The long term benefits of vocational education might surprise you, there are plenty of myths around which are just not true.
There have always been plenty of myths circulating about vocational education, but the reality is often very different. Vocational Education can have some real long term benefits and a four year college degree is not necessarily the best way to go.
Vocational Education is for Dummies and Drop Outs
This is definitely a myth. While it used to be very strongly believed that vocational education was really only suitable for those who weren’t rich or clever enough to go to college (and not just by students I might add, parents, teachers and policymakers were often of the same opinion). What a load of bull! There have been studies about this sort of thing you know (Kober and Rentner in 2000; Stone in 1993) and guess what they found, that 80% of all high school students take at least one vocational course, and one in eight students take more vocational courses than vocational students do. So, the college grads are actually taking more vocational courses than the dummies and drop outs, hmm, interesting. Vocational students in applied academic subjects like math are actually just as good at it as college students – so there.
Vocational Education Doesn’t Pay
Wrong ago Bozo. Studies have shown that vocational graduates are actually more likely to be employed than their non-vocational peers, and they earn more money, especially if they worked part time during high school. Generic technical and occupationally specific skills provided in vocational education can not only increase worker productivity, but also job access, job stability and skill transfer, so they find it easier to find training-related jobs.
A College Degree is the Ticket to the Future
Oh what a wonderful, carefree world some people live in. They think they can just waltz through college, earn a middle of the road degree and hey presto, a magic fairy will come along and give them a job with loads of dosh and plenty of annual vacations. Think again, life ain’t like that. Take a look at these facts:
- Out of all the college graduates who graduate with a four-year degree, around 66% will find a job in their related field of study (if we backtrack a minute to a previous page, you’ll remember that Tidewater Community College JSTP had a 93% success rate, interesting!)
- College students who graduate with a professional credential (accounting, engineering, teaching etc) only 50% will find a job in that field
- There is no guarantee of a higher income if you have a four year college degree
It’s not what you learn; it’s what you do with it that counts. Supply and demand is the name of the game. Trained personnel for some vocations are in short supply, and that’s the secret to raising your worth.
So you see there are definitely long term benefits to vocational education, but it’s also important not to rest on your laurels so to speak, there’ll always be some smart Alec coming along behind you so it’s important to keep at the top of your game, keep learning, keep earning.