By Theo Rogers
It is quite easy to see how participating in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in high school may seem like a declaration of a career or college pathway. The unique learning experience provided by CTE, which includes rigorous Dual Credit and invaluable work-based learning opportunities (WBL), may make high school students feel obligated to further pursue their CTE pathway in a postsecondary setting (studying in college/university or entering the workforce). However, participating in a CTE pathway program is not always a declaration of a postsecondary pathway; high school students should not feel confined to one postsecondary track based on their program pathway. CTE is not only about providing students with early career and learning opportunities, in which students can enter their postsecondary careers with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed. It is also a tool for career exploration and awareness, even for students who don’t pursue their original program pathway. Here, I will tell my own story with a CTE education program and how I discovered that teaching was not the career for me; yet I was still able to get the most out of my CTE program. I will also explain how, although I decided not to pursue this career pathway, it still greatly affected my postsecondary career choices.
During my sophomore and junior years of high school. I was introduced to a variety of essays on a multitude of educational topics, including Paul Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and learned about how schools were failing their students with what he coined the “Banking Method” of education. This term was used to reference the static form of teaching where teachers lecture to their students with the focus on engraining specific pieces of information, which the teachers themselves deemed necessary, into the memory of their students. This ignited a passion within me. I knew I wanted to improve American students’ education quality, but I was unsure how I wanted to enact that change. Therefore, due to this newfound passion, I enrolled in the “Pathways to Teaching” program to see if teaching was the correct pathway to explore.
While I was enrolled in “Intro to American Education” and “Human and Cognitive Development,” I quickly realized that teaching was not the correct way for me to enact the change I wanted to make in American education. When learning about lesson planning, I discovered I did not share the same drive as teachers. I knew I would not be willing to properly prepare lessons and classroom activities outside of the classroom setting. In “Human and Cognitive Development,” I valued learning how to apply education theories and developmental stages to the classroom, but it was not an area I saw myself pursuing. Despite my lack of interest in teaching, however, I understood the value of taking college-level classes as a high school senior in preparing me for the start of my college journey the following year.
Through both of these courses, I observed pre-k, and elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Even though I experienced different grade levels, I still did not feel a pull towards a teaching career. However, I still made thoughtful observations and got the most out of my placements. In the high school classrooms I observed, I noticed how these classes were taught through the “Banking Method” of education. Both were lecture-style classrooms, with students listening to the teacher discuss a topic.
From my classroom observations, I was able to identify areas of interest to me. What captivated me was seeing the different teaching styles and the impact technology has on the classrooms and these teaching practices. Based on my observations, I believe that teachers are not equipped to provide their students with the highest quality instruction possible; I think the ever-growing use of technology in the classroom plays a significant part in instruction not giving students a personal and meaningful educational experience.
Presently, I am a sophomore at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. I plan on receiving my bachelor’s degree in education through the Marsal Family School of Education’s Learning, Equity, and Problem Solving for the Public Good (LEAPS) program. After participating in the CTE program through my high school, I knew I was not meant to be a teacher; however, my WBL experiences and what I observed from these experiences still very much captivated me. Because I was still interested in education, I chose a program that did not limit me to teaching. My program prepares me to enter any workforce area with the necessary knowledge and experience. During my first year at the University of Michigan, I carried over the interests I gained from the “Pathways to Teaching” CTE program. Over the course of my first year, through discussions with my peers, who all shared a passion for a broader focus on education, and conversations with my professors, I discovered how I wanted to address the issues surrounding my interests: teacher preparation and the role of technology in the classroom. I realized that educational policy work would be the area of study for me to explore further.
Although I decided not to pursue a career in teaching, my experience with CTE was anything but a waste of time. From the college-level classes and WBL experiences, I gained broad knowledge on education. I used this newfound knowledge as a foundation during my first year at the University of Michigan, where I built on it and discovered the career path that was right for me. Now I am an intern at Stand for Children Illinois, researching how high school can become meaningful through properly implementing CTE, while at the same time growing my understanding and experience in educational policy. I can confidently say that my experience with CTE has positively contributed to my career path.
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