there was corruption in the process. They were not longer educating as they suppose to be. As a result students graduated not being able to perform or succeed! To correct this problem they introduced testing. At first it was just graduation testing. That identified a problem but did not isolate the problem or cause. As a result testing at various levels was done to ensure that problems are identified early on. You have to hold them accountable for the results. If you do not want testing then you must gain accountability back and educate students that succeed and excel!
Unfortunately for some districts and schools, instead of rising to the challenge of educating they resort to test prepping. Is it any surprise? No, because we encourage test prepping like for the SAT and ACT.
I do not like testing but how else can we be sure that the teachers and districts do what they are suppose to be doing instead of wasting our money and injuring a generation of children with inferior education.
Michael Hull
Matthew, as usual, the facts have largely eluded you. Therefore, you are a conservative elite.