Any one have/had a kid in Vocational HS? - Or attend one themselves?

[3boymthr]

Oldest DS is in 8th grade.

He has the option of attending 3 local public high schools with no application process.

ALL are regional schools.

One is right in our town attended by three towns and is the standard High School to which 85-90% of the kids in his Jr. High (which is also regional) will transition. It's the school I attended and is a good school with just under 300 kids in each graduating class.

The second option is the county agricultural school. We don't really live in a rural area and he doesn't have any interest in the school.

The third option is a vocation school. Kids from three different counties attend this school. They did a tour the other day. He loved it. Now wants to go. About 125 kids in each graduating class.

Soo.... For all you parents out there with kids who attend/attended vocational school. How did you like it (not the kid)? Did you feel your kids really learned the trade or just got a cursory education in the job? Did the kids have trouble getting jobs when they got out? Did you find the schools didn't give the kids as much of a dose of the reality of the jobs or built a fantasy of this is the job but didn't discuss the actual working conditions (lots of night hours, low wages to start, etc)? If they decided to go on to college (which is part of DS' plan) did they have trouble finding a college that would accept them? What about academic options; did you find there were lots of choices or were they very limiting? DS has also talked about going into the Army does vocational school help or hurt?

Please note I am definitely not anti-vocation. DF is a crop farmer and DH is a HVAC service tech, but he went the traditional high school then technical college route.

TIA for any input.

 

[glitterkittyy]

I know not exactly what you asked for, but I attended a vocational school. My traditional HS was a good school with about 350 in my graduating class. My VS had about 150 graduating. I felt that we got more individualized teaching because the class size was smaller. We were also held to a higher standard for behavior IMHO. It was an obvious difference to those who had children in both schools.

I had no problem finding a job when I graduated. I was also lucky enough to get a scholarship. I worked and went to college at the same time. The skills I learned in that VS were invaluable IMHO. I wouldn't change my choice if I could do it all over again. It was a good choice for me. The only thing I would encourage you to do is to make sure that your child understands that this doesn't replace a college degree. Degrees are very important these days and will be even moreso in years to come. IMHO, VS should enhance the higher education experience not replace it. HTH

 

[3boymthr]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

Middle DS goes to cub scouts with another boy who has a sibling that attends the school oldest DS is considering so I'm asking his mom what she thinks about the school but the more opinions I can get the better.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I've just got to say that I read your post and thought to myself....that sounds like where I grew up...and then saw that your from SE MA. I grew up in Fairhaven, MA. Friends of mine had the option of going to Fairhaven, New Bedford, Old Colony Voc, or Bristol Aggie. I know it's a big decision. My BIL went to New Bedford Vocational/ Technical HS....if I'm remembering the name correctly, It's been a while. He was in the carpentry program and is such an AMAZING craftsman. He can't say enough about the education he recieved. We all live in NC now and he's never gone without work. He was actually laid off from his job as Manager of a highend trimwork company and has had more work than he can handle since doing remodeling and odd jobs. I don't think he'll go back to his job if they call him back.

 

[clori]

My kids are only in k and 4th grade so high school isn't really in my thought process yet. However from what I've heard from some of dd's friends with older siblings is one thing the MCAS has actually been good for is raising academic standards at public vocational schools since they still have to meet the MCAS requirements.

 

[3boymthr]

I've just got to say that I read your post and thought to myself....that sounds like where I grew up...and then saw that your from SE MA. I grew up in Fairhaven, MA. Friends of mine had the option of going to Fairhaven, New Bedford, Old Colony Voc, or Bristol Aggie. I know it's a big decision. My BIL went to New Bedford Vocational/ Technical HS....if I'm remembering the name correctly, It's been a while. He was in the carpentry program and is such an AMAZING craftsman. He can't say enough about the education he recieved. We all live in NC now and he's never gone without work. He was actually laid off from his job as Manager of a highend trimwork company and has had more work than he can handle since doing remodeling and odd jobs. I don't think he'll go back to his job if they call him back.

Close - we're in Norfolk County. So the school he's considering is tri-county.

 

[MerMom60_94]

My daughter is a freshman at Norfolk County Aggie. It sounds like you have eliminated that as a choice, though. Not sure of how closely you looked at the programs first but there are a lot of potential careers out of that school, not just farming. My DD wants to be a veterinarian. I know somebody whose daughter was a graduate and she is now a physical therapist. Another person's daughter is sort of like a Jeff Corwin. She just spent six months in Australia. There is also an agricultural mechanics program there. At any rate, if you have questions on that school I am more than happy to answer them.

DH's cousin studied carpentry at a vo-tech school and then went to Wentworth for an Engineering degree. He had a great career in building management. My hairdresser graduated from a vo-tech school and now owns her own hair salon. Her husband went to the same school and is a professional chef. I think vocational schools have come a long way from when I was in high school and can be a good path to a career so long as a child makes the most of what they are learning and use it as a launch into furthering their education from there.

 

[3boymthr]

Norfolk county aggie is definitely a good school; we've known many people who've gone there (most were employees of DGF) and DGF would definitely be thrilled to think he might take over the farm. He just has no interest in what they offer. He's seen the agricultural thing from the ground up as it were from the time he was an infant. DGParents' farm is literally 1/2 mile down the street. He doesn't feel they could teach him anything about farming that he couldn't learn/hasn't learned from DGF.

His interests are either mechanical or culinary arts.

 

[SC Minnie]

At the high school I went to the vocational classes were very hands on. Auto mechanic classes worked on actual peoples cars, the school built a house every couple of years (took that long to finish it), so the masons, carpenters, electricians, etc ALL had hands on experience by the time they graduated.

Our current school district does a lot of hands on as well. What I would suggest is finding out exactly what the school does in the areas he is intersested in. Is the culinary program part of Pro Start or something similar? Do they go to competitions? etc.

 

[pyrxtc]

I think a vocational school is okay if it's something your kid wants. I was sent to one cuz my parents didn't like the regular hgh school that was my other choice and I ahted every minute of it. Our classes were so far behind the regular school and I missed out on so many different classes I could ahve taken that were not offered at the Voke school. I would not want my kids to go to a Voke school. They can take vactional training after hgh school, I want them to go to real high school and get that step up in the education. I never even had chemistry and ended my senior year in Algebra II. My DD is taking that now in 7th grade.

 

[JCJRSmith]

My son told us in 8th grade that he wanted to attend the local VoTech. The school allows students to apply during their freshman year to attend starting their sophmore year. He is now in his senior year and has loved every minute of it. He prefers the VoTech over his home high school. The home high school has a graduating class of over 600 students, and the entire school is very clique-ish and "Keep-up-with-the-Joneses"-ish. He can't stand that stuff.

He is in the computer studies program and this year he is a co-op. He goes to the high school in the morning for his Math/English/Science/Phys-Ed classes, then he goes to work for a local computer services firm building servers and computer kiosks. He loves it, is getting all A's and B's (his grade in the VoTech is based on his work evals and he has a 98 average) He makes spending money and will graduate with a solid year's experience in the IT industry.

Yeah, we're happy with the local VoTech.

 

[SydSim]

I have been researching our local vocational schools because of DD's interest in drama and dance. I don't know how they do it, but the kids take all of the regular college prep classes, plus classes in their "major", and the SAT scores are still higher than the local public school that she would go to.

Just make sure that the regular college prep classes (especially the higher maths and sciences) are offered in case college is the plan after graduation. It's the best of both worlds