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No one wants job training—except the workers
Washington Monthly, June, 2006 by Charles Peters
Over one-third of male high school students--35 percent, to be exact--do not graduate, according to a recent study by the Manhattan Institute. This follows a recent cover article in Time about the deplorable number of high school dropouts. My son, who teaches at a high school in San Bernardino, Calif., and who has for several years run a program to encourage students to go to college, thinks he knows the reason. "A lot of these kids don't want to go to college, and you aren't going to persuade them. What they need to keep them in school is a good vocational education program that they can see is going to train them for a real job they can get."
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Unfortunately, voc. ed. has been unfashionable for many years. Many articles are written about the value of a college education, but few about the need for job training in high school. The result is a large number of dropouts, a large percentage of whom are unemployed.
Vocational education has not just been out of fashion. Training for work as electricians, plumbers, and other well-paying construction jobs has been discouraged by the labor unions who don't want competition. Furthermore, high school faculties are dominated by teachers of college prep courses who want their subjects to dominate the curriculum and command the lion's share of the school budget. It's going to take a mighty effort to change this sad situation. But it's good to know that at least one prominent politician, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, is actually trying to do something about the problem.
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