Submitted by Paula Riezenman, Jan 18, 2008 19:23

The best education I ever got was at Midwood H. S. in the 1950's, where I was able to take the Commercial Course (Typing, Steno, Accounting, Office Practice) and have "something to fall back on", something my mother encouraged me to do. In my 30's, after spending many years being a very good secretary and office manager, I decided to go to college. There I learned to teach what I knew best--Business Education/Secretarial Studies, giving young women and later on, young men a chance to get out there and better themselves. It had sure worked for me! For almost 30 years I taught in the 'burbs and then in several NYC high schools. I watched the changes, learned computer, watch stenography die and saw my program grow smaller and smaller, until finally I wasn't allowed to teach basic keyboarding anymore. My principal said they didn't need it . . . "they get it in elementary school now." (Try telling that to my two-fingered typing teenagers!) So I taught it on the sly for a while and then retired when the DOE sent me a letter telling me that my license was going to be redundant in another year--that I should return to school and start all over again in another area. I loved teaching. I miss the kids, but not the bureaucracy. I only hope that ALL Career and Vocational training makes a comeback. It's so much fun to learn when you know that you're going to be able to take it out into the real world! I run into former students all the time who tell me that they never would have gotten a job without having learned what I had to teach them. Please . . . give them what they need! College isn't for everyone. The results will be more students staying in school, and a better workforce.

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