When I get nervous, I stutter. Wynn says she wants to find a job that would allow her to attend Cuyahoga Community College and hopes to avoid flipping burgers. It would resemble the Health Careers Center or the Cleveland School of the Arts. The advisory committee recommendations mention the Toledo Technology Academy and Fordson High School in Dearborn, Mich., as model programs to be reviewed. Fordson started an engineering and a manufacturing curriculum for welding and training for shaping or stamping metal in response to market demands, says Fordson Principal Paul Smith.
Businesses participate with donated equipment, job shadowing, internships and teacher externships.
18 to 24 students eventually go to work in the industry. Others go on to Henry Ford Community College. Some work in family businesses, Smith says. The Jobs for the Future report cautions that developing occupation specific schools will not generate a crop of smarter workers who can apply their intellect to any number of fields. Getting strong academics to all students can, it says.