Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Race and Vocational Education
The relationship of race and tracking is also apparent in tracking patterns at the
high school level. Tracking in high school emphasizes preparation for work or col-
lege, and in most schools we visited, racial minorities were disproportionately rep-
resented in vocational programs. Consequently, vocational programs have come
under some criticism and scrutiny in these communities.
Vocational education at Hamilton High School. 
One way that schools have dealt
with the criticism of vocational programs has been to emphasize that these pro-
grams do not preclude advancement to college. At Hamilton High School, for in-
stance, a school with equal numbers of African-Americans and whites, outside con-
sultants had been hired to help to redesign the vocational arts program in accord
with this new philosophy of providing college preparation for all students. The
redesigned vocational arts programs were based on the popular notion of career
pathways.
The traditional vocational subjects had been reorganized under career pathways
into broad occupational categories, such as health care, electronics, computers,
and culinary arts. Each career pathway represented a range of occupations, some
requiring only a high school education and some requiring advanced degrees. For
example, careers dealing with computers included training for entry-level jobs in
skilled trades, such as computer repair, as well as preparation for computer-
science programs in college. To achieve these dual ends, each career pathway in-
cluded a mix of vocational and academic courses.
In part to minimize the racial bias of the vocational program, all students were
required to take vocational courses at Hamilton, regardless of post-high-school

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plans. This policy created some rather unusual course offerings. For example, one
course that was popular among college-bound students, was ‘‘Honors Gourmet
Cooking.’’ Students in this course, who received honors credit, spent an entire
semester learning how to prepare different ethnic foods. Students are also re-
quired to submit a detailed business proposal for a restaurant they would like to
open. This purportedly was the academic component of the course. One student
who was admitted to an expensive, private university proposed opening a res-
taurant in the city where he would be going to school.
Vocational education at Uptown High School. 
The vocational programs at Up-
town High School were more traditional than those offered at Hamilton High
School. There were three tracks of courses at Uptown High School. Students
could select the college preparatory, general, or vocational track. The vocational
programs included metal working, business, computers, carpentry, and auto repair
and had not been organized into career pathways. However, the school was hav-
ing discussions about reorganizing the vocational programs along the career path-
ways system. The vocational programs at Uptown enrolled about one-third of the
student body.
In spite of the clear job-training component of the vocational programs, most
school personnel at Uptown emphasized that the vocational programs did not pre-
clude enrollment in college. The academic counselor at Uptown emphatically
stated that college is an option for all students at Uptown, regardless of their
placement in any particular track.
The unpopularity of classes in the vocational track at Uptown may have had other
roots than restriction of college opportunities. According to a vocational teacher,
the vocational programs at Uptown High were not popular with students, because
students know they have to work harder in vocational courses than in regular
courses.
Since most of the students at Uptown were poor minority students, the school
was in fact working to increase the job-training component. The hope was that
a clear relation between the skills learned in vocational courses and those needed
in the workplace would increase enrollment in the vocational program.
Vocational education at South Central Vocational High School. 
South Central
Vocational High School was the only vocational high school in the sample. Even
so, efforts were made to insure that some students at the school would have the
opportunity to attend college.

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Educators at South Central Vocational High School suggested that students from
disadvantaged families need more vocational education programs, not fewer. A
vocational teacher at South Central presented the problems facing students from
schools like his when they are confronted with the need to find jobs with their
limited academic skills:
We talk about Shakespeare, but these kids can’t even fill out an application.
Is there any Shakespeare on here? [Waving a job application] No. It’s asking
you for three references. Not just your neighbor next door. It’s gonna ask for
your phone number, zip code, and address. Zip code is a part of that. Do you
have your social security card? These are real things that these kids should be
taught how to do. Macbeth? Wonderful! But when you are hungry, that ain’t
gonna do you one bit of good. We need that Amoco lady who sits there and
pushes the button. If you give her ten dollars, she punches in the numbers
and knows how much to give you back. And we need that lottery lady who
spits out that lottery ticket. These people are trained. You have to have a skill.
This vocational teacher at South Central continued to convey the necessity of pro-
viding concrete job skills for students living in the inner city. Individual dif-
ferences for this educator centered on providing skills that would get her students
jobs:
The first thing they want to know is, can you operate a computer. They could
care less about your diploma. When we don’t equip students, we set them up
to fail. [imitating a white man’s voice] ‘‘So what experience do you have?’’
[black man’s voice] ‘‘None.’’ [white man’s voice] ‘‘Next.’’
The teacher continued:
Black people are wrapped around the block looking for jobs. Not that some
of them wouldn’t be good workers, but we don’t prepare them. I tell my
youngest son, ‘‘Don’t tell me nothing about a diploma, I want you to be able
to do something.’’ If I see a carpenter on the street, I say, ‘‘Can I send my
son here to watch you work?’’ It’s exposure. You have got to put these kids
somewhere where they can learn a skill or trade. Ford Motor Company. The
hospital. Take these kids three times a week. Every high school in the city.
There are enough hospitals and nursing homes in the city to give these stu-
dents experience. We bring computers into the schools. Put the kids where
the computers are going to be used. Because they are in competition. I tell
these kids, ‘‘You are in competition with other kids from other schools and
not only are you in competition with other kids, you are in competition with
their parents.’’ They’ll tell you, ‘‘Last year my cousin graduated and he still
ain’t got a job.’’ He’s telling you something. He doesn’t know what, but he
is telling you something.

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Money for vocational training is hard to come by at a school like South Central
Vocational High School, in part because of the focus on academics and not job
skills. A vocational teacher at South Central talked about her need to find $20,000
to renovate the vocational lab in a way that would help her work with students
who have limited academic skills, such as the ones attending South Central. How-
ever, she acknowledged that there was no money in the budget for such a renova-
tion, and she felt she was unlikely ever to get that money. In fact, the local paper
listed South Central as one of five schools slated for closing the following fall.