Blog #10

Abstract:

There are a myriad roots to success in this world and millions of people looking to make their way through them.  However, In America, people are made to see only a few of them.  The educational pathways that lead to success should open up to all forms of educations and jobs but these pathways have been streamlined to lead all people down the path of college education.  One pathway that has been laid to waste is the vocational pathway.  The government has cut down on programs that help young students learn about skilled labor jobs and society has given a stigma to those who choose to enter this pathway.  This has resulted in labor shortages with high wages for workers and skyrocketing unemployment rates for the abundance of college graduates.  As the government, and students, move away from the vocational pathway, it has fallen into disrepair.  Schools no longer have good relations with employers to produce relevant degrees and internship programs.  Without financial backing from the government these issues cannot be resolved.  Therefore, more emphasis needs to be put on opening up the vocational pathway and redesigning the trade schools to better suit societal needs.  These schools could take on structure as Sweden's Post Secondary Vocational education which essentially makes a hybrid system of traditional education and degree training.

Bibliography:

Brown, Tara Tiger. "The Death Of Shop Class And America's Skilled Workforce." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 30 May 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

"K-12 Education." The White House. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

OECD (2012), Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training: Pathways and Partnerships, Higher Education in Regional and City Development, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097551-en

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Why College?" College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: Houghton Mifflin, NY. 160-66. Print.

Shulock, Nancy, Collen Moore, Su Jin Jez, and Eric Chisholm. "Career Opportunities: Career Technical Education and the College Completion Agenda." Institution for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (March 2012): n. pag. Print.

United States. Cong. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Putting America Back to Work: Reforming the Nation's Workforce Investment System : Hearing before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, February 26, 2013. 113th Cong., 1st sess. HR 113-5. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

United States Cong. Senate. 105th Congress, 220. Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.  GPO Access.<http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-105publ220/html/PLAW-105publ220.htm><http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/wia/wialaw.txt>

Vedder, Richard. "The College-Graduate Glut: Evidence From Labor Markets." Chronicle. N.p., 11 July 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

"Wages." U.S. Industry Quarterly Review: Labor (2013): 1-4. Business Source Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

Watson, Bruce. "Why College May Not Be the Best Choice for Your Education Dollar."DailyFinance.com. N.p., 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

Wright, Joshua. "America's Skilled Trades Dilemma: Shortages Loom As Most-In-Demand Group Of Workers Ages." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

# Case Study

When considering the benefits of choosing vocations over degree education, it is helpful to look at specific jobs and their average wages and employment growth rate.  When considering these examples, it is important to remember that labor jobs require half the schooling so these workers start with half the debt and start working sooner.  Three examples for labor jobs with their wages and growth outlook are: Cosmetologists with $22,500/yr and 14% growth, Welders with $35,450/Yr with 15% growth, and Plumbers with $46,660/yr and 26% growth.  All of these are middle class wages except Cosmetologists who require the least training.  Three examples for jobs requiring bachelor's degrees are: High School Teachers with $53,230/yr and 7% growth, Journalists with $ 55,420/yr and 6% growth, Accountants with $61,690/yr and 16% growth.  While the wages are higher, the discrepancy in workable time and student debt contribute to the numbers.  However, the growth of Vocational jobs is much higher meaning that more people entering the workforce would be able to get jobs as opposed to the more expensive college degrees. This plays to the argument of the benefit of vocational education as probably slightly lower wages but much greater rate of employment.

The website used was the US Burreau of Labor Statistics with specific adresses:
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Construction-and-Extraction/Plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters.htm
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/welders-cutters-solderers-and-brazers.htm
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Personal-Care-and-Service/Barbers-hairdressers-and-cosmetologists.htm
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Business-and-Financial/Accountants-and-auditors.htm
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/writers-and-authors.htm

#9 Counter argument

My argument is that Vocational and technical education is a good career option and that having a large number of people going into these fields is important for the economy and the individual's future. There is not a lot of articulate have been published directly criticizing this but there are lots of articles focusing on the why college is necessary but will never address the alternatives, speaking only of people with high school degrees.   Other articles will discuss the problems with the labor market in general.  These provide the most interesting counter argument.  "We heard stunning stories at the depths of the great recession in 2009 and 2010. There were welder shortages around the country. Welding isn't necessarily rocket science. There were thousands of unemployed welders, but they didn't have exactly the skill set often sought by particular employers at that time" (United States 45).  This shows one side that even people who go into trades for better chances of employment get the short end of the stick and wind up unemployed with specialized skills. This is a real issue that cannot be argued away, however, it is  not a reason to say that people should not go into specialized labor.   This does show the merit of changing the way job training works to produce graduates with more widely applicable skills.  This could be similar to the systems put in place in Europe already which combine theoretic education and job training.  For those already in the workforce or going into it, this can be avoided by receiving more than one certificate, perhaps in different types of welding, or taking large ranges of classes and internships to better qualify for more jobs.  Most other counter arguments lie in the american system of vocational education.  Another would be that of the California Community College career training program.  "The considerable inconsistency across similar programs - in name, credit length, course requirements, expectations for basic skills competency - creates unnecessary confusion that prevents good understanding among students and employers about the meaning of particular credentials… Most unfortunately, this variability can dilute the value of credentials that students earn because employers are uncertain of the skills, knowledge, and competencies that a credential represents" (Shulock  8).  This is another real issue because even with great programs producing great employees, if there is no standardization then employers will never know if they are getting one of these workers or a lesser worker and will so be cautious.  I would consed both these points but argue that the key to both is improving the programs currently in place and standardize the new programs.  These arguments are focusing on a different aspect of the education debate as they do not attack the merit or necessity of  more people going to trade schools.  There arguments must, and can only, be remedied with the promise of greatly needed education reforms.  

Lit review #5

Mishel, Lawrence, Ruy A. Teixeira, and Washington, DC. Economic Policy Inst. "The Myth Of The Coming Labor Shortage: Jobs, Skills, And Incomes Of America's Workforce 2000." (1991): ERIC. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

This article was written as a rebuttal to the Workforce 2000 report by Johnston and Kicker in 1987 which gave speculation into the future of the american labor market in regards to labor shortages.  This article uses Bureau of Labor Statistics to analyse and predict labor market trends.  Though this article is out of date and many of their predictions are wrong, this article helps me with my research in a few ways.  It provides an interesting view on the labor market and offers many interesting solutions to them. "This is because the focus on and overstatement of the increasing number of professional and technical jobs has led to an overemphasis on college education. In fact, even an optimistic view of the labor market suggests that, at most, 30 percent of the future labor force will need a college degree, up from about 25 percent in the mid-1980s. Moreover, employment projections suggest that there will be a surplus of college graduates" (Mishel 7).  This idea of college coupled with skilled labor is, as of now, an inefficient idea but it does interact nicely with the idea of making the process one system like in Europe.  His productions of necessary levels of education are also highly correct and highlight an issue rarely discussed anymore. "Moreover, there is no evidence that skill upgrading within particular occupations will be large, though it seems likely that more jobs will require threshold levels of literacy and numeracy. The implication of these findings is that there is little empirical support for one aspect of the "coming skills mismatch" hypothesis: an explosive growth in skill requirements" (Mishel 13).  His definitions of different levels of labor are also very helpful in discussing the broad topic.  "First, job characteristics are partially driven by changes in the occupational composition of employment, such as a shift from manual to technical/professional jobs. Since jobs within a particular occupation will differ depending on their industry attachment, a second important dimension is the industrial aim position of employment. The last dimension is changes in the skill content or pay level of work in a particular occupational/industrial category. This dimension reflects, for instance, the degree to which the skill level of supermarket cashiers, blue-collar manufacturing workers, or stock brokers grows over time. As it turns out, change in the skill content of particular jobs is probably the most important (certainly the hardest to measure) dimension of the job structure" (Mishel 13).  In other words the occupational composition division is highly skilled producers, the industrial division is that of skilled construction workers such as steel workers and welders, and the last division occupational jobs or those requiring the least skill and education that still require unionized work.  He also defines a key term to this article, Labor shortage or skills mismatch.  What this means that the job requirements have exceed that of the available workforce and can be to the fault of the employer or to the decline of workforce.  

this article was written by Lawrence Mishel, the Research Director of the Economic Policy Institute, and Ruy A. Teixeira, a sociologist at the Economic Research Service, and I.S. Department of Agriculture.  Both men are relatively unbiased and well versed in workforce issues and debates.  This is a picture of the two men.

#8 interview

I interviewed Joanne Zucconi a graduate of the Beauty School of Bergen County and certified Cosmetologist.  I chose to interview her because she has been working in her field of study for about 35 years and has advised her two children on decisions of college or trade school.  Both of her children went received College degrees.  She chose to go to trade school because she was not happy with the secretarial job she received out of high school and was suggested by a friend that she go to beauty school.  In 9 months her training changed her life.  She was placed in a job right out of school but was not happy with her placement and changed jobs very quickly.  Employment has never been an issue for her even when the economy crashed and she has been able to sustain middle class wages simply by accepting more or less hours.   She was never pushed into college and never even considered it as a young adult.  When asked if she would encourage people today to consider vocations or education she said that she would consider it best for people to have a little of both.  "Having some classes in business is good so you are more informed owning your own business, maybe just basic accounting , I learned through colleagues  but it never hurts to take a class at a community college." She believes people today should try to get a degree but they should not be forced.  she says "People should go to college for at least one semester and try it out.  If you don't know what you want to do then go to community college it doesn't break the bank and its a trial thing but always give it a shot."  she concluded by saying, "I knew some one who complained that her husband who had no degree and worked for the telephone company and made more money than her.  When she finally got her masters she made more money than him and that was her goal but his telephone company job wasn't that bad but it irritated her but today these people can make fortunes. In general people should not look down on people who went to technical school because we fix your cars, your hair and your houses.  Without us where would you be? We need to get rid of this taboo surrounding skilled workers.  We are still educated people and we deserve to be treated that way."  This is helpful because it is not based on numbers or statistics or even expert's predictions of what will happen with the job market, it is the experiences of someone who has been there and seen her own experiences and those of her husband, whose outcome was not so good.

#6 Visual

this cartoon by Steven Breen, found at http://obamacartoon.blogspot.com/2012/08/college-vs-trade-schools.html , is a powerful image about the decision to attend trade school as opposed to college.   This image sums up the argument that because more people chose it attend colleges the average wage has gone down and the wage of welders has gone up.  Furthermore because the College student is thinking that the perspective welder is a loser, it also demonstrates how shamed and forced young people are into going to college.  Society makes them feel like they have failed if they attend another form of post high school education or job training.  The cartoon was created by a political cartoonist targeting the Obama administration but regardless it perfectly explains the problems the education system has been facing for many many years.

Lit blog #4

Shulock, Nancy, Colleen Moore, Su Jin Jez, and Eric Chisholm. "Career Opportunities: Career Technical Education and the College Completion Agenda." Institution for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (March 2012): n. pag. Print.

This article is addressing the issues California is having with its Community College  Career Technical Education system.  The Career Technical Education system is a system where state and federally funded community colleges offer associate and certificate job training and education.  "Community colleges offer a broad array of career-oriented certificates and associate degrees through what is generally called "career technical education" or CTE. Policymakers across the country are hoping to rely heavily on community college CTE programs to recharge their economies by helping students earn credentials with labor market value" (Shulock 1).   They analyse some of the specific issues California is having and some of the issues  that community colleges offering CTE are finding. One such problem is having many broad similar certificates offered  resulting in overall lower quality.    "State accountability reporting consists primarily of annual counts of degrees and certificates by field and extensive reporting of activities and enrollments. Outcomes by program are not reported because, with few exceptions, students do not officially enroll in CTE programs. Colleges can track course outcomes but not program outcomes, so there is no clear basis for evaluating how well subscribed a program is or how many program entrants complete it and reap benefits in the labor market" (Shulock 4).  One key concept is associates degrees versus certificates.  Associates require 60 credits, about two years, while  certificates are job specific training in under 60 credits.  One issue is that many certificate programs are not regulated or standardized.  "The considerable inconsistency across similar programs - in name, credit length, course requirements, expectations for basic skills competency - creates unnecessary confusion that prevents good understanding among students and employers about the meaning of particular credentials… Most unfortunately, this variability can dilute the value of credentials that students earn because employers are uncertain of the skills, knowledge, and competencies that a credential represents" (Shulock  8).   All four authors of this article were research or policy annalists for the California government and Board of Education and were tasked with the research and writing of this article as an official policy brief.  This article is extremely valuable to my research because it provides information on a good american career training and education system already in affect.  While it does need some improvement it is nice to know that it is in effect already.  It ties in very well as a direct comparison to the similar programs flourishing in Europe.   

Lit Review #3

OECD (2012), Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training: Pathways and Partnerships, Higher Education in Regional and City Development, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097551-en

         This article is about the education system of Sweden as compared to other European countries and which is very different form that of America's.  It was published by the OECD or The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development whose goal is to provide forums for governments to work together on common problems.  The goal of this article is to compare cities and education methods so as to see the effectiveness and educate others on these systems.  One of the most important consepts of this article is the idea of "post secondary vocational education."  "[Post Secondary Vocation education and training schools] aim is to fill a gap in education market flowing from the increasing demand for higher professional and technical skills from employers and the rising demand for high level education from groups that traditionally did not participate in post-secondary education" (OECD p.18).  In other words it would provide a mix of College's study of knowledge and learning and technical school's study of specific skills and training.  "Along side job-specific training nearly all PSV programs provide students with generic skills and theoretical vocational knowledge that are part of professional preparations" (OECD p.18).  Further more the article focuses on the range of education and how it relates to training.  The article does not define training as inherently specific.  It can also the abstract or broad acquiring of skills. "The complexity of educational content and knowledge increases through the sequence of education levels, reaching university and postgraduate studies at the top, so within any individual professional field PSV provides more advanced competencies than upper secondary education and training but less advanced than longer academic post-secondary programs" (OECD p. 27).  This Resource gives a good comparison to the american system to show how vocations can be a good alternative if reform is made.  This is a photo of the cover of this article.

Literary Review #2

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Why College?" College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: Houghton Mifflin, NY. 160-66. Print.

         This book is about the current state of the education system from administration to how to get the most of an education. The author, Jeffrey Selingo, is widely recognized for his writings on the higher education system including being top editor for the Chronicle.  The chapter "Why College?" is specifically about an individuals choice to attend a degree program or to chose another respectable program, namely vocational schools.  He analyses the economic and personal benefits certificate programs can have on people.  He advocates that degrees are not the only option saying, "We need an expanded notion of what constitutes an education after high school.  That definition should include on-the-job training and apprenticeships, coupled with learning across a range of subjects, as well as experiences before college that improve the often difficult transition from highly structured high schools to freewheeling college campuses" (Selingo p.162).  He also returns to this idea of 'on-the-job training' many times.  To him on-the-job training is a specific hands on training coupled with valued job experience for employment.  He laments the lack of this by saying, "On-the-job training has virtually disappeared in the United States as companies have left it to colleges and universities to supply an educated workforce.  For the twelve million manufacturing jobs now in the United States, there are only 18,000 apprentices" (Selingo p.164).  He also expands on the idea of middle jobs which he explains very well in this chapter.  "In extending our definition of higher education, more attention needs to be given to what Tony Carnival, the Georgetown economist calls “middle jobs.”  These are positions that do not require a bachelor’s degree, but pay middle-class wages.  Nearly half of the jobs in the United States today that put people in the middle class are these middle jobs.  Corporate executives worry more about filling these positions than they do about finding employment for high-end careers in engineering, design, and technology.  ‘We can secure all the grads we need from elite schools,’ Thomas Bowler, senior vice president at United Technologies, says.  ‘That’s not a challenge.  It’s the other half of the workforce that I worry about” (Selingo p.163).  this resource is extremely useful because it compares directly higher education and other forms of post-secondary education and job training.  It also chronicles the changes in the education system from a time of greater skilled labor to now in a clear and concise way.  The cover of the book is also included as the visual component.  

Research Proposal

Working title:  Skills over Degrees

Topic

With jobs being so difficult to find and higher education costs skyrocketing, Americans should turn their focus from degrees to vocational schools and skilled labor jobs.   Because so many people turn to higher education, there are fewer and fewer skilled laborers being produced in America.  This results in more of a demand for vocational students creating a great job market with promise of worthwhile wages.  Because of the disproportional higher education to vocational students, it is logical to conclude that more students should go into vocations than degree driven work.

Research Question

Is vocational school potentially a better investment than higher education and how should it reform itself to attract more students?

Theory

With more people turning to higher education there is less jobs and so more people unemployed or turning to entry level positions.  This is partly because there is more students than jobs that require a degree (Vedder).   There are also a lot of people attending college who are maybe not suited for college life.  “We’re trying to push all students through this very narrow pipeline without any thought or regard as to what they want to do, where their interests are, where they’ll be successful,” says Janet Bray, executive director of the association for career and technical education.  “If they don’t know what they want to do and they have no skills at the end of that degree, they’re in debt in many other ways.  They have a four year degree when a one or two year program certificate would get them a job much faster.”(Selingo p.162) The un- and under-employed people also add to the average wages of people with degrees.  “For males with a high-school education, earnings rose 1.87 percent, while for those with bachelor’s degrees, they fell 4.17 percent (for those with master’s degrees, earnings were essentially unchanged)” (Vedder).  If this is the case then the amount of money being made by degree students is not only cut by the market but also by the amount of money spent at college and the time spent not being able to work while in school.  “According to a 2012 study by Georgetown University's Center for Education and the Workforce, 39% of men with an educational certificate earn more than men with an associate's degree, and 24% earn more than men with a bachelor's degree” (Watson).  This fact shows that there is clearly a decent amount of people making an on or above degree par salary. Just because there is a large demand for skilled workers that does not mean it is a perfect system.  As Chairwoman Foxx said, “In an economy that is constantly changing, the federal government has made it more difficult for workforce investment leaders to address the priorities of their communities” (United States).  The government has severely cut funding to training schools in favor of higher education.  Furthermore, skilled workers are not immune to unemployment.  “While we know that there are millions of Americans out there, who are still having a difficult time accessing good jobs in this economy, we also know that there are a substantial number of jobs in healthcare, in advanced manufacturing, in high-growth industries and sectors that are left unfilled because employers require specialized skills for these positions in this 21st century” (United States p. 5).  Part of this is due to america’s narrow view of education.  “We need an expanded notion of what constitutes an education after high school.  That definition should include on-the-job training and apprenticeships, coupled with learning across a range of subjects, as well as experiences before college that improve the often difficult transition from highly structured high schools to freewheeling college campuses” (Selingo p.162).  In America we tend to segregate higher education and vocations but this in not so in European countries such as sweden.  “[Post Secondary Vocational education and training schools] aim is to fill a gap in education market flowing from the increasing demand for higher professional and technical skills from employers and the rising demand for high level education from groups that traditionally did not participate in post-secondary education” (OECD p.18).  This system makes graduates more marketable upon graduation because they have a wide variety of skills.  Not only that but they have the skills to learn, secondary education, and to act, vocational education.  So while the american vocational system has some problems it is a good alternative to college that provides good jobs and wages.

 

Works Cited

OECD (2012), Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training: Pathways and Partnerships, Higher Education in Regional and City Development, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097551-en

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Why College?" College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: Houghton Mifflin, NY. 160-66. Print.

United States. Cong. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Putting America Back to Work: Reforming the Nation's Workforce Investment System : Hearing before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, February 26, 2013. 113th Cong., 1st sess. HR 113-5. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Vedder, Richard. "The College-Graduate Glut: Evidence From Labor Markets." Chronicle. N.p., 11 July 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

Watson, Bruce. "Why College May Not Be the Best Choice for Your Education Dollar."DailyFinance.com. N.p., 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013

Bibliography

My Five sources thus far are:

OECD (2012), Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training: Pathways and Partnerships, Higher Education in Regional and City Development, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097551-en

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Why College?" College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: Houghton Mifflin, NY. 160-66. Print.

United States. Cong. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Putting America Back to Work: Reforming the Nation's Workforce Investment System : Hearing before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, February 26, 2013. 113th Cong., 1st sess. HR 113-5. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Vedder, Richard. "The College-Graduate Glut: Evidence From Labor Markets." Chronicle. N.p., 11 July 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

Watson, Bruce. "Why College May Not Be the Best Choice for Your Education Dollar." DailyFinance.com. N.p., 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2013

Blog #3

Privatization has an effect on vocational schools because the federal government does not create a lot of vocational schools.  If the SKILLS act is pasted there will be even less federal vocational schools because of consolidation.  Because of this the privet sector is dominating this facet of education.  Furthermore, the government used to train and hire workers for their own use.  Now the government has privet educators train workers ad then hires workers through privet companies who have workers, managers, and executives.  This makes work more expensive because the privet company acts as a middleman.  If the government trained and hired its own workers then training would have to pay less for training and the government, and by extension the taxpayer, would have to pay less for skilled labor. On the other hand, privatization creates more opportunities for business so workers can potentially move up into executive positions.  

Lit Review #1

  United States. Cong. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Putting America Back to Work: Reforming the Nation's Workforce Investment System : Hearing before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, February 26, 2013. 113th Cong., 1st sess. HR 113-5. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

 Putting America Back to Work is a congressional transcript of the 1st hearing over the issues with updating the Federal laws on job training.  The current law is Workforce Investment Act which was created in 1998.  WIA is an act which was made to consolidate, coordinate, and improve employment, training, literacy, and vocational rehabilitation programs in the United States, and for other purposes. In other words, the act is responsible for providing job training and placement for citizens. The bill is in need of updating and a panel was created to discuss the pros and cons of updating or replacing it. The leading bill made to replace WIA is the SKILLS Act. SKILLS stands for Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Life Long Skills and is focused on consolidation of smaller local training and placement facilities. This Bill is supported by Chairwoman Foxx. The main speakers are "Mr. Chris Hart is president and CEO of Workforce Florida, Inc., the nonprofit, public-private organization charged with policy setting and oversight of Florida's workforce system. Dr. Scott Ralls is the seventh president of the North Carolina Community College System, which is one of the largest systems of higher education in the United States, and is internationally recognized for its programs to foster economic and workforce development. Dr. Harry Holzer serves as a professor of public policy at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and is a faculty director and is faculty director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy. Dr. Todd Gustafson serves as the executive director of Michigan Works!, Berrien Cass Van Buren, one of the 25 workforce development boards in the state of Michigan" (p. 8-9).

This article is very helpful because it acts to acclimate me with current workforce laws and issues pertaining to vocational training and placement. It also provided reliable numbers and real issues with the current system. One important quote is "America's 143 million working people and its 12 million job seekers represent diverse groups with a variety of needs. The comprehensive workforce system must use a holistic approach to advance people along a continuum that leads to work opportunities, career advancement, and economic and family stability" (p. 55). This shows specific and reliable numbers and vocational employees. Another quote is said by Mr. Holtz on page 45. "We heard stunning stories at the depths of the great recession in 2009 and 2010. There were welder shortages around the country. Welding isn't necessarily rocket science. There were thousands of unemployed welders, but they didn't have exactly the skill set often sought by particular employers at that time."  This explained some of the short comings of skilled labor.  Yet another is "It is very important that we institute reforms in our workforce system to better integrate and better coordinate our nation's higher education programs with our workforce systems and to make both of them more responsive to the needs of the U.S. labor market and the economy, but a simple consolidation of many programs into one with fewer dollars attached does not necessarily help us achieve this goal" (p. 21).  This quote references higher education and how it needs to be viewed in conjunction with vocations.  
attached is a video of the Chairwoman Foxx.  She is discussing education versus training as she does often and did during the meeting I have discussed. 

This is over all an extremely useful resource and also a great stepping stone to my paper and topic choice.   

scouting the territory

In looking looking up information, I have found a lot of news articles and specials on trades such as:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/19/pipe-dream-skip-college-become-plumber-nyc-mayor-bloomberg-says/
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167476/future-vocational-education#
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/08/09/college-vs-vocational-education-better-wages-less-debt/

most of the articles are about specific trades, namely plumbers, but vocational schools in general have a good bit written on them.

I have also found the government sight explaining the value and meaning of k-12 education and most of it is as college prep, not necessarily has a basis for all the the information one will need.

http://www2.ed.gov/students/prep/college/consumerinfo/questions.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12

 on the Rutgers library web sight I have also found a book amount of books and articles skilled and unskilled laborers and there wadges and quality of life. I have also found a few on the overall effect that a rush to trades would have on the economy.  I have been mostly unsuccessful finding opposition, mostly because no one has bothered to right on it.  Any articles that are written on the value of college are in comparison to no, or very little, formal job training which is very unlike trades.  Trades involve a fair amount of schooling and are rewarded with a higher pay.  Skilled labor jobs are not ones that people will just wander into, they often take planning schooling and are usually a goal.

Trades as a viable alternative to college

In recent years, the number of students attending Trade schools has decreased dramatically but the demand for skilled laborers has not gone down quite so fast.  This has left a huge demand for skilled workers.  At the same time, the amount of college students has increased alone with college tuition.  With the decrease in jobs due to the economy and the increase in debt due to high-tuition and loan rates, trades are beginning to look like a good alternative.  Taking into account unemployment, student debt, and time spent in the education system, what is the discrepancy in salaries of degree students and vocational students?  Skilled labor might be a better alternative than popular opinion would have one believe.  By spreading out students between trades and college, the pressure on the job market could be alleviated and by creating new interest in trades out sourcing will definitely be lessened.