‘Linked learning’ seems to work for high school students
‘Linked learning’ seems to work for high school students
California is making a laudable commitment to vocational programs that provide relevance to students’ studies and set them on a career path.
By George Skelton
SACRAMENTO — It used to be called “shop.” Then educators started using two-bit labels like “vocational education.” And it got worse.
“Career tech,” they renamed it when the dot.com era emerged. Now it goes by “linked learning.” Or is it “career pathways?”
I’m confused.
“Call it shop-plus,” says Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the Legislature’s leading proponent of whatever it is.
I’ll roll my eyes and refer to it as “linked learning.” Yuk.
Whatever it’s called, it seems to work for high schoolers where it exists, which isn’t enough places. It provides relevance to their studies and sets them on a career path. So maybe “career pathways” is a better tag after all.
By any name, the state government — thanks largely to Steinberg — is making a major