Investing in career and technical education

By Mary Beth Wood

Twenty-five years after I graduated, I learned something important about my high school education. My job for our class reunion was to compile a memory book; over half our classmates responded to questions about early transgressions, family news and current employment. What I learned from that endeavor was this: some of the students who struggled mightily just to make it to graduation turned out to be successful business owners—entrepreneurs with payrolls and jobs that they loved. That was the first time that I questioned whether a traditional academic program, followed by four years of college, was the best avenue for success.

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