Had I Completed a Trade in High School...

I really wish I had completed vocational training in high school. I think it is imperative for students to not only have college preparation courses but real skills to assist them in gaining employment after high school. It is a disservice to our children to not prepare them for life. In demand job skills and life skills should be part of the normal curriculum.

Had I been thinking or had someone truly shared the options, I would have taken auto tech in high school.

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Though, I was a girly-girl and had considered the cosmetology program, I could also see myself doing the auto program back in the day. What I ended up doing is beginning cosmetology school about 3 years, after high school. I could have saved time and money, had I completed the cosmetology training in the 11th and 12th grade. It would have been awesome to work a decent paying job in the field, while attending college. I attended a university a year after high school and struggled financially, with low wage employment. I can see how my life could have been less of a struggle early on, with certain skills right out of high school.

What I don't appreciate is that there was this weird stigma that there was something wrong, if you did a trade. As if it was less than. Let alone if you were a female learning a male-dominated trade. I was on the college track path. It was pushed to follow a college prep journey or vocational one, depending on who you were and how you were doing in school. Not both. That was over 30 years ago. That in my opinion, needs to change.

I don't regret college prep. College was a goal and it is still an important part of my life. I have worked in higher education at a 4 year institution for over 11 years. But we should stop putting one above the other and share the benefits of being more well-rounded. Both are important. Based on how the world economy is, we have to be more diverse in our skill-set. That is key, as single parent homes struggle, so does homes with two incomes. individuals are not as self-sufficient as they can be from the beginning. I have read where some schools are encouraging trades to get students ready for decent paying jobs and life skills for real life but it is not where it needs to be.