The philosopher Plato had a theory for education. In Plato’s curriculum, he would separate people into three groups: the producers, the auxiliaries and the guardians. The producers would make goods and services for society. The auxiliaries were the soldiers who would protect society. The guardians were the ones who would govern society, the politicians. The Career and Technical Education (CTE) and many modern day education facilities like it, have separated their education into three sections as well; college, career and military. While, unlike Plato’s ideal world, we get to pick the category that we fall into, our current system still retains the same rough framework that this ancient Greek born philosopher presented around 400 B.C.
Many people don’t see an issue with the CTE application of teaching and applaud their methods, but others believe that it decreases educational diversity and opportunities for students. The CTE program categorizes people to help narrow down a pathway for them, but this is a double edged sword. People are more likely to have a vision for their future, but what they can envision may be restricted if it’s outside of the three CTE fields.
Specifically if a student pursues the career and college side of the CTE, they will cluster into one of 15 programs. The programs being, agriculture, architecture, technologies and communications, business, education training, energy, health science, hospitality, human services, information technology, law/public service, manufacturing, engineering and the transportation/distribution of goods and supplies. However, in all of these programs, a few jobs that are an important part of a functioning society are overlooked and left out of the curriculum. To mention a few, Journalism, art, any form of creative writing and public speaking careers, other than a lawyer, are nowhere to be found. Some of these programs are even being removed from schools as they don’t fit into one of the 15 programs.
Politically there appear to be strong convictions over the matter. In an article titled ‘Biden’s new CTE reporting rules reversed by Trump’ by Micah Ward, Ward said, “The Trump Administration will reinstate prior versions of the State Plan Guide and the Consolidated Annual Report Guide. The decision comes in response to several groups voicing concerns about the new reporting requirements, including Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education, both of which co-authored a letter to the Department late last month. “Our organizations, along with a number of states and other entities, including policymakers, have consistently raised significant concerns about these proposals since they were first unveiled last fall.”
Overall, the existence of the CTE program is challenged and increasingly found to have holes in its teaching style. Plato’s theory of education, while effective, isn’t wholly inclusive. The CTE program may rise and fall, only time will tell, but ultimately other programs like it will emerge. The next CTE program in the making has the potential to be better than the one Trump removed, but hopefully it will be built not for categorization, rather to promote individual expression through occupation by not excluding fields of work from its curriculum. Education is the future of the world, the question is, what kind of future would be in the world’s best interest?
