[Vision2020] Recommended: "Suddenly, vocational training back in vogue"

[Jerry Weitz]

At 03:08 PM 10/12/06, jd at uidaho.edu wrote:
>jd at uidaho.edu recommends this article from The Christian Science Monitor
>
>Jerry - thought you might be interested in this one...J.D.
>
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>Click here to read this story online:
>http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1012/p01s03-usec.html
>
>Headline:  Suddenly, vocational training back in vogue
>Byline:  Daniel B. Wood Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
>Date: 10/12/2006
>
>(LOS ANGELES)Six years ago, as his 11th-grade classmates struggled with the
>college-application ritual, Toby Hughes tried to envision his future.
>A Georgia honors student with a 1350 SAT score, he knew he wanted to go
>into computer science, so he went to local computer companies and asked
>what they wanted in an employee. "They told me I would be more
>marketable if I had practical technical training as opposed to
>theoretical academic training," says Mr. Hughes.
>He began taking specialized computer-networking classes while still in
>high school, landed a $52,000 job after graduating, and now, at 24,
>makes well past that.
>Similar scenarios are repeating so often that the world of career
>technical training - once known somewhat disparagingly as "vocational
>training" - is experiencing a renaissance in America. Enrollment in
>technical education soared by 57 percent - from 9.6 million students in
>1999 to 15.1 million in 2004, the US Department of Education reported
>to Congress.
>There's every indication that interest is continuing to rise, as
>families struggle ever harder to afford the traditional college
>education and as demand grows for skilled US workers in fields such as
>aviation mechanics, computer technology, electronics, global
>positioning, and trades ranging from culinary arts to construction.
>"American career technical education is being redefined because the
>needs of the evolving US and world economies are changing," says
>Darrell Luzzo, incoming president of the National Career Development
>Association. "Educators at all levels are recognizing that the world's
>employers increasingly need skill sets that the conventional four-year
>college degree doesn't give."
>The once-standard offerings of technical education - wood shop, metal
>shop, machining - don't cut it in today's economy either.
>"We are redefining almost everything that has to do with the
>intersection of new technology and the global economy," says Mark
>Whitlock, CEO of Central Educational Center in Newnan, Ga., a charter
>school. "The economy is changing and therefore education has to
>continue to change."
>Fields of study today are likely to include more forward-looking
>careers: crime forensics, composite-plastic fuselage design, robotics,
>nanotechnology, radiological diagnostics, 3-D animation, and the
>burgeoning field of "industrial maintenance technology" (keeping the
>high-tech systems in a modern industrial building up and running).
>"When a light-sensor toilet doesn't function anymore, who ya gonna
>call? Not a regular plumber," says Bill Murphy, recruiter for the
>McMurry Regional Training Center in Casper, Wyo. "You need someone who
>knows how to program computers."
>Employer demand for such technical skills is prompting some states -
>including North Carolina and Florida, perennial leaders in education
>reform and experimentation - to revive or reinvent their tech-ed
>programs. California, home to 1 in 9 US students, sank $100 million
>into new technical education programs in its 2006 budget. And in
>August, President Bush signed legislation renewing the Carl Perkins
>Vocational and Technical Training Act, boosting to $1.3 billion the
>amount states will get next fiscal year for career technical education
>in high schools and community colleges.
>"High schools, community colleges, universities, parents, and employers
>are all beginning to realize that ... to be competitive, our
>educational system needs more than academic theory," says Jan Bray,
>executive director of the Association for Career and Technical
>Education. "They are realizing there needs to be more relevance to the
>workplace, to what students are interested in and to what the changing
>economy needs."
>Training with a specific job in mind
>One result of that quest for workplace relevance is a rise in
>partnerships among community/technical colleges, high schools, and
>employers.
>A case in point is the pairing of RF MicroDevices in Greensboro, N.C.,
>with local Guilford Technical Community College. RFMD has developed
>several programs to help train student operators for his "water fab"
>facilities, which turn out integrated computer circuits.
>"There's no place else around here where someone can learn the skills
>necessary to perform efficiently in our facility," says Ralph Knupp of
>RFMD. "Someone who graduates with a bachelor of arts would not arrive
>bringing the specific experience we need. So vocational training is
>critical for us to maintain our manufacturing strength in Greensboro."
>North Carolina, which has seen its textile and furniture industries
>contract dramatically in the face of foreign competition, has relied
>heavily on its community college system, founded in 1958, to redevelop
>and retrain displaced workers.
>"We did a major study with industry and found that for two-thirds of
>all bio-tech jobs in this state, no four-year degree was necessary,"
>says Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community
>College system.
>California revives a defunct program
>In California, meanwhile, the renewed interest in tech ed follows a
>25-year decline in such instruction. About three-quarters of high
>school technical programs were dismantled, and the number of such high
>school courses dwindled from 40,000 to 24,000 in that time.
>But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) supports targeted vocational
>education, based on European models from his childhood. The governor is
>touring the state in support of a November ballot proposition that will
>provide $10 billion in bond money to overcrowded schools, including 170
>community colleges.
>"The renaissance of career technical training is absolutely confirmed
>in California," says Brice Harris, chancellor of Los Rios Community
>College District in Sacramento. Fall enrollment there is up 5,000 from
>last year, a 6 percent jump.
>Companies clamoring for specific skills are driving much of the tech-ed
>rebirth, analysts say.
>"Industry has been complaining about shortages of skilled labor they
>need, so they have been sharing that with college administrations,
>counselors, and technical advisers," says Trent Munsey, CEO of Skills
>USA California, a state and national organization that connects
>students, educators, industries, and businesses. "They have been
>screaming for trained people [coming] out of the school system as it is
>.. and enticing people back to the trades."
>The disconnect between employers and American education remains a
>serious problem, say some observers.
>"America still has way too many parents and students reflexively
>applying to four-year colleges on the old adage that in the long run,
>that is how to get to the top," says Peg Hendershot, director of Career
>Vision, a Chicago-based career consulting service.
>More than 90 percent of US high school seniors say they plan to attend
>college, and about 70 percent of high school graduates actually do go
>to college within two years, according to the Education Trust.
>"Many more have been going to college without really knowing why and
>finding out they don't acquire the skills they need to get a job," says
>Ms. Hendershot. "Now the conversation has started over how to create
>shorter, alternative pathways."
>(c) Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor.  All rights reserved.