Don’t be misled by the term “vocational training.” Many think it only applies to plumbers or electricians or carpenters but they are wrong, my friend. Vocational training can be offered for any position from engineering, nursing, architecture, accountancy to pharmacy and even law. The term “vocational training” merely refers to training for the specific purpose of preparing you for a certain trade or profession.
Today’s labor market has become more and more specialized. Each field has been dissected into so many different categories, giving people the opportunity to specialize in certain fields. The need for trained individuals has become prominent to fit this highly specialized market. The government of the United States has begun to encourage vocational courses at the secondary and higher secondary level.
I’m sure you are aware that middle schools offer vocational courses such as home economics, wood and metal shop, typing, etc. At the secondary school level, these courses are more in depth and actually prepare you for a job in your field as soon as you finish high school. This saves you a lot of time as it allows you to start working as soon as you graduate high school. You can use this time to take a break, save up some money, get some experience and build a network. Once you have your network built it is a lot easier to manage and expand your clientele. And of course with a larger clientele you will also have a larger income.
Besides being able to start your career early, there are two prominent advantages that you can enjoy through high school vocational courses:
1. Get Scholarships for College
Excelling in your vocational courses can make you eligible for full college scholarships so you can go on to a higher education whenever you wish. You needn’t go to college immediately. You can take your timedeciding what to do while enjoying a regular income. When you do decide to enroll in college it doesn’t necessarily have to be in a field related to your vocational training.
2. Get College Credit
If you wish to pursue the same subject in college, along with your scholarship you will also be able to get college credit for the specialized course you took in high school. This will definitely save you some time, perhaps a semester or even an entire year of the 4 years you would typically spend in college. And as it is said “time saved is money saved,” or something like that!
When looking at higher secondary vocational courses, they are often seen as a substitute to college. More and more people are realizing its benefits and are inclined towards vocational training.
For one, vocational courses can be completed in as little as 18 months, as opposed to the 4 years of a typical college course. Secondly, you would learn specialized vocation based skills and also be given the opportunity to sufficiently practice those skills before the end of the course. But the best feature of vocational schools is their fees. They cost ten times less than the annual college tuition. With the training you get from these courses you can easily earn the money back within a few months.
At the end of the day, the only way to be successful and happy in your career is by doing what you love. It doesn’t matter if you went to vocational school or to college. What matters is that you get to build a career doing what you love.
Resources:
http://www.bls.gov/
http://www.porterchester.com/
