What are “Career Paths”…really? [more…]
April 15, 2010
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act was passed in 1994.
What it is NOT: An improved voc-tech system which simply offers students exposure to the world of work through a career day or job shadowing experience.
Stripped of deceptive packaging, “School-to-Work” or “Career Pathways” is…
- A STATE-MANAGED ECONOMY
- Schools as training centers for state projected employment slots.
- Appointed bureaucrats (“regional labor market boards”) who will:
Determine requirements for specific jobs
Issue certificates
Decide which job skills schools teach
Collect data to match jobs and people.
Schools will gear their instructional programs to fit the “needs” of the regional economy. Businesses, as “partners”, will get stuck with the bill (jobs, mentors, facilities, and hardware) for the system!
Gone is the traditional well-rounded, liberal arts education.
Adolescents will be choosing career majors! Welcome to the system that produces workers for the 21st century. “Productive Labor”, rather than an educated populace, is the end-all of education.
Some School-To-Work Facts:
- ALL students will be counseled at the earliest age possible, but no later than the 7th grade, to choose a career path. (Yes – your child will have to choose a career path!)
- ALL students will engage in work based experiences, during school hours, which will be governed by a contract between the student, school and employer. (Whether you want them to or not – there is no opting out!)
- The Commission on Student Learning will turn to business and labor to ensure that educators understand what students need to know. (Businesses will participate in the development of local school curriculum – whether you want them to or not!)
- Business, labor and other parties will be fully involved in the development of skill standards to determine duties, tasks, skills, knowledge and attitudes of successful workers.
- Basic skills and industry specific skills, according to local labor markets, will be embedded in academic standards, assessments and curriculum development. (Can you say “watered-down academics”?)
- New teaching methods stress group learning over individual achievement will be used.
- Teaching will be offered in the context of work. There will be no separation between what work requires and what students are taught.
- Data concerning every aspect of our children’s school and work experiences will be collected and made available to business, government and other entities through national databases.
How will you, the private businessperson, be affected if you choose to participate?
School-to-Work grants (contracts) will require one or more of the following of your business:
- Compliance with international standards and government regulations.
- Work-based learning training for “mentors” to supervise students in the program.
- Criminal background checks for all employees having contact with the student. On-site inspection of workplace conditions by program administrators.
- No choice in which students are assigned to your business.
In addition, the following other effects are possible.
- You may be training your competitor’s future employee.
- The disruption of the free market forces may affect your labor pool.
- Non-union businesses may be subject to union influences through labor partnerships in the grant.
Businesses will be expected to pay their “share”.
How will you, the businessperson, be affected if you choose NOT to participate?
Your competitor who does participate may have an economic edge on you due to:
- Tax incentives
- Free or subsidized labor
- Free or subsidized capital (A lathe or auto computer might be classified as “curricular materials” and be purchased by the grant moneys. This confuses the issue of ownership — government or private?)
- Quality of future employees is compromised, since increased job training leaves little school time for learning the basics (3 R’s).
- If you hire any high school student, you may automatically be subject to the School-to-Work grant regulations, whether or not you have signed onto the program.
According to Thomas Sticht, SCANS Commission testimony before the 101st Congress,
“Most companies have moved operations to places with cheap, relatively poorly educated labor. What may be crucial, they say, is the dependability of a labor force and how well it can be managed and trained — not its general education level, although a small cadre of highly educated creative people is essential to innovation and growth. Ending discrimination and changing values are probably more important than reading and writing in moving low-income families into the middle class.”
(SCANS is the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.
Please understand that it is the Secretary of Labor, not the Secretary of Education.)
How will School-to-Work Affect the Education of Your Future Employees?
- The students educated under this system — your future labor pool — will likely be missing the essential academic (3R’s) skills because of the reduced emphasis on teaching these disciplines. You can expect an increase in employees who are unable to read a training manual or make correct change.
- Teaching cutting-edge (and quickly changing) job technology to a student who may not use them before they become obsolete wastes scarce resources — the public’s and yours!
“To succeed in high performance work organizations, today’s students must master the New basic skills — teamwork, critical thinking, making decisions, communications, adapting to change and understanding whole systems.”
High Skills, High Wages, a publication of the Washington
State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, 1994
Unanswered Questions
- If the School-to-Work money comes from federal sources, will you be subject to federal regulations and inspections?
- Who bears the legal liability for students injured, disabled, killed, or molested on the job? Will Workmen’s Compensation cover it? If so, will that raise your rates?
- Who decides how many students will work at a business — the school, the program administrator, or you?
- What happens if there aren’t enough jobs for all the students who want one?
- Will students displace union labor, causing labor disputes?
- What state tax will replace the federal School-to-Work grant funding when it expires?
What Can You Do?
- Refuse to participate
- Contact lawmakers (federal and state). Tell them to repeal School-to-Work.
- Tell your Small Business lobbyists to oppose School-to-Work.
- Spread the word. (Copy this article.)
Tags: School-to-Work, career paths
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act was passed in 1994.
What it is NOT: An improved voc-tech system which simply offers students exposure to the world of work through a career day or job shadowing experience.
Stripped of deceptive packaging, “School-to-Work” or “Career Pathways” is…
- A STATE-MANAGED ECONOMY
- Schools as training centers for state projected employment slots.
- Appointed bureaucrats (“regional labor market boards”) who will:
Determine requirements for specific jobs
Issue certificates
Decide which job skills schools teach
Collect data to match jobs and people.
Schools will gear their instructional programs to fit the “needs” of the regional economy. Businesses, as “partners”, will get stuck with the bill (jobs, mentors, facilities, and hardware) for the system!
Gone is the traditional well-rounded, liberal arts education.
Adolescents will be choosing career majors! Welcome to the system that produces workers for the 21st century. “Productive Labor”, rather than an educated populace, is the end-all of education.
Some School-To-Work Facts:
- ALL students will be counseled at the earliest age possible, but no later than the 7th grade, to choose a career path. (Yes – your child will have to choose a career path!)
- ALL students will engage in work based experiences, during school hours, which will be governed by a contract between the student, school and employer. (Whether you want them to or not – there is no opting out!)
- The Commission on Student Learning will turn to business and labor to ensure that educators understand what students need to know. (Businesses will participate in the development of local school curriculum – whether you want them to or not!)
- Business, labor and other parties will be fully involved in the development of skill standards to determine duties, tasks, skills, knowledge and attitudes of successful workers.
- Basic skills and industry specific skills, according to local labor markets, will be embedded in academic standards, assessments and curriculum development. (Can you say “watered-down academics”?)
- New teaching methods stress group learning over individual achievement will be used.
- Teaching will be offered in the context of work. There will be no separation between what work requires and what students are taught.
- Data concerning every aspect of our children’s school and work experiences will be collected and made available to business, government and other entities through national databases.
How will you, the private businessperson, be affected if you choose to participate?
School-to-Work grants (contracts) will require one or more of the following of your business:
- Compliance with international standards and government regulations.
- Work-based learning training for “mentors” to supervise students in the program.
- Criminal background checks for all employees having contact with the student. On-site inspection of workplace conditions by program administrators.
- No choice in which students are assigned to your business.
In addition, the following other effects are possible.
- You may be training your competitor’s future employee.
- The disruption of the free market forces may affect your labor pool.
- Non-union businesses may be subject to union influences through labor partnerships in the grant.
Businesses will be expected to pay their “share”.
How will you, the businessperson, be affected if you choose NOT to participate?
Your competitor who does participate may have an economic edge on you due to:
- Tax incentives
- Free or subsidized labor
- Free or subsidized capital (A lathe or auto computer might be classified as “curricular materials” and be purchased by the grant moneys. This confuses the issue of ownership — government or private?)
- Quality of future employees is compromised, since increased job training leaves little school time for learning the basics (3 R’s).
- If you hire any high school student, you may automatically be subject to the School-to-Work grant regulations, whether or not you have signed onto the program.
According to Thomas Sticht, SCANS Commission testimony before the 101st Congress,
“Most companies have moved operations to places with cheap, relatively poorly educated labor. What may be crucial, they say, is the dependability of a labor force and how well it can be managed and trained — not its general education level, although a small cadre of highly educated creative people is essential to innovation and growth. Ending discrimination and changing values are probably more important than reading and writing in moving low-income families into the middle class.”
(SCANS is the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.
Please understand that it is the Secretary of Labor, not the Secretary of Education.)
How will School-to-Work Affect the Education of Your Future Employees?
- The students educated under this system — your future labor pool — will likely be missing the essential academic (3R’s) skills because of the reduced emphasis on teaching these disciplines. You can expect an increase in employees who are unable to read a training manual or make correct change.
- Teaching cutting-edge (and quickly changing) job technology to a student who may not use them before they become obsolete wastes scarce resources — the public’s and yours!
“To succeed in high performance work organizations, today’s students must master the New basic skills — teamwork, critical thinking, making decisions, communications, adapting to change and understanding whole systems.”
High Skills, High Wages, a publication of the Washington
State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, 1994
Unanswered Questions
- If the School-to-Work money comes from federal sources, will you be subject to federal regulations and inspections?
- Who bears the legal liability for students injured, disabled, killed, or molested on the job? Will Workmen’s Compensation cover it? If so, will that raise your rates?
- Who decides how many students will work at a business — the school, the program administrator, or you?
- What happens if there aren’t enough jobs for all the students who want one?
- Will students displace union labor, causing labor disputes?
- What state tax will replace the federal School-to-Work grant funding when it expires?
What Can You Do?
- Refuse to participate
- Contact lawmakers (federal and state). Tell them to repeal School-to-Work.
- Tell your Small Business lobbyists to oppose School-to-Work.
- Spread the word. (Copy this article.)
Tags: School-to-Work, career paths