pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Mind boggling. I don't understand the trend over the past years to eliminate the vocational education classes and remove the necessary space for movement and development. There is so much that can be learned and gained by working with tools, equipment, and space, all the while obtaining new skills. I'm not getting the math thing either, that would have taken me out. I would have felt totally lost.

To think of all the experience and knowledge gone with a pink slip. Your strength, determination, and courage is something that your team has seen role modeled throughout the history of Chief Delphi and something the rest of us can continue to learn from and be inspired by, Mr. Martus.

Wishing you and 47 the best,
Jane

Jane and Mike, a quick thought about the two math class thing. During high school one of my friends in the math and science program (OSMTech at the time) struggled with math for both of their first two years. They decided to take one of their electives and take two math classes, turns out they had missed some of the basics the previous year, going through the class again with a different teacher who has a different style greatly benefited the student. In SOME unique cases what Pontiac is doing can be effective.

As for schools eliminating VocTech programs in recent years, Mike said it best, "Except business because they can cram 40+ students into a class." VocTech programs are generally expensive on a per student basis. Yes they are tremendously beneficial to those students who have access to them but they are also not an cost efficient way of teaching. Regrettably we live in a world where money is more important than helping others and the more expensive programs will, of course, be cut first. In all honesty though this is where Pontiac schools needs to be, according to news articles Ive read and a family friend who is a teacher at the district they are in very poor financial standing. They are close to borrowing their limit. They have struggled to pay teachers and are not adequately preparing students according to No Child Left Behind. This isn't to say that the teachers are not doing their best, I rarely find a teacher in an area like Pontiac that is there for the money, but they simply can't do much more. I know a teacher at Pontiac Northern who teaches Chemistry, how do you teach Chemistry without running a couple labs? How do you run labs with 40+ students in the classroom? It simply isn't safe. Add into this the fact that a half the time teachers are struggling with students who don't want to learn. This same family friend was attacked in his classroom last year by a couple students who didn't want to be in school. There are major problems that Pontiac schools needs to focus on before they even worry about VocTech OR FIRST. (I can already hear the angry responses for that little comment, PM them if you could, keep this thread from turning into a debate)

That being said, CD, I am going to be trying to get to IRI, I want to see this thing in action and I want one more time for CD to awe me.

Edited because I needed it to read correctly.