EASTERN Student Aims to Fight Stigma on 'Tech' Schools

The following was written by EASTERN staff. While Patch neither supports nor opposes any opinions shared, we do believe it is an interesting dynamic worthy of our readers' consideration.

Eastern Center for Arts and Technology (EASTERN) Landscape Contracting/Upper Dublin High School senior, Gabriel Wasserman, is working on an interesting and extremely eye-opening senior project at Upper Dublin.

He is in the process of organizing an assembly targeted at 9th and 10th grade students, with the goal of helping to break the stereotypes that engulf career and technical high schools such as EASTERN. In his assembly, to be held in April, he hopes to shed some light on some misconceptions regarding career and technical education.

His presentation will be based on the following three questions:

1) Why is there a negative stigma associated with career and technical high schools when, in fact, these are the graduates filling the in-demand jobs in the U.S.?

2) Why do many people think that career and technical high schools are a place for students who cannot complete normal high school courses, when in fact the majority of students attend post-secondary education?

3) Why don’t more high school students attend career and technical high schools?
 
“When someone, oftentimes an adult, asks me why someone like myself attends a ‘tech’ school, I say I go because I am doing something that I love,” said Wasserman in his project description. “EASTERN is an ideal place to get a head start on a career and to prepare for college. The students who attend EASTERN know what they want out of their career and are taking the first step in achieving their goals.”

“I then ask that same person if they know how to re-solder a pipe, replace an electrical panel, or build a house without it falling over,” Wasserman continued. “More often than not, they would leave a check on the counter for the plumber or electrician. But what people don’t realize is that same plumber or electrician attended a career and technical school to learn that trade. These are the people that keep America’s lights on, the water running, the roofs over our heads waterproof, the inside of your home at a comfortable temperature, the family car running, the machines that keep people alive turned on, and so many other functions that people don’t think twice about each day.”

Along with nearly 70 percent of EASTERN program completers, Wasserman plans to attend college next year at Penn College of Technology to major in the Heavy Equipment Technician program. Upon college graduation, Wasserman would like to start his own Landscape Contracting business.

 “If you look at the kinds of degrees that college students are graduating with nowadays, almost 80 percent of them have to do with administrative positions, and other business professions. Those students with all of those high-power degrees are powerless right now because no one is hiring in those positions, so all of these students are coming out of college jobless with thousands in school loans to pay back,” said Wasserman. “But on the flip side, the students graduating with degrees in engineering, diesel repair, nursing, and other degrees that may require some technical education are employed almost the day after they get out of school. It’s these jobs that are in demand. Replacements for these kinds of jobs are falling short, and the reason why is the lack of knowledge about the benefits of going to career and technical schools.”