I remember my high school days vividly. Not that long ago, I was living out my reign as a senior — one of the top dogs in the school!
As a senior, I recall taking two entire semesters worth of Shop and Career & Technical Education classes. I became a P&E kid, as they were so affectionately called. I joined SkillsUSA!
I helped wire and plumb a home. I've had tools in my hand, and I've worked in a greenhouse, garden, welding shop, and animal science lab. I've been the only female in a room full of teenage boys, all with varying levels of maturity. With those varying levels of maturity, some took the Vocational training more seriously than others.
At my high school, those "CTE Boys" became infamous for their not-quite-always perfect behavior. Over the course of my time with these knuckleheads, I comprised a list of all the things teachers and advisors wished that a CTE boy knew!
1. Buy boots that fit properly
Folks, this is crucial. Your boots are flopping everywhere, and you're walking sideways because they're too big.
2. Pick up your feet when you walk
Y'all better not drag those new boots on the ground! Walk like Beyonce if you have to. They're expensive, and you walking in them sideways because they're too big for you is not cool.
3. Don't lie to your teacher if you've got a dip in
Look, they know. We all know.
Edit: for those of you reading this not from the South or from a rural area, this probably won't apply to you...
4. Don't dip in class to begin with
Please stop. Nobody needs to see you trying to hide it.
The majority of teachers are so attuned to the smell of a dip can opening that they know when you crack it open two halls away. They know when you open it in their classroom.
5. Don't even think about spitting on the ground in front of me
Honestly, it's proper etiquette. As a girl who took multiple Career & Technical classes during my time in high school, I didn't have time to deal with your gross spit landing on my own boots.
Also, I will cut you.
6. Be afraid of the girls in your CTE classes...
She's most likely there because she wants to learn, and she will be better than you.
7. ... be VERY afraid
She's most likely meaner, tougher, and stronger than any one of you. Bonus points because she looks pretty while she does it!
8. Respect your teachers
I don't care who they are, if you can't respect your instructor and pay attention for the forty-five-minute time span that you're there then you don't deserve to be there. Shoutout to Coach J for being unafraid to dish out the repercussions when they were due!
9. Respect your substitutes
Never, EVER disrespect a substitute teacher. In my experience, most CTE subs are always women. They know what they're doing. They're exactly the amount of aggressive that Vince McMahon is in this lovely gif.
They are also meaner, tougher, and stronger than you. Their superpower is not taking any of your sass.
10. Take the trade you are learning seriously
Y'all, in my time as a CTE kid, I constantly saw students enroll in Vocational courses because they thought it was an "easy A." "No work for me!" they'd say.
That's nearly the polar opposite of what you should expect out of a Career & Tech course. These classes exist to instill knowledge of a dying trade in you. Sometimes, college just isn't for you. The skills you can acquire in a CTE course are invaluable.
You take robotics seriously. Why can't you take welding or masonry just as seriously? If you give it a chance, you'll most likely have as good of a time as this headbanging dude.
