Alphina Kamara wonders what might have happened if she’d been introduced to science and engineering careers at her Wilmington, Delaware, high school.
Kamara, who is Black, was enrolled in an “audio engineering” course that taught her how to make music tracks and videos instead of a regular engineering course that she recalls was mostly filled with white students.
When she asked an administrator at Mount Pleasant High School about this apparent disparity, she said she was told that the audio engineering course was created for “regular students.”
“They thought we would be more interested in audio engineering than engineering,” said Kamara, now a junior at Wesleyan University studying English and sociology. “That was a hard pill to swallow.”
Historically, career and technical education (CTE) was seen as a dumping ground for students who weren’t considered college material. A two-tier educational system tracked predominantly low-income students and students of color into career and technical classes, then known as vocational education. But in recent years, schools have revamped these courses to prepare students for higher education and lucrative work in fields such as technology, health care and engineering.
A Hechinger Report/Associated Press analysis of CTE enrollment data from 40 states reveals deep racial disparities in who takes these career-oriented courses. Black and Latino students were often less likely than their white peers to enroll in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and information technology classes, according to the analysis, which was based primarily on 2017-18 data. Meanwhile, they were more likely to enroll in courses in hospitality and, in the case of Black students in particular, human services.
The analysis offers a comprehensive look at data that states will be required to report to the federal government at the end of this year under the Carl D. Perkins Act. The $1.2 billion law that oversees career and technical education at the federal level was reauthorized in 2018 with an increased focus on equity. Previously, such data was only required to be reported by gender, where large disparities are also seen.
“It’s hard to see yourself doing something where you do not see anybody who looks like you.”
Eva Oleita, a senior at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School
In some states, the differences in CTE participation are striking. In South Carolina, for instance, Black and Latino students made up 43 percent of the overall student body, yet just over a quarter of those enrolled in multiple STEM classes and less than a third of students enrolled in information technology. Meanwhile, Black and Latino students accounted for nearly 60 percent of students specializing in hospitality and human services, which include classes such as “parenting education” and “family life education” that have no clear link to the job market.
Alphina Kamara, former student at Mount Pleasant High School in Delaware
In an email, South Carolina’s CTE director, Angel Malone, wrote that the state recognizes the need to increase equity in STEM and has begun a number of initiatives to do so.
The reasons for these racial inequities are multiple, ranging from the courses that students of color are steered to enroll in to the availability of the STEM and IT courses at their school. Young people may also select courses in fields such as culinary arts because those professions are familiar and employ people who look like them.
The CTE classes students take in high school don’t necessarily shape which careers they choose. Still, Prudence Carter, dean of University of California-Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, said the findings fit into a larger pattern of Black and Latino students being denied equal opportunities in school, which has implications for their social mobility and economic equality.
“This is how wealth gaps become reproduced,” she said.
The median annual salary for cooks is $27,500 annually, while chefs and head cooks earn $56,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the typical engineer makes $100,000. For computer programmers, annual earnings are $92,000.
Since Kamara attended Mount Pleasant, the school has made strides in diversifying its CTE programs, according to school principal, Curi Calderon-Lacy. This year, enrollment in its engineering courses was 44 percent Black and 44 percent white, compared with 31 percent Black and 63 percent white in 2016.
In South Carolina, Black and Latino students made up 43 percent of the overall student body, yet just over a quarter of those enrolled in multiple STEM classes and less than a third of students enrolled in information technology.
Calderon-Lacy said all students have always had the option of taking the engineering course – or any CTE class – through the school’s open enrollment policy. Still, she acknowledged that enrollment in the engineering courses has not always reflected the composition of the student body. She added that the school received a grant from a nonprofit in 2018 to work on the issue.
Kamara said she didn’t remember requesting the audio engineering class. At the same time, she was never encouraged by counselors or teachers to explore options like the engineering course, which might have opened up new possibilities for her. “I feel like the reason I’m not attracted to things like STEM and math is because of this deterrence,” said Kamara.
