Career Education for Minority and Low-Income Students.

Overview & Synopsis

Career education for minority and low-income persons has, to date, been generally a matter of overpromise and underdelivery. To build positively demands that we be willing to look realistically at both promises and problems in three categories: conceptual assumptions of career education; process assumptions of career development; and programmmatic assumptions of career education. Two basic conceptual assumptions of career education which constitute serious operational challenges when we seek to meet the needs of minority and low-income students are that career education is for all persons and that career education is humanistically oriented. As a process, career education follows the model of career development. The model envisions a progressive sequence involving: career awareness, career exploration, career motivation, career decision-making, career preparation, career entry, and career maintenance and progression. Special problems exist for minority and low-income persons in each stage of this process. Three programmatic assumptions of career education which are currently acting as operational deterrents to effective career education for minority and low-income persons are that: career education is a collaborative effort; the classroom teacher is key to the success of career education; and career education is inexpensive. (Author)