A school without steers? Unthinkable, said Mason Tucker, a 10th-grader at Madera South High School north of Fresno.
“When I found out there were all these animals here, I thought, I can do this in school? I have to be here,” said Tucker, who commutes 40 minutes each way to attend the school’s agriculture program. “Why hate school when you can love it?”
Steers, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits, chickens, a sweet-smelling tangerine grove and acres of rotating crops are part of Madera South’s agriculture pathway for students—one of thousands of career-focused courses in California high schools that are part of a renaissance in career and technical education. Aimed at preparing students for skilled, high-wage jobs, the pathways are a step beyond the vocation ed courses of generations past.
