Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series focusing on the changing role and availability of vocational education in high schools and colleges

Caitie Pedersen spends her wood shop class cooking up more than puzzle pieces and plaques.
Pedersen, a 17-year-old Colfax High School student and aspiring pastry chef, is hard at work on her senior project – using CAM (computer-assisted manufacturing) technology to design, test and engineer molds for chocolate.
Fellow senior Luke Eaton, 18, didn’t take auto shop to tinker with old cars. He and his classmates run computer diagnostics, perform emissions testing and repair electrical systems, skills Eaton hopes will give him a head start in the fast-growing – and often well-paying – diesel industry.
And a career technology course that combines elements of metal shop, wood shop, computers and electronics debuted this year. The final assignment? Students get to test out the race cars they built in class.
But these aren’t the vocational education classes of past generations.
Traditional career courses like auto, wood and metal shop once focused on preparing students for careers as auto mechanics, cabinetmakers and machinists. Though still invaluable for careers in those fields, today’s courses utilize high-tech tools applicable to a far wider range of jobs and academics.
At Colfaxdesign.com, the Web site of CHS’ career tech education program, students are informed that classes like design and electronics help prepare them for everything from jewelry making to repairing ski lifts, from designing green buildings to building robots.
“The world is changing so quickly and, therefore, classes really need to incorporate technology,” said Jonathan Schwartz, who teaches Colfax High School’s ROP design and construction course – otherwise known as wood shop.
CNC (computer numerical control) technology, for example, will read and manufacture any design Schwartz’s students create in CAM.
“A friend went to the dentist to have a crown put in, and the dentist scanned the tooth and ran it on a CNC router,” Schwartz said. “That CNC router is identical to the one we have here. We’re basically running the same process that makes that tooth crown.”
And the same process that allows students to make Corian molds for personalized key chains can be used to make molds for Caitie Pedersen’s desserts.
“We just started brainstorming,” Pedersen said. “‘If we use pewter, can we use chocolate? If we use chocolate, could we use powdered sugar instead of chalk (to coat the molds)? Can we also make lollipops?’”
With a busy honors schedule and a 4.0 GPA, Pedersen has a lot on her plate. Wood shop was initially intended as a hobby, a way to learn to use her stepdad’s woodworking tools. But planers and drill presses turned out to bring Pedersen closer to her dream of opening her own pastry business.
“It’s pretty exciting – I’m combining my hobby with my life’s passion,” she said. “I would have taken (wood shop) two blocks in a row, but I’ve also got AP classes.”
Though Pedersen will attend college this fall, “not everyone plans or wants to go to college,” she says. “Without these kinds of classes, they wouldn’t have any way to learn, they wouldn’t be able to dabble to find out what they’re interested in.”
Classmate Keith Elliott, for instance, has his sights set on serving in the military.
“I want to do technical engineering – building things, hands-on work,” said Elliott, a 17-year-old senior. “Right now I’m getting familiar with all the tools in the shop. You could go into the military knowing nothing, or you can go in with a better set of skills.”
After four years in the design and construction course, one could argue that Elliott has a pretty solid set of skills.
But as career tech courses expand to reach a wider range of students, their availability is shrinking. Three-quarters of high school technology education programs have disappeared since the early 1980s, according to the California Industrial and Technology Education Association.
Many of Schwartz’s students have gone on to Sierra College’s construction department. That program – along with automotive technology and agriculture – was recently considered for elimination amid budget cuts, though board trustees have since asked school administrators to seek alternative cuts that would spare the vocational programs.
Without college training, Schwartz said, students might be limited to a medial job instead of a skilled, high-paying position. Other students would lose the opportunity to polish their math skills – essential for creating designs in class – or to develop a new hobby.
“When I first started teaching, I thought this was just about (teaching) invaluable skills, not academics,” Schwartz said. “But I’ve since learned it’s invaluable for all kids.”