Vocational Education and High Schools - Essay Example

Providing vocational education in high schools also diversifies the curriculum, providing students with greater learning and experience. If a person wishes to pursue a career in a technical field, he needs to have a solid foundation and practice to ensure a successful career. This foundation can be made if high schools offer optional vocational education to their students. Vocational education also prepares the students for their practical life by granting them exposure to practical works (Copa).  If the students get vocational education during their high school, they can also polish their skills by working part-time in the related field; so that by the time, their high school is finished, they would be ready to follow their respective careers. Providing vocational education in high school also allows the students to recognize their interests so that, in the future, they can opt for a career that suits their liking (Felder and Glavin).

The market for skilled technical labor is constantly on the rise. Technical workers are hugely in demand and thus get high compensations for their work. For the country to fulfill its technical needs, it requires a greater supply of such labor. Not everyone plans on attending further education in university or college. And if students plan to work soon after high school, it is better to encourage them to work in technical fields as it would be positive for the economy of the country. Furthermore, poor parents make their children study with the aim that once their child graduates, he can make the condition of his family better. The global economic recession has increased the unemployment rate of fresh university graduates. For students who wish to support their families, vocational education is an excellent option as getting a job with such qualification has more prospects than pursuing a full-fledged university course because the demand for technical labor does not decrease dramatically with the recession. Even those who wish to continue further education; equips them with a skill which they can use to earn money to help pay off their education expenses if the need arises (Berliner and Biddle).

It is easy to see from the above arguments that vocational education should be provided to the students during their high school years while trade schools can continue to operate. However, Trade schools should only be seen as institutions that provide specialization in a particular technical field so that students can make a choice between attending trade schools and starting work.