(June 2011) It makes me want to go back to high school,” I confessed to Patrick J. Cwayna Sr., CEO of the West Michigan Aviation Academy (WMAA). His response wasn’t surprising. “I hear that a lot,” he said. “Many of the students’ parents tell me that; they really recognize the value of what we’re offering the students.”
High school has changed a great deal since I was a student. Soccer has become a popular sport; personal computers hadn’t yet been invented; and cell phones and texting were the things of science fiction. Although we had some “commercial classes” (auto shop, cosmetology, wood shop, print shop, etc.), the idea that a public high school might be devoted to preparing students for a variety of careers in a single industry wasn’t on the educational horizon.
