CCSD's Boundless Arrogance on Garrett Academy's Purpose

"'This is not your parents' vocational education anymore,' said Rich Gordon, the district's executive director of career and technology education. "It’s high-skill, it’s high-demand, and it’s high-wage.'"

BTW, he's been in that position less than a year.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that Rich Gordon is neither a racist nor a conspirator: he's merely arrogant. We won't hold it against him that he's from New Jersey. 

"Your parents' vocational education" was a success story. It lifted many students out of poverty and into the middle class. Maybe Gordon learned to disparage such studies when he got his teaching degree at Harvard. How much does he think a plumber makes? Or a mason? Are these jobs not high skill, in high demand, and high wage? Too blue collar for Gordon?

Does he know there's a building boom? 

So it's doubly frustrating that he assumes that the students at Garrett Academy don't deserve to share a campus with his favored Center for Advanced Studies (CAS). Advanced study of what? "The district currently plans to offer programs in health science technologies, information technology, pre-engineering, and arts and audio-visual technologies." Garrett students might pollute these classes?

Ask yourself, why is the automotive studies department at Garrett working on restoring a 1975 MGB roadster and not a 2005 Ford SUV?

Simple. They lack the electronic equipment to work on cars that are less than 20 years old. 

Who's the red-headed stepchild of the district?

"Garrett's career offerings have been whittled down to just nine. [. . .]"

"Many of the career programs have gone on the chopping block in the past four years. Principal Charity Summers said the school had 16 programs when she arrived in 2013, but district-level leaders decided to eliminate some — which made the school less attractive because it had fewer options."

"Some programs were cut due to low enrollment. Computer networking was the first to go, followed by masonry, carpentry and HVAC."

"The school had to stop offering popular metal fabrication classes due to a lack of funds to replace outdated welding equipment."

"Summers tried to update a popular program in hospitality and tourism, which she said was training students for housekeeping work. She wanted new staff and curriculum to orient the program toward higher-paying jobs in management, marketing, tourism planning and museum work. The district dropped the program instead."

"'The funding was an issue,' Summers said." So were "higher-paying jobs" apparently.

See, if you're a conspiracy theorist, this kind of treatment makes sense, unfortunately. What was going through district's heads? "We don't want to spend money on students who aren't going to college, that's what."

Don't forget: if North Charleston wasn't sending all its sales tax revenue to Mt. Pleasant, more than enough would be available for programs at Garrett.

To paraphrase Joseph Conrad, "The arrogance! Oh, the arrogance!"