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While career and technical education (CTE) in America may provide a route to employment for some young people, many people oppose CTE on grounds that it discourages young people from going on to postsecondary education and achieving their full potential and also because of CTE's poor history and obsolete programs that became a dumping ground for less able students. In this paper, the authors argue that while these concerns are valid, instead of abandoning CTE programs, attempts should be made to improve, upgrade and modernise them. After a brief introduction, the need for CTE is outlined under the headings of: The high school dropout problem; High school graduates and the transition to work; Unprepared college students; The importance of non-college careers; What employers really want; The promise of CTE. The paper then provides the background information on CTE covering its history, current programs, public attitudes and CTE in other countries. This is followed by a discussion of what research has revealed about the effectiveness of CTE and the authors then look at the federal role in CTE, recommending that the federal government should concentrate on funding research that could inform state education departments and local school districts on questions of how best to provide CTE.