Agricultural education programs are one component of Career and Technical Education (CTE). For CTE to be effective, educators teaching CTE courses must be able to make connections between the curriculum and real-life situations. This qualitative study explored self-reported perceptions of CTE by pre-service students. Wigfield and Eccles' expectancy-value model of achievement was used as the framework for this study. Findings indicated that career and technical education provides benefits for everyone because it helps develop career skills. With the shortage of educators and budget cuts, career and technical education cannot continue to survive. Participants also describe characteristics of successful career and technical education teachers.