| Question |
Answer |
| Q: With the technical / vocational education at Tech, the only people who go there is someone that
can't go to college. Isn't that true? |
A: No, in fact many people who attended Des Moines Technical High School continued their
education in 2, 4, and 8 year post graduate programs. |
| Q: Is it true that colleges won't accept kids that
graduated from Des Moines Technical High School
because they don't have the credits in college prep classes? |
A: Of course not. All D.M.
Tech High Graduates had the same college prep offerings and standards that
were offered at "area" high schools. |
| Q: I've heard that kids that went to Tech were not likely to graduate from
college. Why is that? |
A: In a conversation with Mr. Betz, he
stated that of the Tech Graduates that chose to continue
education in a 4 year school, 86% completed their collegiate studies. This figure
was much higher than the completion rates of "area" high schools. As
far as those Tech Graduates that did not choose to continue
their education, many already had sufficient training in their given area BEFORE high
school graduation to pursue full time employment at graduation. We even
know of some Alumni who have continued to work for the same Coop employer 30
- 40 years after graduation. That is actual paycheck education in
action!!! |
| Q: With all the classes that a Tech
student needed to complete for graduation in a specific Core Area, how did they have time
to do the both Core Area Classes and General Class Studies? |
A: During the time of 3 year Core Area Programs, the
students had a class schedule of 7 periods per day as opposed to 6 periods in area high
schools. The Core Area Classes were often exchanged by the student for
"elective" subjects to allow the student to pursue training in given fields of
endeavor. |
| Q: Why wouldn't a student want to continue their
education in college? |
A: Many students did. However, figures
provided by the U.S. Department of Labor show many vocational choices which college
studies are not a requirement for employment. |
| Q: What was the "Coop" program all about? |
A: Students in the 3 year programs at D.M.
Tech had the academic instruction in general and Core Area subjects. The Coop
program gave the student additional instruction in the workplace (with pay) while
receiving educational credit. This valuable experience was usually during the student's
12th grade year. It gave the student work place training that augmented the Core
Curriculum. |
| Q: Well, Central Campus offers the those programs,
don't they? |
A: In a word, No! By changing the curriculum to
accommodate the Central Campus concept, many programs have been diminished and eventually
dropped. Some Core Areas that have continual workplace demands have been
scrapped. Additionally, the valuable apprenticeship aspects of the Tech programs have been discarded
apparently in trade for school bus transportation time. |
| Q: What do you mean by valuable apprenticeship, and how
does that relate to transportation? |
A: The D.M. Tech Coop
Program was the place where a student would apply academically taught knowledge and
techniques in a work place environment. It was the proving ground for what the student had
learned in a real world workplace. By removing it from Core Area Class Curriculum, the
student no longer reaped the benefit of being able to have the teacher respond to the
differences between the separate work place and academic environments.
Due to scheduling considerations and transportation requirements for the district, the
educational day was reduced from 7 class periods to 6, and a second "bus run"
was implemented during times that were formally used for education of the student. |
| Q: Ok, but when they closed D.M. Tech, didn't they save lots of money by closing the school and having
student take academic classes at their area high schools? |
A: That is not the obervation we have made. By and
large, we still see most of the academic classes that were formally at Tech still there. English, Math, Social Studies
Classes, and even Gym have all remained at the building. We even understand that the
school lunchroom operates at full capacity.
In fact, the school district apparently considers the resources at to be that of a legitimate high school by their web own listing. |
| Q: Did the School Board close Tech because lack of
attendance at the school? |
A: Not at all, Des Moines
Technical High School was the third largest high school in the district at the time
they chose to close it. Over the course of 44 years of service, D.M. Tech graduated an average of 318
students per class. So attendance was not cause of it's closing. |
| Q: So, if the students are not getting the same quality
education they once did, what can we do to promote technical / vocational education in Des
Moines? |
A: We would first promote the concept of reopening Des Moines Technical High School as an independent educational high
school. Since the building and most of the existing technical / vocational programs
are still intact, the facility could be reopened with very little problem. |