RE: Question 3: Partnerships with Business

Maureen Jensen wrote: "Partnerships with business would be an essential factor in the sucess of any workforce preparation program."

I think Maureen has helped me zero in on my concern with school-to-work programs.  Most of the posts (not all) refer to business, technology, industry etc as the goals of workforce preparation.  

I don't personally like to think of schools as "preparing the workforce."  When the vision is this directed, the creative arts are left out.  And yes, we DO need artists, philosophers, musicians, actors, and more in our society.  

I would favor more variety in high school curriculum, more exposure to broad areas of learning, rather than narrower training modes.  Children aren't usually ready to decide a career path in secondary school.  But if they've learned to think and question and read and write and compute and analyze and create and invent, they'll be ready to meet the challenges of the real world.