This position piece is highly biased as apparent in the author's reliance upon twisted facts and one-sided overstatements to support his position. Examples of partiality include him not acknowledging that Career Technology Education (CTE) students are currently being denied access to CTE courses, excluding CTE from what he calls "a full education," and downplaying that foreign language courses are also being impacted by the bill.

This opinion piece by Public School Superintendent Sandra Thorstenson illustrates flawed reasoning associated with the drastic decline of vocational-technology education offerings over the past three decades. Her devaluation of vocational-technical education as “non-core academic instruction” reflects an inaccurate bias that has been costly to students and society. Vocational-technical education provides courses of study that prepare students for gainful employment, which public schools are mandated to provide by CA Education Code, including Sections 51220(i), 5122.5 and 51228(b). Thus, claims that vocational-technical education is a costly "enrichment" is an erroneous assessment. Such claims are often associated with a ... More »

The author of this review of a book, Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities, appears to be star-struck by the credentials of the book's authors and fails to question a number of debatable recommendations--especially the importance of AP courses and advice against sending students to community colleges. The authors of the book the reporter reviewed may be masters at crunching numbers but their sweeping generalizations about students are open to much dispute. The reporter should have questioned the authors' inappropriate use of statistics that included a need to distinguish association from causation (see http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2007/10/distinguishing).

Walters illuminates reasons why Career Technology Education (CTE) supports students learning at least as much as--if not more than--academically focused courses.

This article introduces a topic that needs further discussion. Students' learning is significantly impacted by funding decisions and readers need to better understand why giving school administrators "flexibility" may have serious impacts upon students who lack advocates. School Districts are highly political and giving those who make funding decisions "flexibility" enables vocal groups to convince administrators to siphon funding to support special interests' pet programs at the expense of programs that benefit students who lack such advocates. While this story is a good starting point it needs much more depth to help the public understand the implications of giving blank checks to school administrators..

Journalism has a duty to educate citizens. This opinion piece explains why Sen. Wright, the author of a SB 381, designed his bill to help California public schools better serve all students while not limiting access to college.