As the political left continues to advocate against parents who want a say in their children’s education, alternative options to traditional public schools are exploding, including a new culinary magnet program at an Orlando area high school.
“Our operational mission is for Culinary Arts students to successfully run an internal restaurant, create, prepare, and market unique products, explore food science, as well as cater on- and off-campus banquets and special events,” says Wekiva Culinary’s website.
That school is a magnet of Wekiva High School in Orange County.
“Right now, students from throughout Orange County schools are lining up for an opportunity to take courses here,” Chef Christopher Bates says in a recruitment video for the school. “If you want to be a professional chef, this is the only place in Orange County where you want to be, because there’s nothing like what we do.”
Students at Wekiva Culinary will forego a traditional high school education, and instead will learn culinary arts, as well as restaurant and catering management. They will be prepared for careers in the restaurant and food service industry after graduation.
Magnet program enrollment nationwide has been steadily increasing since the 1970’s and one in 15 high school students now attends a magnet program.
Another form of non-traditional education that is on the rise in the United States is homeschooling.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, households that reported homeschooling their children jumped from 5.4 percent in spring of the 2019-2020 school year, to 11.1 percent in fall of the 2020-2021 school year.
The Census Bureau says that shift is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But liberal indoctrination in public schools has become a hot topic nationwide, possibly because parents had more access to their children’s curriculum while their students learned from home during the height of the pandemic.
Topics like Critical Race Theory (CRT), which some have billed as divisive, have driven parents to protest their local school districts. Those parents have subsequently drawn the ire of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the White House.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Florida Capital and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Wekiva Culinary Arts” by Wekiva Culinary Arts.Â
