Currently, the San Mateo Union High School District is considering the implementation of a new graduation requirement for students in the class of 2017 and beyond. As part of the current SMUHSD graduation requirement, in addition to the unit requirements in core academic classes, Fine Arts, P.E. and Health, every student must complete 50 units of electives. The proposed graduation modulation would add a new requirement of 10 units in a Career Technical Education (CTE) and lower the previous elective requirement to 40 units.
This new graduation requirement would arrive as Aragon starts to expand course offerings in CTE. Next year, Aragon will offer a new CTE option: Technology Leadership (see this article to read more about new course offerings for the 2012-2013 school year). This change is part of a broad based movement to try to implement more vocational classes in SMUHSD schools.
In addition to the new Technology Leadership class, Engineering and Technology, Culinary Arts, Tech. Theater, Photography and Biotech 1-2 will also qualify as CTE classes for the proposed requirement. It is currently unclear whether Photography will satisfy the CTE requirement as well as the Fine Arts requirement.
The editors of the Aragon Outlook agree that there is a need for more vocational classes at Aragon. Classes such as Technology Leadership can give students tangible skills which can be applied in professional jobs and may even give Aragon students a competitive edge in seeking summer internships or inspire students to follow a certain career path.
While the editors of the Aragon Outlook believe that the development of more vocational classes at Aragon is a worthy endeavor, we do not believe that CTE should be a formal graduation requirement.
Under Aragon’s current graduation requirements, students must have 50 elective units to graduate; however, these elective units are usually completed by students on their own accord. If a student were to take more than a year of a World Language, two years of Science, three years of Math, or any permutation of these and other courses, the 50 elective units would be easily satisfied. By creating a new CTE requirement and making the electives requirement 40 units, the district will force some students to choose between taking more classes or missing out on classes they would rather take.
In recent years, many students have already had to drop classes such as music or psychology to fit other classes into a crammed schedule. An additional, needlessly specific CTE requirement will only worsen the dilemma of class scheduling for future students.
The editors of the Aragon Outlook understand the benefits of requiring CTE classes; it would expose students to possible future careers and secure the development of vocational courses in high school due to guaranteed enrollment. While the creation of these courses is certainly encouraged, there are plenty of students who have already discovered interests which they would prefer to have the ability to pursue throughout the four years of high school. Many students who are devoted to music or foreign language would be dissuaded from continuing certain electives throughout high school. Some of the future leaders of our generation in leadership class would find that their interest in Aragon’s leadership class, in conjunction with a new CTE mandate, would preclude them from exploring other productive—yet not mandated—electives such as psychology, human anatomy and physiology, weight training and more.
If Aragon develops CTE classes with impassioned teachers and dynamic curriculum, such classes will be readily populated by interested students. However, if CTE is mandated, Aragon’s CTE will become populated by students who take such classes simply to complete a graduation requirement, resulting in classes of students who get a brief introduction to a career pathway in a basic and low-interest environment.
If CTE classes are to be created, passion and genuine interest should drive their development, not forced requirement. It is the passion and drive of students at Aragon, along with excellent instruction by teachers, which has fostered a multivariable class, a petition for a Physics C class, an engineering technology class, a culinary arts class and other proud programs at Aragon.
Ultimately, the editors of the Aragon Outlook recognize the importance of developing a CTE program at Aragon. However, current elective requirements give students the opportunity and freedom to advance passions, whereas the highly specified CTE requirement would limit students. By instituting a new mandate, not only will non-mandated electives be impacted by lower enrollment, but many students will be faced with a new roadblock in following academic passion in high school.
