Appendix B
VOCATIONAL COURSE CATEGORIES

This list, including both general course categories (e.g., cooking) as well as course titles, displays how we categorized the vocational courses offered at Coolidge, Washington, and McKinley High Schools for the analysis of vocational participation presented in Sec. IV. Although we divided courses into those that are not occupationally specific and those that are, this breakdown is somewhat artificial for two reasons.

First, many of our case study respondents told us that none of the vocational courses offered at our three schools, with the possible exception of some of the courses offered through each school's regional occupational program, are truly job-specific either in terms of course content or rigor. Budget cuts in recent years at each school have forced the elimination of many of the advanced vocational courses, leaving only the introductory (and less-job-related) courses. During interviews with vocational (and academic) teachers at each school we asked, "What are the most important things you want students who take this class to leave with?" None of the vocational teachers volunteered that they expected students to leave their class with skills readily transferable to the job market. In fact, upon probing, most of the vocational teachers with whom we spoke admitted that their classes--either because of outdated technology or limited course content--would not prepare students to move directly into a job in that field (Selvin et al., 1990). For this reason, then, our "occupation-specific" courses should really be thought of as "occupation-specific, sort of."

Second, we hesitated to categorize a number of courses as occupation-specific that teach skills once considered applicable solely to business but now more generally necessary. For instance, many students who take introductory typing, computer literacy, or a number of other such courses do so less to prepare for a career in business than because these skills have become necessary in a wide variety of occupational as well as non-occupational settings. As a result, we grouped a number of these general or introductory business courses into a non-occupational "business" category. Similarly, because we have good reason to believe that work experience is, for most kids, less preparation for a specific occupation than a means to pocket money and course credits, we have likewise classified it as a non-occupational vocational course.

I.	Non-Occupation-Specific/General or Introductory Courses
	A.	Consumer/home __ Clothing/needlecrafts/textiles __ Foods/cooking __ Interior decorating __ Contemporary living __ Child care and development __ Family psychology __ Economics for living __ Survival for singles __ Child development __ Parenting __ Other home economics
	B.	Introductory business/typing courses and "other" business courses __ Typing 1 __ Computer literacy __ Business correspondence __ Introduction to business __ Personal typing __ Consumer education __ Other (business law, business English)
	C.	Work experience
	D.	Non-regional occupational industrial arts and drafting __ Auto mechanics/transportation __ Woodshop
		__ Metal shop/machine (machine shop, welding, shop production, art metal) __ Drafting __ Mechanical drawing __ Computer-assisted design __ Architectural drawing and drafting __ Other (technical math, video, computer repair)
	E.	Miscellaneous non-occupational
II.	Occupation-Specific Courses
	A	All-regional occupational courses
	B.	Vocational child care
	C.	HIP
	D.	Business __ Business machines __ Simulated office __ JOBS __ Shorthand __ Computer applications __ Word processing __ Record keeping __ Office management __ Accounting
	E.	Industrial arts and drafting __ We defined students who took a second year of one of the industrial arts and drafting courses listed under section course(s).
	F.	Miscellaneous occupational courses __ Commerce (selling experience, bank teller, etc.) __ Personal services (cosmetology) __ Health care (nurse's aide, dental assistant) __ Electronics/electrical (amateur radio theory and operations) __ Construction __ Agriculture