This subject seems to be in a lot more CTAE areas than I realized. In Automotive we utilize many areas of the school, such as being in the classroom, computer lab, shop, the parking lot, etc. As a result of this we carry 2-way radios to keep in touch for various reasons. One morning last semester I heard a comment came over the radio that I thought was odd. Two people were discussing where to "put him". They were referring to a transfer student who (I found out later) was a troubled student. The remark that came next was "Just put him in Automotive."
Since then, this seems to happen a lot. If a student comes in and they don't have a full schedule for him/her, they seem to think Automotive is the place for them. Just this week, I found out that five students in one of my blocks were removed from ROTC (redlined, whatever that means) permanently and put in Automotive, whether they wanted to be there or not.
I came into this profession, after being in the industry 28 years, thinking the job consisted of teaching young people who wanted to learn how to work on automobiles. Now I am realizing that about 80 % of them don't even want to be there, and don't care anything about the automotive industry. They think taking this course is going to be an easy "A". I met a friend of my daughters awhile back who had gone to my school and taken Automotive about 5 years ago. When she introduced my as the Automotive teacher at my school, he said "Yeah, I remember that program. It was a joke. All we did was smoke in the shop and read magazines." I told him that we are making every effort to turn the program around.
I really want to help change the reputation of Automotive Service Technology, and the perception of it in the eyes of students, parents, other teachers, and administration, so that students will be there because they want to be. After reading these other blogs, I realize that it's not just Automotive, but that we are probably all going through the same thing to some extent in the Career classes. I believe that with the training we are receiving, we can make a difference in these career classes.
Hang in there Tony, we are all experiencing the same thing happening in our classes too! It's up to us to raise the education bar and requirements in our programs to establish them as valued educational programs. We need to let the students and the administration know that homework, tests and projects are required to pass the classes and if they are not completed, they fail! This process is going to take time and probably years to complete. Until the word is out among the students and administration that your classes are not sluff-off classes but are academically challenging courses, things will not change.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Tony. I totally believe that we will make a change for the better if we keep doing our best for our students. It makes you wonder why we are hearing that schools are transitioning technical and academic classes to work hand-in-hand, but in our schools, it is not happening. Where is it happening?
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