The Alabama Course of Study for Career/Technical Education and its Affect on Students with Limited Options after High School

The Alabama Course of Study(ACS) is what guides us teachers in our classrooms. There is a specific Course of Study for each area of specialization ie. math or english. The course of study for Career/Technical Education is what guides Agricultural Educators. As an Agricultural educator i will be bound to teach this course of study. As we all know our school systems are in pro-ration EVERY year, most likely the cause of mishandled funds at the state and federal level. with pro-rations tight budget come the choice's of school officials to cut unnecessary programs. These programs usually include band, agriscience and even in some cases football. When Ag is chosen to be cut from a system it is usually because of the increasing cost of materials that are needed to conduct the program and the lack of teachers. Such materials include lumber, greenhouse supplies, aquaculture, animal science forestry supplies as well as supplies for the plethora of other categories that are in the ACS. As you can see from the above listed materials, the Ag classroom is a costly investment for the schools. In most systems there are willing company's and citizens close by that donate time and materials to these programs and in many cases the products that come from the work of students can be sold for fund raisers, such as flowers from the greenhouse or wooden toy cars built by the woodworking class. Although it is costly to run an Ag program the ACS that governs the program calls for a wide variety of career and technical trades to be taught. These Ag classes open the doors for many students who do not have other opportunities especially in low socio-economic areas where training after high school may not be an option for students. Simply put, the skills learned and attained in the Ag classroom prepare student to enter the work force after high school if college is not an option.

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