Vocational Education

One thing I believe people(more so American youth) need to do is realize that the future job markets will be different than they are today.  With that said one thing that is at many of their disposal is the use of vocational schooling, especially during their highschool years.  Vocational schooling is slowly but surely encroaching on traditional educational values, with vocational schooling people learn skills that will allow them to directly enter the workforce using the skills that they have learned in their education and make a decent salary at that.

I went through a school where some classes allowed students to co-op with local companies where the student would earn around $14 an hour and valuable experience that will surely be a foot in the door should they decide to pursue a job in the field they studied.  This school is a chapter of a national organization SkillsUSA where students in vocational and technical schools get to compete every year and earn scholarships, jobs and medals for doing well.  SkillsUSA is a great organization, especially for vocational schools because it allows students to test what they have learned and apply it to real world situations.

Back to Americas future.  The job market is slowly shifting to highly skilled workers and away from jack-of-all trades type positions, this I think is what many kids need to understand and start to plan for the shift because it will affect them the greatest.  Traditional education will still play a major part in the job market but will not be as effective with its general cirricula forcing students to be “well rounded individuals” as compared to vocational schools which teach students a set of skills that once they complete they can go out and get a job with minimal amounts of school compared to traditional schooling.

America cannot afford to sit back and let itself fall behind, we need skilled workers who are ready and prepared to join the ranks of the workforce, because believe it or not, America needs and will need a skilled workforce if it wishes to maintain its position compared to other countries.