Quote:
Originally Posted by NCyank
Hopes....the vo-tech option in our county was not available to kids who were not succeeding in the traditional school environment. They didn't take flunkies or discipline problems. They took kids who wanted to learn a trade rather than go to college. Nothing about the vo-tech precluded them from going on to college but most didn't. They learned a trade, worked as apprentices and graduated with not only a high school diploma but a useful skill set as well. Most had a guaranteed job waiting for them or solid leads. That's a heck of a lot more than the kids who graduated from traditional high school but didn't go on to college.
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That's great. Unfortunately, that's not the way it is everywhere. Here, putting a child in a vo-tech track is guaranteed to expose them to less desirable influences.
If I had a child interested in a trade, I'd much rather he graduated high school and went into a union apprenticeship program. Going the union route accomplishes the same goals---learning a trade and earning money immediately after graduating because unions pay apprentices. Plus, vo-tech graduates don't qualify for union jobs without a union apprenticeship.
Here, union apprentices take many of their classroom courses at the colleges. My brother in law was a union carpenter (until he injured his back) and he spent a significant amount of time taking college courses in the evenings during his apprenticeship. It's definitely a route to a better paying job with better benefits.
Union benefits are very important for someone who has a physical job. My brother-in-law received full disability and full college tuition for a bachelors degree to retrain himself after his injury. That's not the type of treatment someone will get from most employers who hire non-union workers.
But I'm still glad to hear that your area has quality students in high school vo-tech programs. That's not the case where I live.