A Smart Path (that isn't college)
A third season of the Apprentice has just begun and they are pitting a team of college grads against self-made high school graduates who seem to be making more money than their counterparts. This raises the question, is college the one sure path to the good life?
Well, yes and no. Yes, if you're willing to morph your concept of college to include other post-secondary educational opportunities, from community colleges to tech schools to professional- certification and workplace-training programs. Occupational certification has increased by 50% during the past decade, according to a recent study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
No, if you're talking about only four-year institutions, where a third of students don't qualify for degrees in six years. "The last thing we need is another college dropout, saddled with student loans and looking for a job without a marketable skill," says Gerry Hogan, a volunteer advocate for vocational education and the chairman of Endurance Business Media.
Even though good jobs increasingly require what used to be college-level training, most still don't demand four-year degrees. Of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' estimates of the fastest-growing occupations between 2002 and 2012, the top 10 don't require bachelor's degrees. And many non-degree occupations crying out for workers are career fields with salaries that can support healthy families - provided employees have higher level skills.
Kay Martin, CEO of the Francis Tuttle Oklahoma Technology Center in Oklahoma City, says students who graduate in Tuttle's automotive program "after a few years can earn $100,000." And there are similar career opportunities in health technology, the construction trades and public safety.
In an era of outsourcing, here's more good news: These high-skill jobs aren't going anywhere. You're not going to call someone in India to fix your car or your plumbing. And if your house is on fire in Ohio, help is not coming from Mexico.
Career and technical education has the advantage of relevance. For many students, "academics suddenly make sense," says Robin White, president of the Great Oaks Institute of Technology and Career Development in Cincinnati. "Geometry makes more sense in construction technology than just drawing circles and squares on paper." And the best programs can tout real-world accountability.
Tom Applegate, executive dean of Austin Community College, says, "All our programs are labor-market driven. If employers don't want our grads, we don't want the program."
In Florida, Clide Cassity, director of Pinellas Technical Education Centers in Florida, adds, "Students wait for class slots, and companies wait to hire them. Two-thirds of Pinellas Tech students complete requirements for professional certification or state licensing, and 82% end up employed in their field of study."
So what's not to like about voc-ed? "It's the high schools that have run amok," says Phyllis Hudecki, executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Council, a non-profit education advocacy group. Even its defenders acknowledge that, in the past, voc-ed has been used "as an avoidance mechanism for kids who couldn't do academic work," Hudecki says. "And that's still out there. I want to make sure students are really learning, and then turn them loose" in voc-ed tracks.
Approaches such as the Southern Regional Education Board's "High Schools That Work" project have proved that integrating vocational education with academic courses can accelerate achievement at the high school level. The trick is combining a no-compromise academic program with vocational education that matches students with business mentors and that guarantees them career and academic counseling. That may be tough for stressed-out high schools, but it's doable.
Easier to model are proven post-secondary programs such as Cassity's in Florida and Applegate's in Texas. They fight for funding, yet they have track records business leaders and legislators should admire. So why not reward them for delivering what the market needs?
College and Financial Aid Resources
Student Aid on the Web
Get help financing your child's schooling at two- and four-year public and private colleges, career schools and trade schools. This U.S. Department of Education site has information for parents, students and counselors. Search in English and Spanish.
Adventures in Education
Parents and students can find information on how to develop career goals, locate the right school and then finance education. Features are divided by audience: middle school students, high school students, college students and guidance counselors. This site, by the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp., also is available in Spanish.
Back to College
This site is dedicated to re-entry and nontraditional students. Get support for choosing a college, financial aid, internships, online degrees, life experience credit, counseling and more. Certificate programs and vocational training also are emphasized.
College Opportunities On-Line (COOL)
The National Center for Education Statistics established this site to help students and parents understand the differences between colleges and how much it costs to attend college. The site features more than 9,000 U.S. colleges and universities that can be searched by geographic region, state, city, type of institution, discipline, demographics, eligibility for Title IV programs, degrees or certificates awarded, tuition and fees and financial aid.
WorldWideLearn
Search for online courses, accredited online degrees, continuing education and online training by 352 subject areas or browse by type of program or institution, then follow links to scholarship and financial aid information, a newsletter and free tutorials. Partners include major universities worldwide.
XAP
The site is organized into five parts: apply, go to college, get money, prepare, plan a career. This Los Angeles-based company was started by a father who wanted to streamline his daughter's college-application process. It now operates in 35 university systems with state and federal customers.
Career Voyages
Find out how the jobs of the future mesh with your aptitudes and interests. Next, learn which skills and education are required for that field. The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education designed this site for teenagers and their parents or counselors, young adults and older adults wanting a career change. On-the-job training, apprenticeship programs for skilled trades and two-year professional degree programs at community colleges are emphasized along with four-year college programs.
DO-IT Program: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology
People with disabilities can find great resources and moral support from this University of Washington program; its mission is to assist the disabled in pursuing academic programs and careers. The site provides resources for educators, librarians and parents. It explains and promotes computers and networking technologies that can help disabled people increase their independence, productivity and participation in education and employment.
Mapping Your Future!
Click on "Guided Tours" for excellent information organized by audience: middle and high school students, college students, student loan borrowers, nontraditional students and parents. This site is sponsored by a group of guaranty agencies that participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program.
College Is Possible
This one-stop shop has links to and information on books, web sites and brochures recommended by admissions and financial-aid professionals. Adults preparing to go back to college will get good advice here, too. See the link "Myths and Realities About Going to College as an Adult." Available in English and Spanish.
Vocational Information Center
This extremely helpful site is a great place to explore careers in trade and technical jobs and get the strategies to pursue the appropriate education. Locate the helpful link "Trade and Technical Schools Organized by State."
Lyric Job Readiness Training and Placement Program
Queer Youth Needed for PAID Job Positions! LYRIC is a community center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning youth.
There are two paid events coming up on the weekend of February 19th-21st, 2005 and March 26th-28th, 2005 for youth LGBTQQ 14-21 years old living in San Francisco. The program is a weekend Job Readiness Training Program and Placement series. Youth learn things like resume writing, interview skills and computer training over a weekend. After the weekend training, youth go on to participate in internships at LYRIC, which pay $8.50 an hour, include a $200.00 completion bonus and iPod Mini!
We really need youth to participate who are interested in earning money, skills and potentially being placed in a 3-month internship (paid $8.50 an hour). It’s a chance for youth to learn job readiness skills in a safe, supportive environment, while building community.
Applications are available at the Wellness Center, room 143. The application includes an brief explanation of the program. Application dues Febuary 9th, 2005. Please look on application for more information.
If you have a young person who wants to apply you can contact Mercedes Gibson at: Mercedes@lyric.org / 415.703.6150 x 21.
PLEASE announce this to any group of youth who are between the ages of 14-21 and are looking for a PAID WORK EXPERIENCE. We are especially looking for youth with little or no working experience, low-income and youth of color.
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Wellness Center
Christy Parsons (Wellness Coordinator) is available daily.
Ian Enriquez (Youth Outreach Coordinator) is available daily.
Sheening Lin (psychologist) is available daily.
Emi Koga (Japanese speaking counselor) is available from Tuesday to Thursday.
David Thompson (psychologist) is available Mondays.
Kory Okun (relationship counselor) is available Tuesdays.
Wayne Hayes (counselor) is available Tuesdays.
James Guay (therapist) is available Wednesdays.
Rebecca Peng (Mandarin speaking counselor) is available Tuesdays and Fridays.
Jane Steiner (Tobacco Intervention Coordinator) is available on Wednesday. Lincoln no longer has a school nurse.
Peer Tutoring available 7th period and after school in Bungalow A.
Reasons Not to Fear the SATs
1. A GOOD SAT SCORE WON'T GET YOU INTO THE IVY LEAGUE:
Winning acceptance to a very selective college is no
longer a rational or predictable process. There are so
many high-scoring applicants to the most popular
institutions that they could fill their entire freshman
classes with students who were perfect or nearly perfect
on the SAT, and still have many more such people on their
reject list. The old joke in the admissions offices of
such colleges was that they could have an entire class of
people who got 1600 (the top score on the new SAT will be
2400), but at the first marking period half of them would
discover they were in the bottom half of their class and
the university mental health clinic could not handle the
load. So a good score on the SAT only gets you into the
maybe pile. What actually decides your fate are your
activities, your grades, your recommendations, your
ethnicity, your family's ties to that college and how many
other good students at your high school want to attend
the same institution.
2. A DISAPPOINTING SAT SCORE WON'T SEND YOU TO A BAD
COLLEGE: It is difficult to tell exactly how the new
2400-point scale is going to play out in the messy mix of
student lore and statistical analysis that produces
popular perception of what is a good and a bad score. I
suspect that for those seeking selective colleges, getting
at least a 2000 will assume the mystical power in high
school cafeteria conversations that getting at least a
1300 has in the past. But as millions of college students
with less than 1300 scores can tell you, not making 2000
is not going to be that big a deal. The activities and
recommendations and grades mentioned above will balance a
bad day at the SAT testing center. More importantly, the
quality of colleges that take students with sub-par scores
has never been higher. All those kids with perfect SAT
scores (and well as brilliant young professors) for whom
there was no room at the Ivies had to go somewhere, so the
level of teaching and learning at the top 300 schools --
including all the big state universities -- is now so high
that new students quickly forget their disappointments.
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