the point where two roads diverge

whilst web surfing the other day, i ran across the site of a vocational high school in ohio. i was sort of fascinated because i have been saying we need those around here. yesterday i was discussing this website with my father and sharing my thoughts on how we need this, too, and while i was talking it dawned on me why we don't have vocational high schools around here. it's because this area isn't historically industrial. it's agricultural. the vocational "school" was the farm and any kid who wasn't going on to college would work on the farm.

according to US News and World Report, in an article published in may of 2014, "There are roughly 90 career and technology schools and centers in Pennsylvania, at least 70 vocational high schools each in Ohio and Massachusetts, and similar numbers in other states."

i would bet you a socket wrench that none of those "other states" are below the mason-dixon line.

point 1: vocational training needs to be widespread, not only in northern states.

in the usa as a whole, vocational education is looked down upon - as if it's only fit for students who are financially or behaviourally challenged. that's markedly different from europe where vocational training is viewed as a valid and unremarkably acceptable route. a contributing factor there is that europeans have a history of inescapable class divisions, like -- middle class is middle class, we'll never be royals and whatnot. in the states, we are used to having every opportunity on the table. this makes us more judge-y about the opportunities.

in the usa, all doors are available, but as a general rule of the spacetime continuum, not all can be chosen. so, we look at who goes through which doors and how they flourish or not on the other side, and we compile this info into values we assign to the doors. these values put great weight into the very act of even choosing a door, and we use these values and the door-weight to judge the people who go through each different door. your choices in europe, a limited number of doors are available and they all go back to your family's meager thatched hut. seriously, though, taking germany as an example: kids in germany take a test in middle school and depending on how they score, they are sorted into their next level of education. i don't really know for sure, but i'd venture to guess that everyone's pretty much okay with this or in this day and age - if this system wasn't working for them in an overall life-is-good sort of way, they'd all up and leave germany.

although i am not advocating reducing opportunity, i do think we could stand to be a bit less judge-y. not everyone is cut out for college. it's not a better or lesser thing. it's just different.

point 2: vocational training is not only as beneficial as, it is in many cases more so than, college prep.

point 3: we DO test, after high school. ever heard of a little thing called the SAT? not all the kids who were forced through college prep make the cut. how do we presume they are better off for having found this out after high school rather than before?

point 4: i heard on npr yesterday on my way home that there's a manufacturing plant in south bend, indiana that has a dozen openings they can't fill because they can't find skilled machinists. their problem is only growing because the skilled labor workforce is aging and new skilled labor isn't coming along behind to fill the gap.

point 5: it's not just factories. the medical field needs skilled labor, and we could use more well-trained auto mechanics, carpenters, and audio-video techs.

so.

so there you have it.

so i have made some points.

so what do you think?