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OCR for page 1
Summary
Unemployment among young people is a serious and persistent problem in
this country. Unemployment rates are especially high among members of
minority groups, for high-school dropouts, and in economically depressed
areas. The structural changes in the economy in the past 40 years have
far-reaching implications for the skills that young workers will need and for
the education and training that will increase their employability. Vocational
education and other training programs can help to alleviate the problem of
unemployment among America's young people. And a close link between
schools and employers can help ensure that vocational education programs
are teaching students the skills that employers will need.
Vocational education is a vital part of the public education system in this
country, one that has long been slighted in favor of academic education.
Basic academic as well as occupational skills are of fundamental impor-
tance in preparing young people for productive lives in our society. The
public elementary and secondary schools in this country should offer
students who will not go to college a thorough grounding not only in
language skills, reasoning, and mathematics, but also in the mechanical and
technical skills and work habits that will prepare them for working life. This
responsibility should not be shifted to private-sector employers, although
employers can help significantly in ways we outline in the report.
Evaluations of vocational education and other employment training pro-
grams lead to the conclusion that some vocational education programs do
improve the employability of graduates. But the quality of vocational
education programs overall is highly variable and the access of dis
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OCR for page 2
2
EDUCATION FOR TOMORROW'S JOBS
advantaged students to good programs is not ensured.
The committee recommends expanded collaboration between vocational
educators and private-sector employers as well as improved coordination
between vocational education and employment training programs. Well-
designed work experience programs help to improve occupational skills and
to open employment opportunities for vocational education students. We
recommend several changes intended to strengthen the capabilities of
teachers of vocational education: changes in certification requirements,
pre-service and in-service training, use of part-time teachers, and pay scales
of teachers. We recommend three policy changes to improve the financing
of vocational education programs: modifications in the formulas for fund-
ing programs, strategies for pooling equipment, and supplementary funding
for program improvement. Because of our concern about the limited access
of disadvantaged students to high-quality programs, we also recommend
experimentation with vocational incentive grants to individual students,
which they could use to purchase the training they desire, and attention to
consumer protection in vocational education programs.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
employment training
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