The Importance of Humanities
in School-to-Work Systems
A Message from Lynn Simons, Loni Hancock, and Carla Nuxoll, Secretary of Education’s Regional Representatives for Regions VIII, IX, and XThe power of school-to-work as an educational strategy lies in its ability to interest young people in learning. Linking a high-quality academic education to success in the world beyond school brings a vital immediacy to both in-school and workplace learning that is difficult to achieve in any other way. Integrating the academic curriculum with experiential education and work-based learning has the potential to enhance the intellectual growth of all students as well as prepare them to participate responsibly in the global economy. To achieve this potential, school-to-work must become part of a movement toward a new American high school, a new way to educate all students—not simply an enriched vocational education program.
School-to-work can help every student, from drop-out to university-bound, find new excitement in learning as well as achieve a stronger vision of how that learning might provide the foundation for a satisfying career. For this to occur, however, the academic learning in school-to-work systems must be based on rigorous academic standards. We need to be able to ask ourselves, "Would I want my children in a school-to-work career pathway?" The answer must be, "Only if they can also get a good classical education."
Integrating the humanities—literature, history, philosophy, art, economics—into school-to-work career pathways is essential to creating a comprehensive and challenging curriculum that is both rigorous and relevant. These disciplines can provide pathways for students to explore as well as enrich their understanding of a chosen career area of interest.
When students in a biotech academy read Sinclair Lewis’s Arrowsmith in English class, when students in a business and finance career pathway study American economic history, when students in a travel and tourism pathway study the writings of Margaret Meade and other anthropologists, they add an important dimension to their education that they might not have gotten in a more traditional classroom situation. Including humanities courses in career pathways expands students’ awareness of all aspects of their chosen area of interest. They also gain increased understanding of many facets of the adult work they are considering.
We have found that few curricula explicitly link high-quality academic work in the humanities with workplace learning in career pathways. We offer some of the best examples we have found, and invite you to send us more based on your experience in your own schools. We are just beginning this journey and can all learn from one another.
Bon voyage!
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