UL: How one school provides "adequate education"

[KBCraig]

It would be even better if no government money was involved. My nephew graduated from WyoTech last year, which is the Harvard of automotive vo-tech. They accept government aid, but it's a purely private school, and graduates are in high demand. It's also not cheap, but graduates (and those who hire them) get what they pay for.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Adequate+education%3a+How+one+school+delivers+it&articleId=316642a7-891b-4a7f-925e-d639c99c60ca

Adequate education: How one school delivers it

IF THE MANCHESTER School of Technology wants a new building, it first has to assure the National Automotive Technical Education Foundation (NATEF) that it can produce graduates who are actually capable of fixing modern automobiles. Accountability in public education? What a concept.

Only about 10 percent of the student body is in the automobile program. But the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association was so fed up with the less than competent graduates the school used to produce that it convinced the Legislature several years ago to withhold expansion funds unless the school could get national certification from the NATEF.

The school is shooting for certification by January. To get it, the auto technology and repair curricula must be top-rate, the teachers independently certified, and the facilities state-of-the-art. If the school cannot convince NATEF that it can produce competent graduates, it won't get the multi-million-dollar, 17,000 square foot construction project it wants.

The school also has advisory boards that help govern its other curricula. Business executives oversee the business program, builders oversee the construction program, etc. If a program inadequately educates students its failures are caught quickly and remedied.

If only regular public schools had to produce knowledgeable graduates capable of immediate employment before they could acquire capital funds. Then perhaps our colleges and universities would not be filled with students taking remedial courses.

Alas, regular public schools have it backwards. They obtain funding for massive building and renovation projects first, then worry about the education later. Manchester's district, fresh from a more than $100 million renovation, is labled "in need of improvement" by the federal government and continues to produce graduates who cannot demonstrate proficiency in reading or mathematics.

The school board should look into duplicating the School of Technology model district-wide. Let's make public schools earn their shiny new buildings.

[Rosie the Riveter]

It would be even better if no government money was involved. My nephew graduated from WyoTech last year, which is the Harvard of automotive vo-tech. They accept government aid, but it's a purely private school, and graduates are in high demand. It's also not cheap, but graduates (and those who hire them) get what they pay for.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Adequate+education%3a+How+one+school+delivers+it&articleId=316642a7-891b-4a7f-925e-d639c99c60ca

Adequate education: How one school delivers it

IF THE MANCHESTER School of Technology wants a new building, it first has to assure the National Automotive Technical Education Foundation (NATEF) that it can produce graduates who are actually capable of fixing modern automobiles. Accountability in public education? What a concept.

Only about 10 percent of the student body is in the automobile program. But the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association was so fed up with the less than competent graduates the school used to produce that it convinced the Legislature several years ago to withhold expansion funds unless the school could get national certification from the NATEF.

The school is shooting for certification by January. To get it, the auto technology and repair curricula must be top-rate, the teachers independently certified, and the facilities state-of-the-art. If the school cannot convince NATEF that it can produce competent graduates, it won't get the multi-million-dollar, 17,000 square foot construction project it wants.

my 2 cents --
Rather than building state-of-the-art facilities with tax dollars they should find high quality internships for their students in local high quality cutting edge auto repair establishments and act as facilitators and evaluators.