Another Day Has Passed and I Still Haven’t Used Pythagoras’ Theorem: American Education May Need to Trade Academic Test Scores for Career and Technical Education

Abstract

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs seek to produce graduates with developed workplace and life skills, technical aptitude, and employability. Historically, however, CTE legislation has enabled bias, allowing educators to segregate students by race and ability out of college prep tracks. At the same time, laws promoting conventional higher education programs have narrowed instruction by incentivizing performance on stanadardized tests. This paper proposes supporting CTE programs which have proven to achieve both vocational and academic success.