Combining Vocational Ed with Academics

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 20, 2008 at 8:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Should every high school student be prepared to go to college? Or should those who will never go to college get vocational education on a separate track? SDUSD is interested in multiple pathways as

Alan Ray (guest host): There was a time when vocational education was considered the place where duller kids were sent while the bright boys and girls got ready for college and upper middle class futures as lawyers and MBA's. Now, many of the people with those advanced degrees are having a hard time getting jobs as baristas.

But today, many of the nation's plumbers are near retirement age, some auto mechanics make near six-figure incomes and never get grease under their nails. Vocational education has quietly morphed into "career education".

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Guests

Gary Hoachlander , president of ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career .
Terry Grier , superintendent of San Diego Unified School District