[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 113 (Wednesday, July 13, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4820-H4821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ALL EDUCATION IS CAREER EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Costello of Pennsylvania). The Chair 
recognizes the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, for far too long there has been a discrepancy 
in what students are learning in the classroom and what employers say 
they need in the workplace. The passage of the bipartisan Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act in 2014 was an important step for the 
millions of Americans who are looking for work and for the employers 
who have job opportunities that remain unfilled due to the skills gap. 
However, great jobs are still going unfilled. Americans are still 
missing out on rewarding careers, and many businesses are still 
suffering.
  The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act has provided 
Federal support to State and local career and technical education 
programs for more than 30 years. H.R. 5587, the Strengthening Career 
and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, updates the law to 
reflect today's economic needs and the challenges that students and 
workers currently face.
  In particular, I am pleased that the bill streamlines the number of 
performance measures for postsecondary programs and aligns them with 
the performance measures in WIOA, retaining that law's precedent-
setting accountability standards that let taxpayers and lawmakers see 
clearly which programs work and which programs don't. This bipartisan 
bill goes a long way toward ensuring that individuals who pursue a 
technical education have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

[[Page H4821]]

  


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  However, I believe it is time we acknowledge that all education is 
career education and stop dividing the path to a high school degree 
into two tracks.
  Students pursue education to develop the necessary skills to find a 
job--preferably a career--in a chosen field. It is the same objective, 
whether the student is pursuing a medical degree at an Ivy League 
university or taking automotive performance courses at the local 
community college.
  Unfortunately, there is an unnecessary stigma attached to career and 
technical education. It is too often referred to as the ``other'' 
track, with the incorrect implication that it is the path individuals 
take if they won't be able to handle the rigors of college.
  In reality, students who pursue CTE complete a diverse curriculum 
where they learn important skills for succeeding in the workplace, such 
as problem solving, research, time management, and critical thinking. 
They are more engaged, perform better, and graduate at higher rates 
than their college-bound counterparts. We should be celebrating that 
success and studying how we can translate it across the board.
  As long as we have two educational tracks, we have a problem in the 
way people perceive those who choose career and technical education. We 
need to shift our perspective away from the idea that every student 
must attend an expansive and expensive 4-year program to succeed in the 
workforce. Educational success is about more than just a degree. It is 
about quantifiable skills that employers need in their employees.

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