Vocational and Academic Education in High School: Complements or Substitutes

Abstract

[Excerpt] A number of blue ribbon-panels have called for increases in the number academic courses required for graduation from high school and for lengthening the school day and the school year. Most states have adopted the first of these recommendations but not the second. With the amount of time a student spends in school remaining constant, increases in the number of required academic courses force reductions elsewhere. Which activities should be reduced? Should the reduction be made in study halls, music and fine arts,physical education, and life skills courses or should it come in vocational education? The answer to this question will not be the same for every student. High school graduates who do not want to go to college and plan to work immediately after graduating probably have very different feelings about course selection than a student who aspires to being an artist.