The Stars Aligned And The Rest Is History
The Story Of Oklahoma's Premiere Career-Tech System
by
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Contextually, this history is written in a slightly different manner than any previous career-tech histories the reader may have encountered in the past. Instead, much of it is based on tribal stories that were told to me by my mentors (i.e. tribal elders.) As a result, some of the stories I've included in this book may have some naturally ingrained enhancements that were the result of enthusiastic story tellers who may have chosen to make the story a little more entertaining in communicating the essential facts necessary to keep the history alive and well for future generations. Of course, this is not all that dissimilar to what might have taken place when native Americans, Australian aborigines or African tribesman sought to perpetuate their cultures. Only, they didn't have the luxury of a written language and had to rely on their remarkable memories, to hand down tribal history that had been told to them for centuries by their elders. Back then, a critical culture-saving story may have been communicated with key members of the tribe gathered around a fire and talking about challenges they may have encountered following a successful hunt or a battle won against a rival tribe across the river. To a degree, the same thing still happens today, but instead of a campfire, it may originate around the office water cooler and begin with the opening line "Did you hear what happened yesterday in Senator Smith's office. . . . yada, yada, yada?" Such were the stories based on fact, but not necessarily backed by legal documents that could be obtained with an official records request through the Freedom of Information Act. Nonetheless, these stories were critical to them and thus story telling served as the way to assure that they would never be lost for the preservation of the tribe.
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About the Book
Oklahoma has long been recognized for its premier career-tech education system. The difference between Oklahoma’s system and those in other states is its unique form of governance and funding not found anywhere else in the country. To make this visionary system possible an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution was required. Amending Oklahoma’s constitution was not an easy task and required support from both republicans and democrats, the governor, both houses of the legislature, the public and private sectors as well as the media. Such bipartisan cooperation seems unrealistic in today’s polarized political climate, but it happened in 1966 because of the courageous and unselfish leadership of a few outstanding Oklahomans who had a vision of how their state could accomplish something in education that would be the envy of the nation. All the stars had to align themselves in just the right way to make it possible. This is how it happened.
About the Author
Tom Friedemann spent forty-nine years as a career-tech educator. He began his career as a high school marketing education teacher and completed it as a superintendent of a tech center. He has authored numerous manuscripts on career-tech education that have been featured in state, national and international publications and is a sought-after speaker on the subject. He has twice testified before the U.S. Congress on workforce education. He earned both his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is a passionate flyfisher and has authored two books on fishing; If It Were Easy, They’d Call It Catchin’ and Bent Poles, Happy Souls.