We had the most educated children in the world before the insane DOE created by the failed President Carter made it up to appease the teachers unions. They were going to pull their support during the 1980 election if he did not. Since then our schools have spiraled down into a morass of indoctrination and near uselessness. No more new ideas, time to go back to what works. The system that won two world wars, freed Korea, overcame the great depression, put man on the moon, and created the micro chip. Lets get back to what works. First re-open the shop classes. They were always full and we have a need for mechanics, plumber, electricians, HVAC, welders and machinist. Second give a lot less emphasis on art and sports. The amount of money spent on them for the turn out make them just a waste. Better yet since there is little to no return for amount spent on sports and art, just cancel them like the useful shop classes were cancelled in the 1980's.
In the schools where I worked and in the schools my 3 children and 8 grandchildren attended, shop classes began in middle school and were never canceled (1976-2025).
Public Law 94-142 (SPED Law) created the need for the Department of Education to ensure that all students in all 50 states had the same rights and access to a free and appropriate education.
The Federal DOE has never mandated curriculum and/or details about the school day. Each state and school district oversees those details.
Oh really? Where are they then? Tell me how to find a welding class at any middle or high school anywhere in this country today other than a private school. They were cancelled nation wide in the mid 1980's. The DOE put pressure on the states to either get more girls in the shop classes or shut them down because it was sexist to have a class that girls did not want to be in. They also cancelled all the home-ec classes at the same time. Every time I have been back to the town I grew up in the old shop classes are used for storage now.
You must not understand what a shop class is, here are some examples. Welding teaches stick, TIG, MIG, and acetylene welding, arc gouging, bead layering, and cutting angles in materials. Machine shop teaches basic lathe work like drilling cutting threads, making knurls, pressing in tips, shaping your cutting bits. Auto shop taught how to tear down engines, transmissions, differentials, hydraulic brakes, body work, painting, and glass removal. Then put it all back together. electric shop showed how to make simple DC circuits all the way up to wiring a house. Plumping shop taught soldering copper, gluing plastic putting sewer lines together and how to use special tools like a faucet wrench. Sheet metal shop was about making allowances for corners and bends when measuring, Where to place rivets and how, spot welding, and making metal molds and pouring lead. Then were drafting class, photo class, carpentry, and equipment shops and I am sure there are others.
Those are shop classes. If there was not enough students to make a class you waited a semester. Sometimes contractors would let us go to work sites and follow journeyman for a day. Saying that they still exist is delusional.
The Department of Education was created to make it easier for local districts and state departments of education to access federal education programs. It was the "one-stop shop" that Republicans think they want in a government agency to make it easier for the people to access government. By the way, South Dakota government also has a one-stop shop for education. How about you abolish that to make it more time consuming and expensive for people.
You know the idea that schools are failing is a trope that pops up every few years. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, they said our schools were failing because the Russians were ahead of us in the space race. Well, Kennedy, at least, put some money behind his rhetoric and funded science curriculum improvements and teacher training. I remember the same thing was said when Japan was supposedly beating the US in auto-engineering and electronics manufacturing. That's when Reagan started in on his nonsense about schools. Clinton got in on that bandwagon, too. You know every President and Governor thinks he or she have the answer to all the education problems all over the country. I remember Janklow spent money to send Mozart tapes to expectant moms thinking Wolfgang was going to increase the IQ in utero. And you know what? No one asks the teachers what worked and what didn't.
Yeah, you know, how about we all learn how to make buggy whips! Really? We ain't going back to shop class, which I thought was useful when I had it in junior high in the early 60s.. But things change. I remember when Rapid City schools transitioned from shop to technical education and computer science. Why wouldn't we? Cars at that point were using computers to operate and to use to diagnose problems. So, we had to change with the technology. But, still, I agree that shop did provide a lot of useful practical knowledge. I wish there could be a way to teach some useful skills, like basic electricity, plumbing, carpentry to everyone.
I have taught in the schools and there are things we do well, but in my opinion we aren't hitting the mark right now. My electrician is 28 and makes about $140k. Maybe just being allowed to leave school and apprentice would be a good option. That could probably occur after 8th grade if the person met reading, writing, and math requirements. That approach would be similar to the European system. Could part of the problem may be that we are tracking everyone for college. The trades are a very viable and lucrative track. Wouldn't it make sense to fully embrace that option?
Hey, this ain't Europe, so don't foist their antiquated class-based system onto the USA. You have to think about life-long learning, and how you would just kill a person's options if they, for example, got hurt on the job and couldn't continue in the electrical vocation. Europe has a lot of social programs that the USA doesn't have in those situations, as well. Think before you propose stupid ideas like that.
I like apprenticeships. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have great programs to reach out to high school students who are interested in that trade. Another route is to go to technical school after high school. You can't get hired and make 140k as electrical worker without at least a high school diploma and some sort of apprenticeship or technical school. An eighth grade dropout is not going to cut it at any workplace these days. Start living in the real world.
No, that was the cover story. It was created so the teachers unions would support Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, he still lost. Despite all the bells and whistles that some people obviously believe to this day its only real purpose was to protect other wise bad teachers and implement political agendas. That is why the US education system has falling from #1 in the 1970's to #40 in 2025. If there has ever been a government agency that was never needed and has only destroyed what it was pretending to support it is the DOE.
As far as shop classes go you have a rather poor memory and seem more than a little snobbish.
What you failed to state is that the American Federation of Teachers opposed the creation of the Department of Energy. The NEA had supported a federal Education Department for 100 years prior to Carter. Other groups (National PTA, the National School Boards Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Education Commission of the States) also supported creation of a separate education department.
Carter had been a long-term school board member, as well as a Governor dealing with education. He knew exactly how the federal government could make federal education policy more effective. He did have some hesitations about it, because he generally opposed creating more agencies, but since the Department of Ed was principally about consolidating education policy under one agency. There was opposition from Sec. of HEW Califano about losing his control over parts of his bureaucratic fiefdom. Carter eventually fired him.
The first sentence should read:What you failed to state is that the American Federation of Teachers opposed the creation of the Department of EDUCATION.
What you failed to state is that the DOE was created to protect the NEA. The DOE has never, ever, taught one single student, ever. At the same time for every $100 of tax dollars they take in for education, they use $25 for administration, 2018 stats I believe it is certainly worse after the FJB era, the DOE is pure waste.
You are very misinformed. The money that DOE provides to local school systems pays the salary of many teachers who are hired by local school districts. The money DOE provides is absolutely critical, especially for schools that have a high proportion of students whose family income is below the federal poverty line.
You clearly don't know what you are talking about. Carter worked on education as a Governor in Georgia. He had a Department of Education there, a centralized agency that made it easier for districts to communicate with state government folks handling education. You notice that every state has some sort of centralized department dealing with education? Certainly South Dakota does.
So what? He was a big wig that is trying to defend the indefensible. OK, you go find a real shop class anywhere in the public education system anywhere in the US. When you cannot you will know who is a liar.
What you call a real shop is probably a 1960s variety. In case you don't know, we have computers now. Things change. Employers began to need more technically trained folks. Schools responded by changing the traditional shop class to technology classes. In Rapid City we had students working on making robots and other advanced technology. I remember that the Rapid City School District hired technology students to teachers the teachers how to use technology. Employers wanted schools to teach what was going to be needed in the future. I realize that pushed some needed skills out of technical education. Now those skills need to be learned in other ways, such as through apprenticeships.
Interesting idea.....but keep in mind that currently Art/Music/PE are mandated subjects (various amounts at each grade level) so every public school student has the opportunity to participate. In HS, certainly students have more options......would these subjects still be mandated with some form of accountability of participation or would students be able to opt out, if parentally desired? I like the concept but the details would have to be worked out.....a study should be done by the DOE to research the practicality and the educational value of such an approach.
When I googled this, AI indicated: "In South Dakota, public schools are required to offer physical education (PE) to all students. While there are no specific requirements for the number of minutes or hours of PE instruction per week, high school students must earn at least 0.5 physical education credits to graduate. School districts are also required to have a licensed physical educator serve as a physical education coordinator. The state has adopted specific standards for physical education, but districts are not mandated to comply with those standards." So technically, a district could do what you are suggested as long as there was someway to document the HS student's participation in community provided activities so they could earn the required credits!
This is what Alternative Instruction families already do! And we do it waaay cheaper than the public schools too. ;-) I love "doing school" at the local coffee shop - is supports a local business and is more fun for all involved.
That said, I will mention that this is part of the idea behind the Educational Savings Accounts. Instead of funneling all these options (sports, arts, etc) through the government school, just put a chunk of money in each student's account and let them use it for learning about what interests them personally.
Unfortunately, there are lots of hiccups to this idea because 1) gov't money requires gov't control 2) this sort of learning works best with parents in control because it is highly individualized to each student 3) the gov't & individuals don't always agree.
A simpler solution IMO is to reduce the money taken from the parents in the first place (perhaps the portion of property taxes taken for local school districts). Then the schools can stop offering so many elective options (due to smaller budgets) and hopefully reduce the hours required in the school building so that the parents can arrange for their children to engage in learning elsewhere.
Here is a little story for all you DOE/NEA supporters. This is not the only story out there, it just happened to get head lines.
An non-verbal autistic girl started kindergarten at Blyth elementary school in Huntersville, North Carolina. After starting school this girl would come home and cry for hours. This was completely out of character for the little girl. When the Parents asked what was going on the school officials and the teacher said "they have no idea". Three days later another teacher caught the little girls teacher in the girls rest room with the little girl, KISSING HER, a non-verbal autistic child!. This little girl will never be able to defend herself or tell her side of the story. She will never be able to tell what other abuses happened to her at the hands of this creep, ever. Then guess what? The teacher was not immediately fired, in fact she was NOT FIRED AT ALL!!!! Just transferred to another class.. This is from the North Carolina News. As stated above the school name is Blyth Elementary School in Huntersville North Carolina. If any of you are as discussed by this as I then here is the number so you can let them know, (980) 343-5770.
Where is the NEA? They claim to be for the children, why aren't they kicking this 'teacher/pervert out of the union? Why are they protecting this creep? Where is the DOE? They claim to be for the children. Why aren't they demanding the FBI investigate what is going on with the staff of the school? No where. They do not care about children or education, never have, do not now, and never will, that is a fact.
The DOE needs to be completely shut down and the supposed NEA needs to be disbanded, they serve no useful purpose.
It's a sad story, alright. But what does it have to do with the NEA and the DOE? Education is a highly local endeavor. The local school administration is responsible for hiring the teacher. In most districts there is a background check to weed out people with skeazy backgrounds. I doubt Trump could pass such a background check, and certainly not Hegseth or Gaetz. The district did send her home, and I expect will suspend her. This teacher certainly will go through a thorough investigation, maybe a police investigation as well, though it looks like the police sort of whiffed on their first few days of looking into the matter. Where, by the way, is the FBI, Pam Bioldi and Trump? If you are having a hissy fit about the DOE and NEA, why not include all the federal agencies and "leaders."
Six middle schools in Sioux Falls, SD, offer Home Ec (now called Family and Consumer Science) for one quarter in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Students can also take career and technology classes for one quarter in middle school. Carpentry is a unit offered, and 8th grade students use power tools to make a folding camp chair.
In addition to the shop/industrial arts classes offered at each of the 4 high schools, a state-of-the-art high school program (housed on a separate campus) and called the CTE Academy educates 800 students from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. This program includes welding, auto body and collision repair, aviation, and agricultural courses. A full listing of courses by grade level can be found in the following link:
The Federal DOE has NOTHING to do with courses offered/curricula offered. States and local schools make curricular and other decisions. The Federal DOE was created to protect the rights of all students and especially students with disabilities (through PL 94-142), and homeless education. The Federal DOE also oversees school improvement requirements, and accounts for about 4% of all Federal spending.
Well, this does happen. Kids can find their own outlets for a lot of this in after school activities. Instead of dumping kids out on the street to find their art, music and physical education, we should be bringing more participation in art, music and physical activities in the school day or through after school activities. Kids do have a lot of competitive sports as extra-curricular activities, as well as band, orchestra, and various art clubs. In my day we had a lot of garage bands that started up when kids reached junior high and high school.
It is interesting that you have such a negative view of parents that participated in this program. They were not (are not) dumping their kids anywhere. The program was authorized by the school and students received credit for doing things they enjoyed (they had signoff sheets that had to be completed). They just didn't have to sit in the classes at the school, so they had more time to do explore alternatives and learn. One size fits all and isolation from the community seems to be one of the issues with the school systems right now. Is it possible that we need to be more open minded and embrace new things rather than getting stuck in a rut?
I would suggest you go through the lists of actirs, musicians, & athletes who are doing their thing right now! Many of them went public schools. Check our SD grads sometime.
Sorry, perhaps the post was not clear. They did not develop their talents in the public school classes. It was done after school or in outside activities. If someone did jump from the public school instruction to that type of career, it would be nice to have a list. The reason the outside option (with signoffs) was popular with students and parents was because people could follow their dreams and passions in the community rather than being limited to what was available on school property. It was also nice because then there was synergy between the school and the community, something that is often missing today.
Seriously? How and who are going to be accountable for making sure students are at the activity they are supposed t be at the appropriate time? At what age does the program take over, do we want elementary school aged children wandering around the city? If you want more exposure for students bring the arts, music, sports to them within the confines of the school.
Those are good questions. I was affiliated with a school that allowed this option. Families liked having the option to get credit for activities and it reduced the classroom load. Kids enjoyed the off campus option. At this school it started in elementary school.
South Dakota Voices Response: Don, thank you for joining us.
Email from DD: "Excellent idea!!! "
We had the most educated children in the world before the insane DOE created by the failed President Carter made it up to appease the teachers unions. They were going to pull their support during the 1980 election if he did not. Since then our schools have spiraled down into a morass of indoctrination and near uselessness. No more new ideas, time to go back to what works. The system that won two world wars, freed Korea, overcame the great depression, put man on the moon, and created the micro chip. Lets get back to what works. First re-open the shop classes. They were always full and we have a need for mechanics, plumber, electricians, HVAC, welders and machinist. Second give a lot less emphasis on art and sports. The amount of money spent on them for the turn out make them just a waste. Better yet since there is little to no return for amount spent on sports and art, just cancel them like the useful shop classes were cancelled in the 1980's.
It is nice to hear someone talk about encouraging trades. These are high paying careers and are good options for many people.
In the schools where I worked and in the schools my 3 children and 8 grandchildren attended, shop classes began in middle school and were never canceled (1976-2025).
Public Law 94-142 (SPED Law) created the need for the Department of Education to ensure that all students in all 50 states had the same rights and access to a free and appropriate education.
The Federal DOE has never mandated curriculum and/or details about the school day. Each state and school district oversees those details.
Oh really? Where are they then? Tell me how to find a welding class at any middle or high school anywhere in this country today other than a private school. They were cancelled nation wide in the mid 1980's. The DOE put pressure on the states to either get more girls in the shop classes or shut them down because it was sexist to have a class that girls did not want to be in. They also cancelled all the home-ec classes at the same time. Every time I have been back to the town I grew up in the old shop classes are used for storage now.
You must not understand what a shop class is, here are some examples. Welding teaches stick, TIG, MIG, and acetylene welding, arc gouging, bead layering, and cutting angles in materials. Machine shop teaches basic lathe work like drilling cutting threads, making knurls, pressing in tips, shaping your cutting bits. Auto shop taught how to tear down engines, transmissions, differentials, hydraulic brakes, body work, painting, and glass removal. Then put it all back together. electric shop showed how to make simple DC circuits all the way up to wiring a house. Plumping shop taught soldering copper, gluing plastic putting sewer lines together and how to use special tools like a faucet wrench. Sheet metal shop was about making allowances for corners and bends when measuring, Where to place rivets and how, spot welding, and making metal molds and pouring lead. Then were drafting class, photo class, carpentry, and equipment shops and I am sure there are others.
Those are shop classes. If there was not enough students to make a class you waited a semester. Sometimes contractors would let us go to work sites and follow journeyman for a day. Saying that they still exist is delusional.
The Department of Education was created to make it easier for local districts and state departments of education to access federal education programs. It was the "one-stop shop" that Republicans think they want in a government agency to make it easier for the people to access government. By the way, South Dakota government also has a one-stop shop for education. How about you abolish that to make it more time consuming and expensive for people.
You know the idea that schools are failing is a trope that pops up every few years. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, they said our schools were failing because the Russians were ahead of us in the space race. Well, Kennedy, at least, put some money behind his rhetoric and funded science curriculum improvements and teacher training. I remember the same thing was said when Japan was supposedly beating the US in auto-engineering and electronics manufacturing. That's when Reagan started in on his nonsense about schools. Clinton got in on that bandwagon, too. You know every President and Governor thinks he or she have the answer to all the education problems all over the country. I remember Janklow spent money to send Mozart tapes to expectant moms thinking Wolfgang was going to increase the IQ in utero. And you know what? No one asks the teachers what worked and what didn't.
Yeah, you know, how about we all learn how to make buggy whips! Really? We ain't going back to shop class, which I thought was useful when I had it in junior high in the early 60s.. But things change. I remember when Rapid City schools transitioned from shop to technical education and computer science. Why wouldn't we? Cars at that point were using computers to operate and to use to diagnose problems. So, we had to change with the technology. But, still, I agree that shop did provide a lot of useful practical knowledge. I wish there could be a way to teach some useful skills, like basic electricity, plumbing, carpentry to everyone.
I have taught in the schools and there are things we do well, but in my opinion we aren't hitting the mark right now. My electrician is 28 and makes about $140k. Maybe just being allowed to leave school and apprentice would be a good option. That could probably occur after 8th grade if the person met reading, writing, and math requirements. That approach would be similar to the European system. Could part of the problem may be that we are tracking everyone for college. The trades are a very viable and lucrative track. Wouldn't it make sense to fully embrace that option?
Hey, this ain't Europe, so don't foist their antiquated class-based system onto the USA. You have to think about life-long learning, and how you would just kill a person's options if they, for example, got hurt on the job and couldn't continue in the electrical vocation. Europe has a lot of social programs that the USA doesn't have in those situations, as well. Think before you propose stupid ideas like that.
I like apprenticeships. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have great programs to reach out to high school students who are interested in that trade. Another route is to go to technical school after high school. You can't get hired and make 140k as electrical worker without at least a high school diploma and some sort of apprenticeship or technical school. An eighth grade dropout is not going to cut it at any workplace these days. Start living in the real world.
No, that was the cover story. It was created so the teachers unions would support Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, he still lost. Despite all the bells and whistles that some people obviously believe to this day its only real purpose was to protect other wise bad teachers and implement political agendas. That is why the US education system has falling from #1 in the 1970's to #40 in 2025. If there has ever been a government agency that was never needed and has only destroyed what it was pretending to support it is the DOE.
As far as shop classes go you have a rather poor memory and seem more than a little snobbish.
What you failed to state is that the American Federation of Teachers opposed the creation of the Department of Energy. The NEA had supported a federal Education Department for 100 years prior to Carter. Other groups (National PTA, the National School Boards Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Education Commission of the States) also supported creation of a separate education department.
Carter had been a long-term school board member, as well as a Governor dealing with education. He knew exactly how the federal government could make federal education policy more effective. He did have some hesitations about it, because he generally opposed creating more agencies, but since the Department of Ed was principally about consolidating education policy under one agency. There was opposition from Sec. of HEW Califano about losing his control over parts of his bureaucratic fiefdom. Carter eventually fired him.
The first sentence should read:What you failed to state is that the American Federation of Teachers opposed the creation of the Department of EDUCATION.
What you failed to state is that the DOE was created to protect the NEA. The DOE has never, ever, taught one single student, ever. At the same time for every $100 of tax dollars they take in for education, they use $25 for administration, 2018 stats I believe it is certainly worse after the FJB era, the DOE is pure waste.
You are very misinformed. The money that DOE provides to local school systems pays the salary of many teachers who are hired by local school districts. The money DOE provides is absolutely critical, especially for schools that have a high proportion of students whose family income is below the federal poverty line.
You clearly don't know what you are talking about. Carter worked on education as a Governor in Georgia. He had a Department of Education there, a centralized agency that made it easier for districts to communicate with state government folks handling education. You notice that every state has some sort of centralized department dealing with education? Certainly South Dakota does.
So what? He was a big wig that is trying to defend the indefensible. OK, you go find a real shop class anywhere in the public education system anywhere in the US. When you cannot you will know who is a liar.
What you call a real shop is probably a 1960s variety. In case you don't know, we have computers now. Things change. Employers began to need more technically trained folks. Schools responded by changing the traditional shop class to technology classes. In Rapid City we had students working on making robots and other advanced technology. I remember that the Rapid City School District hired technology students to teachers the teachers how to use technology. Employers wanted schools to teach what was going to be needed in the future. I realize that pushed some needed skills out of technical education. Now those skills need to be learned in other ways, such as through apprenticeships.
Many people are very supportive of apprenticeships. Would kids be able to leave campus in high school to participate? For how many hours?
Interesting idea.....but keep in mind that currently Art/Music/PE are mandated subjects (various amounts at each grade level) so every public school student has the opportunity to participate. In HS, certainly students have more options......would these subjects still be mandated with some form of accountability of participation or would students be able to opt out, if parentally desired? I like the concept but the details would have to be worked out.....a study should be done by the DOE to research the practicality and the educational value of such an approach.
That is a good point. Would it make sense to adjust the requirements?
When I googled this, AI indicated: "In South Dakota, public schools are required to offer physical education (PE) to all students. While there are no specific requirements for the number of minutes or hours of PE instruction per week, high school students must earn at least 0.5 physical education credits to graduate. School districts are also required to have a licensed physical educator serve as a physical education coordinator. The state has adopted specific standards for physical education, but districts are not mandated to comply with those standards." So technically, a district could do what you are suggested as long as there was someway to document the HS student's participation in community provided activities so they could earn the required credits!
The program that was described in one of the comments met the requirements since there was a sign off.
This is what Alternative Instruction families already do! And we do it waaay cheaper than the public schools too. ;-) I love "doing school" at the local coffee shop - is supports a local business and is more fun for all involved.
That said, I will mention that this is part of the idea behind the Educational Savings Accounts. Instead of funneling all these options (sports, arts, etc) through the government school, just put a chunk of money in each student's account and let them use it for learning about what interests them personally.
Unfortunately, there are lots of hiccups to this idea because 1) gov't money requires gov't control 2) this sort of learning works best with parents in control because it is highly individualized to each student 3) the gov't & individuals don't always agree.
A simpler solution IMO is to reduce the money taken from the parents in the first place (perhaps the portion of property taxes taken for local school districts). Then the schools can stop offering so many elective options (due to smaller budgets) and hopefully reduce the hours required in the school building so that the parents can arrange for their children to engage in learning elsewhere.
Sounds like a win-win to me!
Here is a little story for all you DOE/NEA supporters. This is not the only story out there, it just happened to get head lines.
An non-verbal autistic girl started kindergarten at Blyth elementary school in Huntersville, North Carolina. After starting school this girl would come home and cry for hours. This was completely out of character for the little girl. When the Parents asked what was going on the school officials and the teacher said "they have no idea". Three days later another teacher caught the little girls teacher in the girls rest room with the little girl, KISSING HER, a non-verbal autistic child!. This little girl will never be able to defend herself or tell her side of the story. She will never be able to tell what other abuses happened to her at the hands of this creep, ever. Then guess what? The teacher was not immediately fired, in fact she was NOT FIRED AT ALL!!!! Just transferred to another class.. This is from the North Carolina News. As stated above the school name is Blyth Elementary School in Huntersville North Carolina. If any of you are as discussed by this as I then here is the number so you can let them know, (980) 343-5770.
Where is the NEA? They claim to be for the children, why aren't they kicking this 'teacher/pervert out of the union? Why are they protecting this creep? Where is the DOE? They claim to be for the children. Why aren't they demanding the FBI investigate what is going on with the staff of the school? No where. They do not care about children or education, never have, do not now, and never will, that is a fact.
The DOE needs to be completely shut down and the supposed NEA needs to be disbanded, they serve no useful purpose.
It's a sad story, alright. But what does it have to do with the NEA and the DOE? Education is a highly local endeavor. The local school administration is responsible for hiring the teacher. In most districts there is a background check to weed out people with skeazy backgrounds. I doubt Trump could pass such a background check, and certainly not Hegseth or Gaetz. The district did send her home, and I expect will suspend her. This teacher certainly will go through a thorough investigation, maybe a police investigation as well, though it looks like the police sort of whiffed on their first few days of looking into the matter. Where, by the way, is the FBI, Pam Bioldi and Trump? If you are having a hissy fit about the DOE and NEA, why not include all the federal agencies and "leaders."
Six middle schools in Sioux Falls, SD, offer Home Ec (now called Family and Consumer Science) for one quarter in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Students can also take career and technology classes for one quarter in middle school. Carpentry is a unit offered, and 8th grade students use power tools to make a folding camp chair.
In addition to the shop/industrial arts classes offered at each of the 4 high schools, a state-of-the-art high school program (housed on a separate campus) and called the CTE Academy educates 800 students from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. This program includes welding, auto body and collision repair, aviation, and agricultural courses. A full listing of courses by grade level can be found in the following link:
https://coredocs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1815487/CTE_Academy_Course_Guide.pdf
More information found on the CTE Academy Website: https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/o/ctea/page/departments
The Federal DOE has NOTHING to do with courses offered/curricula offered. States and local schools make curricular and other decisions. The Federal DOE was created to protect the rights of all students and especially students with disabilities (through PL 94-142), and homeless education. The Federal DOE also oversees school improvement requirements, and accounts for about 4% of all Federal spending.
Well, this does happen. Kids can find their own outlets for a lot of this in after school activities. Instead of dumping kids out on the street to find their art, music and physical education, we should be bringing more participation in art, music and physical activities in the school day or through after school activities. Kids do have a lot of competitive sports as extra-curricular activities, as well as band, orchestra, and various art clubs. In my day we had a lot of garage bands that started up when kids reached junior high and high school.
It is interesting that you have such a negative view of parents that participated in this program. They were not (are not) dumping their kids anywhere. The program was authorized by the school and students received credit for doing things they enjoyed (they had signoff sheets that had to be completed). They just didn't have to sit in the classes at the school, so they had more time to do explore alternatives and learn. One size fits all and isolation from the community seems to be one of the issues with the school systems right now. Is it possible that we need to be more open minded and embrace new things rather than getting stuck in a rut?
I would suggest you go through the lists of actirs, musicians, & athletes who are doing their thing right now! Many of them went public schools. Check our SD grads sometime.
Sorry, perhaps the post was not clear. They did not develop their talents in the public school classes. It was done after school or in outside activities. If someone did jump from the public school instruction to that type of career, it would be nice to have a list. The reason the outside option (with signoffs) was popular with students and parents was because people could follow their dreams and passions in the community rather than being limited to what was available on school property. It was also nice because then there was synergy between the school and the community, something that is often missing today.
This is how Finland does school, including after school: https://youthtoday.org/2015/10/after-the-school-day-in-finland-play-and-more-play/
Thank you for sharing the link. This type of information is very helpful for our discussion.
Seriously? How and who are going to be accountable for making sure students are at the activity they are supposed t be at the appropriate time? At what age does the program take over, do we want elementary school aged children wandering around the city? If you want more exposure for students bring the arts, music, sports to them within the confines of the school.
Those are good questions. I was affiliated with a school that allowed this option. Families liked having the option to get credit for activities and it reduced the classroom load. Kids enjoyed the off campus option. At this school it started in elementary school.