EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Removing the Ceiling: College and Career
by David Stern, Director
It may surprise you that "65 percent of 1996 high school graduates were attending colleges or universities by the fall" of 1997, according to the U.S. Current Population Survey. "This rate was an all-time high. From 1992 to 1995, the enrollment rate was about 62 percent."[1]
One reason why more high school graduates are heading directly to college is that college graduates have been doing very well in the 1990s. The average college graduate earned about 55 percent more than the average high school graduate from 1991 to 1993.[2]
Evidently, college graduates have an advantage in the emerging economy, where fast-changing information technology and telecommunications put a premium on the ability to communicate, handle data, and continue learning at work. Studies have found that higher education also pays off for people who are self-employed--which indicates that the relative success of college graduates in the job market is not merely due to some kind of educational snobbery on the part of employers.
Defining Vocational Education
The growing economic importance of college raises questions about what the role of vocational education should be. The latest (1990) federal law defines vocational education, for purposes of federal funding, as preparation for "occupations requiring other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree."
This harks back to the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act which provided the first federal money for vocational education. At that time only one out of 30 adults had a bachelor's degree or more; now the proportion is close to one out of 4.[3] Among adults who are employed, the proportion of college graduates is even higher: 30 percent as of March 1998.[4] Yet the restricted definition of vocational education has remained.
In spite of the statutory definition, vocational education itself has been changing. Thousands of high schools and community colleges in recent years have been developing new courses of study that prepare students for work as well as for further education, including four-year college or university. Tech prep, career academies, industry majors, youth apprenticeships and other innovations have demonstrated the possibility of combining preparation for both college and careers.[5]
These innovations have been encouraged by other state and federal legislation, including a provision in the 1990 federal law that required integration of academic and vocational programs, and another provision that authorized money for tech prep. The 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act also helped stimulate new approaches. But these innovative provisions of federal law may disappear as Congress enacts new legislation. If so, the basic definition of vocational education in federal law will become more important as a guide to state and local practice.
Benefits of Removing the Ceiling
Vocational education in high schools and community colleges should no longer be restricted to occupations that do not require a bachelor's or advanced degree. Instead, the statutory definition should encourage collaboration between vocational and non-vocational educators to prepare students both for work and for further education.
Defining vocational education as preparation for both college and careers would eliminate the necessity for students to choose one or the other. It would also give schools no reason to separate students into college-bound and non-college-bound.
Instead, high schools and community colleges could continue to develop courses of study that keep students' options open. If students want to go to work full time after high school, they would have some practical skills and knowledge to help them earn a living--but if they decide later to return to college, that option would still be available. Conversely, students who go directly to college or university would have some marketable skills to fall back on if they decide to discontinue their education before receiving a college degree.
Combining academic and vocational education may also increase the completion rate in four-year college. Currently, only about half of the entering freshmen in four-year institutions receive bachelor's degrees after five years.[6] Students who have had a high school or community college program of study that links academic subjects to work experience and career preparation may have a clearer idea of why they are continuing in higher education. They may also have marketable skills that enable them to earn higher hourly wages while they work their way through college, as most students now do -- which would mean they could work fewer hours per week. And their part-time jobs may also be more closely related to what they are studying, therefore less distracting.
Ultimately, preparing students for both college and careers helps them discover at a young age how learning and work are intertwined. This kind of dual preparation equips students to find their way in the learning economy.
Summing Up
Do these facts and arguments imply that every high school student should go directly to college? No, not necessarily. Some might go later, and some may never go.
Should everyone have the option? Yes, definitely, to the extent possible.
Should schools decide who is college-bound and who is not? No, that should be up to students and their families. Schools should be designed to allow all students to pursue their highest aspirations. Vocational education, combined with solid academic study, is an essential part of that design.
David Stern is the director of NCRVE and a professor of education at UC Berkeley.
[1] College Enrollment and Work Activity of 1996 High School Graduates, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release USDL 97-240. This is the most recent year available at this time.
[2] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 1995, Table 372. The figures refer to median annual income of year-round full-time workers 25 years old and over. The comparison here is between individuals who hold a bachelor's degree (but no higher) and individuals who hold a high school diploma only.
[3] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 1995, Table 8. The figures refer to persons age 25 and over.
[4] Source: Current Population Survey. Refers to persons age 25 and over.
[5] See, for example, the following two NCRVE reports from 1997. (1) T. Bailey and D. Merritt: School-to-work for the college bound, MDS-799. (2) M. Urquiola, D. Stern, I. Horn, C. Dornsife, B. Chi, L. Williams, D. Merritt, K. Hughes, and T. Bailey: School to work, college and career: A review of policy, practice, and results 1993-97, MDS-1144.
[6] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 1996, page 58. Data are from the 1990 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study.