Illustration by Kate Greenblatt
On average, college tuition costs nearly ten thousand dollars for a public college and over $35,000 for a private college. Many students are forced to take on massive amounts of debt in order to pay for college, which they see as a necessity to succeed in the world.
The solution to this problem isn’t just throwing more money at the issue in the form of subsidies and grants.
Instead, the government should reduce the need to go to college in the first place. They can do this by expanding vocational education in high schools.
Vocational education is education focused on preparing students for the workforce. It can be preparation for a specific career, such as programming or engineering, or it can teach more broadly applicable skills like personal finance or cooking.
If more vocational classes were offered at schools, students would be prepared for careers that don’t necessarily require college. Then, college could serve as additional preparation.
Criticisms exist that vocational education takes resources away from other areas of education.
However, vocational education is one of the more useful areas to spend our resources. Past a certain point, math and science education have no practical value to the vast majority of students. If we have mandates for that, we should at least offer students the opportunity to learn real world skills.
Another critique of vocational education is that it can be a form of “tracking,” and disproportionately harm students from less privileged backgrounds. While it is true that vocational education in the United States has historically been underfunded and poor quality, it is possible avoid these issues.
Many countries, including Germany, Netherlands, and South Korea, have implemented vocational education programs well. There is no reason why it cannot also work in the United States, if properly designed and funded.
It is a fact that not every student who wants to will be able to go to college. We can debate whether or not this is a good thing, but it can’t be denied. Providing vocational education is only acknowledging this reality and easing the paths of students who won’t get a college diploma.
We owe it to the students in our schools to prepare them for real life, not just for passing tests. The Berkeley City Council and the Berkeley School Board need to consider putting more vocational education in our schools.