Falbe: Week of 1/28/2013 History of CTAE

Based on conversation from last week, it appears that CTAE has made some note-worthy improvements that I would expect to appear in future conversations about CTAE.  As a student who struggled in school myself, I am a huge advocate of the CTAE program. While I always did well in school, it was not always interesting to me. The CTAE program is essential (particularly in a time when college graduates are not able to find jobs) in order to get students into the work place "work-ready", with the skills and aptitudes that they need to be successful. Not that these students will not attend college, but the work ready skills taught in the CTAE setting not only prepare them for success in high school, but give them the means to work while they are in college in order to support themselves while in school. Myself being a 20 something, struggling to find find a job despite my college degree, I can see how valuable the opportunities and skills taught in the CTAE program are.  I also think that the experiences the students get are valuable in that they expose them to things so that they can find an interest. Teaching (and even Engineering) are not what my Bachelor's is in. I feel that had I had more experience (like in the CTAE setting) I could have found my aptitude for Engineering much quicker and therefore pursued that path more quickly. 

Overall I would hope that the talk about CTAE would be centered on the application of real life work skills, along with the knowledge and exposure to real-world problems, and machinery.