At one time, they would have lost interest and dropped out of high school.
But now they’re cooking — not to mention repairing airplanes, writing proposals for arts grants or learning to read construction blueprints — as part of the province’s “specialist high skills major” program.
One Grade 12 Toronto student said the experience has turned him on to the idea of being a chef.
“I really didn't have much interest in high school,” said George Sader, 17, of Don Bosco Catholic secondary. “...I thought I’d just barely pass high school. Now I've been trying to get 70's and I’m going to more of all my classes.”
The specialist program gives secondary students a hands-on look at a number of different career choices and is being credited as part of the reason why the graduation rate continues to increase, up to 79 per cent for the 2008-9 school year from 68 per cent in 2003-4.
“That's a really big deal,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty, who visited Don Bosco on Monday to release the new graduation figures, mixing with students making dough for fresh pasta and honey oat buns in its hospitality and tourism program.
McGuinty is aiming to get the rate to 85 per cent by 2011.
However, Tory education critic Elizabeth Witmer said the new figure is meaningless because of the Liberals’ “no-fail policy.”
“The number doesn’t always mean that students have actually achieved the literacy and math skills that are necessary” for college and university, she said.
“They are not learning the life lessons that you need to learn for when you go to the workforce” such as having to hand assignments in on time or even show up on time for class. “...That’s not the real world, and this no-fail policy, at the end of the day, is not beneficial to students.”
The specialist programs — in fields such as construction, aviation, energy and aerospace and offered at 430 schools province-wide — are bundles of eight to 10 courses offered in Grades 11 and 12 and about 28,000 students are enrolled province-wide.
Students also take co-op credits to gain work experience in the field, and also earn any certification – such as CPR – they might need. They job shadow professionals, visit post-secondary institutions and sometimes earn dual credits that give them advanced standing should they go on.
Toronto’s public board runs specialist programs in 30 schools, including Central Tech, and is hoping for about 40 in the fall of 2010 serving 1,876 students.
It has piloted an aerospace and aviation program at Georges Vanier secondary, where the school is equipped with Cessna aircraft, a helicopter, flight simulators and a wind tunnel.
Bernadette Shaw, the board’s central coordinating principal for experiential learning, said having such a program brings energy to the school.
“It’s just generating that interest — and with student engagement comes student learning.”
The province has focused on graduation rates as high school completion does affect lifetime income, the likelihood of requiring income assistance and participating in crime. In Canada, roughly one in five adults does not have a high school diploma.