Recently, Warriors, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ed and Workforce Committee released a press notice about #WhyCTE Works. Below is a screen shot of the email I received which announced this strategy.
Basically, the email is sharing a few personal stories which fit the agenda’s shift from academics to workforce. It promotes this shift as positive. The HR 2353 Bill (Strengthening Career and Technical Education in the 21st Century Act) is also being pumped up as a ‘door opening’ bill for all.
(*Note: before HR 2353 was numbered for record keeping, it was previously HR 5587. That Bill has the exact name the newer HR 2353 does! I broke down the Bill in its HR5587 version, here.)
The newer Bill, HR 2353 has a sponsor in Rep. Thompson from PA. I exposed his involvement in the quest to increase CTE (Career Tech Education) in late 2016.
(*Notes: Rep. Thompson is hardly the lone promoter in the quest. I urge you to know your Representatives and Senators backing the CTE/CBE (Competency Based Ed) shift. The House of Representatives is not the only Chamber pushing workforce based education. The Senate has plenty of Bills as well. The above linked article exposed BOTH the Senate and House’s shift. If you’ve missed my previously published June 2017 article with some of the other related and latest Bills, click here.)
So, what does the newer Strengthening CTE in the 21st Century Act include?
Basically, it is HR 5587 with a different number. All the alignment and conformity of HR 5587 is in HR 2353. When you look below at the Ed/Workforce’s Press Release, notice the underlined phrases. As far as those bullet points with ‘positive’ moves? A bunch of CCSS/CTE bull manure.
Of course the Ed/Workforce Committee will champion anything which aligns education and workforce. Rep. Virginia Foxx is the Committee chair. Her view on ‘quality education’ is seen below:
For the level of support behind HR 2353, take a look at the screen shot below. (A list of reasons why HR2353’s push for #WhyCTE Works? is in the next paragraph.)
The Senate HELP equally champions alignment between education and employment. The Committee’s chair, as we know, is Sen. Lamar Alexander. Here is a screen shot from his Congressional website:
Also, consider this letter addressed to the select Senate HELP Committee members (including Alexander and Murray; key CCSS Machine members who sold the nation ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act)
I found another letter from a known CCSS Machine organization (CLASP) imploring Sen. Alxeander to use CTE as laid out by WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) as a tool to align education. (*Note: back in Sept. of 2016, I published a scathing article on CTE, CLASP, Alexander/Murray, Congress, and early learning alignment..for our babies!)
Why We Should be Adding “Not” To CTE:
Warriors, for starters, simply put CTE IS the adult version of Common Core. In fact, I showed you, back in 2014, how CTE used to be worded. It was “Common Career and Technical Core Education”. As time progressed and the truth about CCSS came out, the name changed to ‘Career and Technical Education’. Quick to not be seen as aligned to the “State led Standards”, the powers behind CTE, dropped the two words “Common and Core”. In many cases the ‘and’ has been dropped as well. Nothing like a quick name change to fool America, huh?
This is always reason #1 to NOT have CTE, it’s 100% CCSS aligned. (*Note: if you’re not sure how, ask me.)
Reason #2 to say “NOT”: More federal control over how States recieve and use their Perkins (CTE) funds.
Reason #3: Associate degree programs will be shifted to a ‘post-secondary credential’ (It’s optional if credentials are ‘industry recognized’).
Reason #4: CBE (Competency Based Education and accompanying assessments) will increase.
Reason #5: In HR 2353, you’ll find ESSA supportive moves, like middle school ‘career explorations’. You’ll also find every student group, even those outside of traditionally public schools will be included. You’ll find that financial aid is tied to CBE and CTE ‘results’.
Reason #6: HR 2353 is HR 5587 updated. Just as in WIOA, ESSA, and 5587; HR 2353 has the increases for ‘early college high schools’ and more.
Reason #7: CTE in Native American education. If you want to see how ESSA impacts Native Americans, I urge you to read my article on the subject.
Reason #8: You’ll be able to add ‘in-demand’ and ‘evidence-based’ to the long list of CCSS Words/Phrases we loathe. “Rigor” and ‘challenging’ are written throughout the Bill.
Reason #9: Increases P3s (Public Private Partnerships). This is also found in ESSA. Nothing like a business to run education, is there?
Reason #10: “Pay for Success” models in education are always a ‘lose-lose’ situation. Expect plenty more with HR 2353.
Access the PDF Version of HR 2353 here.
Closing:
Warriors, by no means are the above 10 reasons the only ones to say NO to CCSS’s CTE. If you are new to my research/blog, please, ask me or use the provided search bar.
I also will state for the record that I am NOT ‘anti job’. Jobs are a great thing. However, as we are seeing more and more of our lives funneled through the CCSS Machine, we are seeing LESS and LESS of our naturally given freedoms to choose what TYPE of job(s) we’ll have. Our ancestors fought to STOP child labor; CTE is breeding child labor-minded workers.
There is no amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting our children in this area. The last time an amendment was proposed to ban States from exercising child labor was 1924. In that proposed amendment, Congress would usurp the States’ Rights for labor. Only 28 States ever ratified the Amendment. It takes 38 States to ratify to be added to the Constitution.
We know CCSS Machine exploits education. What will we do to STOP CTE from exploiting our children?
3 thoughts on “Why Not?”