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Free Press Opinion: Strengthen career and technical education toward today’s skilled, family-wage jobs

Staff File Photo By Robin Rudd / Student Abigail Christensen wraps a pediatric mannequin's arm during a wound dressing exercise as Maggie Nunley and Bradley Dowlen observe as part of Hixson High School's health care and medical careers Future Ready Institute at Hamilton County's EMS Training Center earlier this year.
Staff File Photo By Robin Rudd / Student Abigail Christensen wraps a pediatric mannequin's arm during a wound dressing exercise as Maggie Nunley and Bradley Dowlen observe as part of Hixson High School's health care and medical careers Future Ready Institute at Hamilton County's EMS Training Center earlier this year. Staff File Photo By Robin Rudd / Student Abigail Christensen wraps a pediatric mannequin's arm during a wound dressing exercise as Maggie Nunley and Bradley Dowlen observe as part of Hixson High School's health care and medical careers Future Ready Institute at Hamilton County's EMS Training Center earlier this year.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

A new Beacon Center report suggests there remains a disconnect between the state’s K-12 education and the Tennessee economy.

In essence, the report says the state’s public educators need to do a better job of making students aware of the advantages of career and technical education, and to help push them along those pathways that can lead to today’s in-demand, high-paying occupations.

We’ve been beating the drum for students to take advantage of more technical careers for more than 11 years and making the point that a four-year college degree isn’t for everyone.

(IN THE NEWS: Partnerships with schools benefiting Hamilton County businesses)

Locally, a report released 10 years ago this month made some of the points the Beacon Center’s report does. That report, called Chattanooga 2.0, was commissioned by the Benwood Foundation, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton County Department of Education and the Public Education Foundation.