Since its inception in 1997, Cisco's curriculum has entered thousands of high schools across the U.S. and around the world for two reasons: (1) Cisco has a large portion of the computer networking market, and thus has the resources for and interest in developing high school academies; and (2) high school curriculum development teams recognize the need for skilled employees in the information technology (IT) industry and so have sought out IT curricula. As a result, thousands of high school students are taking Cisco's training, even though they lack adequate fundamental computer skills, employment and transferable skills, and life-long learning skills. Instead, the author believes that high schools should focus on a rigorous curriculum based on a balanced blend of conceptual and lab-based experiences to educate students on essential and rudimentary computer skills. In this article, the author presents the results of a study that examined IT instruction at the high school level. The goal of the study was to determine the perceptions of northern Illinois Cisco Academy high school teachers regarding the proprietary Cisco Computer Networking Academies curriculum. Results indicate that current Cisco Academy teachers lack knowledge about vendor-neutral curricula.