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Everyone who is capable of succeeding in college should have the opportunity to go to college. That is not the same thing as everyone going to college. There are some people who are not capable of college work. Those people should not go to college. I do not think there should be someone who sits down and sorts young people into shoulds and should nots, that is a personal decision. But there are some people who really should not go to college.
You are correct, but the problem is parents who think little Johnny needs to go to college in order to be successful. "Who cares if Johnny's ACT was a 15, or that his GPA is a 2.25. He needs to go to University... because we want him to."
What people want and what they think they can do may be two different things. And while I hate to bring up standardized testing, there are many instruments out there that can tell whether a student has the emotional and intellectual maturity to go to college right out of HS. Of course, we call this 'tracking' and it has a bad taste to many people, but let's be realistic. You as a parent may want your kid to go to college, but his current aptitiudes just doesn't it, and forcing them to do something they really aren't ready for could cause more damage than simply allowing them another option.
I see this all the time as a HS teacher. We try to put all of these students in the same box/mold, and all we do is drive many away from ever wanting to have anything to do with education. But give them another option... let them get their hands dirty, let them learn a specific set of usable skills, then
a) we have a work force,
b) the students can go to classes they may enjoy more,
c) the students can take classes they are more inclined to do, &
d) set the VO-Tech school up in such a way that, later on, when the student has matured some, they could go back, take a few classes, then take an ACT-style college prep-exam to qualify for a 4-yr college.
I have been saying this for decades. We keep hearing about how far more advanced kids are when they graduate from high school or enter college than American kids are: the reason for this, partly is the tech schools versus our educational system. The only kids studied in other countries are those continueing their education at a university...here we lump the kids altogether. There are so many fields that do not require advanced education other than basic training. Kids choosing that path can be as successful as those who choose to continue with their education. We have to stop lumping our young people altogether...
There is a downside to this: it is very hard to expect a 14 or 15 year old to know what they want to do with their education and life..Yes, some know by the time they are in 9th grade they will not be in school after 18, but others are just getting their feet wet at that stage of their lives. I don't know the answer, but there must be a happy middle of the road. We did have a wonderful trade/tech school in NM, it still required kids to finish high school before attending or be a certain age..I beleive 18.
In most of Europe, universities are free to attend, so they HAVE TO choose smart children out of others.
Here are program offerings at a tech school for HS kids near me: Career and Technical Labs / Complete Program List Lot's of great choices. I don't know if this is an east coast thing, (Pennsylvania has no coast line BTW) or that we're just fortunate in PA.
Here are program offerings at a tech school for HS kids near me: Career and Technical Labs / Complete Program List Lot's of great choices. I don't know if this is an east coast thing, (Pennsylvania has no coast line BTW) or that we're just fortunate in PA.
I do not know where you live, but this certainly isn't the case everywhere in the country..Many states you have to be 18 or a highschool grad to attend CCollege unless you are thinking about kids in accelerated programs, which is certainly not the same. As for the average highschool offering tech programs, again, I don't know of many that do. 50 years ago, yes, but how many high schools have training programs for AC/Heating specialists or Mechanics? The OP is talking about actually trade types of schools where kids choose them over a basic 3 or 4year highschool campus..
I don't know where you live but most states do have a duel enrollment option for high school juniors and seniors and those classes are not limited to "accelerated" students. Kids can graduate from high school with a two year degree if they so choose and that option is free or very low cost for students. Ask around, I'm sure your state has something similar that you just don't know about.
The real problem is, advanced education is a market, a money machine in the US.
In other countries, not.
There is so much free education from college credits in HS to grants - the money machine is for those who do not look, do not have the grades. Go through the trouble to research abit about what proprietary schools offering certificates, AAs and Bachelots' have to jump through to place graduates in relationship to tuition.
Have you checked numbers of international students in under grad and grad programs?
There is so much free education from college credits in HS to grants - the money machine is for those who do not look, do not have the grades. Go through the trouble to research abit about what proprietary schools offering certificates, AAs and Bachelots' have to jump through to place graduates in relationship to tuition.
Have you checked numbers of international students in under grad and grad programs?
International students pay 4 times more than in state students, in public schools.
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