Importance of Vocational Schools

An often forgotten and under-represented part of education are vocational schools, a shocking realization considering there are 55 in Massachusetts, which claim around 48,000 students. Despite the negative reputation these “non-traditional” schools hold in the mind of some, there are groups of advocates who are striving to educate about the need and importance of these schools and the advantages they offer.

Vocational schools offer students an educational experience that is unlike a traditional school. In vocational high schools, students participate in academic classes but also attend “shop classes” to gain experience in a field that interests them.  Due to this split focus, as well as the fact that they typically serve a more disadvantaged population than traditional schools, vocational institutions have developed a reputation as being a “last resort” and somewhere to stick those that don’t fit in anywhere else. However, this reputation could not be further from the truth. Many students who graduate from vocational or technical high schools go on to pursue higher education at a community college or even a four year college or university.

Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in located in Lexington, Mass. boasts impressive stats, some which even surpass that of traditional high schools. The graduation rate is 87%, even with half of the school’s student’s containing an Individualized Educational Program (IEP).  The school was recently was granted permission to build a $144.9 million building which will contain the latest equipment in biotech and engineering and usually contains small class sizes due to their hands on nature.

Tim Murray is part of the Alliance for Vocational Technical Education, which hopes to get more than 3,000 kids off of wait lists and into vocational programs. Murray believes this can be done without the construction of new schools, if only there is a better allocation of funds and increased acceptance of new ideas. One of these ideas comes from Roger Bourgeois, superintendent-director at Greater Lowell Technical High School. His idea is a hybrid program where kids who are on the wait list would attend academic classes such as English, math, history, etc. at their local high school in the mornings, and would attend their vocational school for shop classes in the afternoons. While seemingly idyllic, there are issues with this idea. Students would have to be bused from one location to the other which would require funding for buses, and a partnership would have to be established between the two schools, a task which could be challenging.

Murray believes that their are certain under performing schools to blame for the negative stigma attached to vocational schools, and that these schools are “not working.” However, these schools do not change his opinion on the high value of a vocational education. Kevin McCaskill, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School’s executive director shares similar sentiments and believes that it is just a matter of “putting the right people in the right spot and making some great things happen.”

Amanda De Moraes

Boston Tutoring Services