Seeing Hope for Flagging Economy, West Virginia Revamps Vocational Track.

[elleng]

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — In a sleek laboratory at Marshall University last month, four high school teachers hunched over a miniature steam-electric boiler, a tabletop replica of the gigantic machinery found in power plants.

They hooked the boiler to a small, whirring generator and tinkered with valves and knobs, looking for the most efficient way to turn coal, natural gas, nuclear or solar energy into electricity.

The teachers, who were attending a summer training program, are helping West Virginia in another kind of transformation. Long one of the poorest states, it is now leading the way in turning vocational education from a Plan B for underachieving students into what policy makers hope will be a fuel source for the state’s economic revival.

Simulated workplaces, overseen by teachers newly trained in important state industries like health, coal and even fracking, are now operating in schools across the state. Students punch a time clock, are assigned professional roles like foreman or safety supervisor, and are even offered several vacation days of their choice in addition to regular school breaks. (Many take time off during deer hunting season.)

Traditional math and English teachers have been reassigned to technical high schools, to make sure students on the vocational track still gain reading, writing and math skills.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/us/west-virginia-vocational-education.html?

[Doreen]

2. In Germany vocational school part of high school.

At the end of 11th or 10th grade the kids go in and talk to councilors and talk about what they want to do and what is realistic for them to do. If they want to learn while working they then choose what vocation they want to go into and the next year that is what they do. If the kid wants higher education and it is realistic for them then they finish high school taking classes that are in line with what they want to go to college for. They get the little tedious classes out of the way in high school so that they can focus on the studies that are in actual line with what they are studying. I wish we could do that here for the kids.

[elleng]

4. 'When it comes to technical education, the United States is an outlier compared with

other developed nations. Only 6 percent of American high school students were enrolled in a vocational course of study, according to a 2013 Department of Education report. In the United Kingdom, 42 percent were on the vocational track; in Germany, it was 59 percent; in the Netherlands, 67 percent; and in Japan, 25 percent.'

[Doreen]

6. It is amazing that the U.S is so far behind in just about everything

compared to other developed nations.

[elleng]

7. Yes it is, and we'll feel the effects for a long time, imo.

[Purveyor]

3. There was "Vo-tech" back in my HS days, 1972 and gasp, we even had a welding, woodworking

class. Skills that are badly needed this day and age...

Companies are begging for qualified welders and carpenter's around these parts...

[elleng]

5. My HS days too, '62.

[Doreen]

8. In my HS we had those also but they were just one of the classes that you took during the day.

They were not set up in a work place setting. You still had to take classes that had nothing to do with whatever you wanted to do with your life. The only reason childcare classes took off was because it was a way to keep girls in school when they had babies. It was free child care. At least the kids got real life training but as I said it was only for 1 hour a day. 1 hour a day is not true vocational training.