Curriculum Application by Natalia

Curriculum Application by Natalia - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

If I could add a subject to the American high school curriculum it would be “Career Support”. It would work with school’s current message of graduating and continuing on to pursue higher education. It would save time and money by more acutely directing students to the career fields that are right for them. College resources would be wasted less and used more effectively.This course would resemble a modern day “Home Ec” and “Shop” class by being very hands on and interactive. Several career fields, including those not pursued through traditional educational institutes (entrepreneurship for example), would be covered. As part of the curriculum Students would complete a resource folder containing all the different resources shared to follow various career fields. With room for students to add additional resources on fields of particular interest to students. They will keep this to refer to in the future, or should they change their career path they can use it as a guide to begin again.

In this classroom you would find different stations, much like in Home Ec and Shop class, containing various tools and instructions pertaining to each field. In this classroom environment, through teacher instruction and hands on experimentation, students would safely apply the curriculum they have already acquired to realistic career scenarios. Students would not only get a feeling for a particular field, but get an idea of what it is going to require to succeed in each field. With notice, students will also have the option of integrating tools from different stations to suit their projects. With technology moving so rapidly, careers quickly appearing that did not exist before, students would learn not only how to keep up but how to incorporate their natural talents by acquiring new skills to improve upon them. An aspiring artist can practice different forms of art and simultaneously learn how to create a webpage to present their work. Perhaps this student finding new ways to apply technology to art and better assisting artists. Others may discover they love science, technology, or engineering more than they imagined, fields that have positions that desperately need filling in the United States.

Further seeing their talent, curriculum, and skills put into practice in real life scenarios would be especially effective in inspiring students to continue on to higher education. Students would also save time and resources if in this course discovered that unconventional institutes might better suit their needs. Institutes like online universities, trade schools, or a melding of both. Melding can include the traditional working with the contemporary. For instance an aspiring business student can connect with a mentor from SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) who can more effectively guide and help the student decide which college courses to attend. This would be the curriculum I would add to American high school curriculum, and I would title this course “Curriculum Application”.