Future of Vocational Education in America

¶ … Future of Vocational Education in America

Four years of college is not the route for many students for many reasons.

Perhaps money is an issue, or grade point, or simply the desire to continue in the academic world. Everyone cannot be teachers, lawyers, or doctors. Moreover, it would be a sad world if they were. Vocational education gives the world plumbers, wood craftsmen, welders, hair stylists, electricians, and the list goes on. These are the people who make our lives more livable. After all, how many of us know how to wire a house, replace leaky plumbing, or build new cabinets for the kitchen. These people are craftsmen and are much needed in the world. One student may not be able to write a criticism on Shakespeare, but perhaps he is a whiz at woodworking enabling him to build intricate pieces of furniture. Vocational education is very important to our world.

Vocational schools in this country have long been written off as the ultimate oxymoron, emphasis on moron. "Remember Bill Cosby's old routine on shop? In it he recalls, "A guy says, 'If you put a bullet in the furnace, it will explode.' This was the brightest kid in our class" (Perry 1989). This is no long so, according to John Furman, a training coordinator for General Motors. Furman says "I recently spoke to some vocational students who were using computers to simulate rocket launchings. It's not like in the Fifties, when they'd just be given a piece of wood to saw" (Perry 1989). There are close to 30,000 public high schools, community colleges, and technical institutes that offer vocational education. There is a myriad of private training centers, which range from fly-by-night operations to well-respected secretarial schools. Industry sees vocational education as a godsend. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, jobs for technicians grew faster than any other major occupational group. As automation spreads, companies need smarter, more flexible employees who can perform a variety of tasks, from installing and monitoring welding robots to reprogramming them if production rates drops. " By working with local institutions on curriculum, by lobbying state education departments and local school boards for funding, by donating up-to-date equipment, by loaning employees to serve as teachers and mentors, companies can help guarantee themselves a better- trained, more productive workforce" (Perry 1989).

Statistics are showing that vocational education keeps students from dropping out of school. "According to recent estimates, each dropout represents an average loss of $58,930 in federal and state income taxes during the course of a lifetime. For the 3,881,000 dropouts between the ages of 16 and 24 years in 1991, this amounts to $228.7 billion over their lifetimes" (Imel 1993).

More and more students are choosing to attend vo- tech schools. Perhaps one reason for the increase is because many scholarship programs that pay only a portion of expenses at a traditional college or university, most often pay the entire expenses for a vo-tech school. And perhaps too, it is because a college diploma is no guarantee of a job, while vo-tech graduates can usually step right out of school into a god paying job (Carrol-Gordon 1998). Carol Tankersley, of DeKalb Tech's Economic Development Facility in Covington, Georgia, contends that more and more industries are looking for employees with technical training. When asked if vocational education in high school makes a difference, Tankersley stated "Yes. It is important to cover all realms of education, both academic and technical. If you get vocational education in high school, that feeds into the technical training you receive after high school" (Carrol-Gordon 1998).