Anchor Lead:
This week on "The Learning Curve" we looked at the challenges facing vocational education in high schools. Schools are being asked to increase the academic performance of students. Should schools be in the business of preparing ALL students for higher education? Or should young men and women have the option to get training for jobs right out of school?

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The battle between the academic world and vocational technical education has been going on for decades. The current reforms underway, from the state's WASL exam to the federal government's No Child Left behind Act are creating even more friction between the two approaches to teaching. Our story that ran earlier this week touched a nerve among supporters of technical and job training programs in high schools. KPLU received a number messages and emails that echoed what Dan from Olympia had to say:

CUT: just because you get dirty at work or use your hands, doesn't mean you have a mindless low paying job. In fact many technical jobs are extremely challenging and pay as well as or better than jobs requiring academic degrees.

Many listeners were struck by the comments made in our story by Sharon Wilkens, who oversees Seattle's Public high Schools. Wilkens spoke of wanting to prepare ALL students for higher education. She said once students graduate they can decide for themselves whether to study philosophy or enter an apprenticeship for plumbing. Diane Banel, a High School English Teacher, doesn't agree with that approach. CUT: The person quoted as saying "by not preparing high school kids for college, we are taking their choices away from them," is not dealing with the reality of kids who have already made their choice to either drop out of you class whether they're sitting in it or not, and to go onto something that's not higher academically oriented…so we are disregarding the choices that those kids have made, and that's a terrible crime in my mind.

Auto mechanics, landscapers, construction workers and contractors shared personal stories about how career and technical education classes in high school played major rolls in who they became as adults. They fear what will happen to students if they don't have those same options. But Candy Bohonik of Enumclaw Washington is afraid what will happen if all students are not encouraged to pursue further education after high school. She writes in an email:

CUT: By not encouraging all students to higher education we are imposing limits on them. What if many of the great minds of the world had been put into wood shop or auto mechanics because they didn't fit the yellow pencil mold? Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein to name a few.

Along a similar thought, Gillian Middelsted of Issaquah says ALL Students, regardless of whether they want to go to college or trade school, should be prepared to become part of society.

CUT: And to do that, young people need critical thinking skills, analytical skills, all of which enable them to be critical readers, vote judiciously…basically just to be part of a democracy.

Critics of traditional hands on programs say they don't adequately prepare young people for society and simply replicate social classes. But those same critics may have outdated opinions. Technical education is changing. Basic cooking classes that once covered how to boil an egg are now advanced culinary arts programs. In some districts students are lining up to take classes in computer animation and pre-nursing programs. As one career and technical educator teacher puts it, the ultimate goal is to engage both the hands and the mind, so a love of learning is created.

Jennifer Wing(JW):

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