Technical education can be as interdisciplinary as you would like to make it. Where else can you reinforce the concept of ratio and proportion any better than in a machine shop or auto shop? The need to express oneself is fundamental. Perhaps it is not too much to claim that nothing is more helpful in self identification than the production of an object in which one has laboured creatively. We often hear it said that secondary school students are being taught obsolete ideas with obsolete equipment. It is true that changes have taken place in the automotive field, in the technology of production, in electricity and electronics and other technical areas, but for the most part, the secondary schools have been able to keep up. Some examples of this transistors have replaced tubes, disc brakes have replaced drum brakes, aluminum wire has replaced copper wire, but in every case, the technology has remained the same as it was before.
One may argue that technical education is expensive, but it can be justified. First, there are many students who would never have received a secondary school graduation diploma without it. This is not only because nearly half of the 27 credits can be technical, but also because it reinforces concepts in mathematics, science and other academic subjects. Secondly, we are living in a technological age when everyone should acquire some technical skills. This latter applies to university bound students as well. It is easy to relate technical skills to medical doctors, surgeons, dentists and engineers.
There are good numbers of female students acquiring technical skills, as many as 80 in one school in North York. This may be the only chance for a girl to learn the basic servicing of an automobile and what to look for in purchasing a new or used car. Girls are very successful in drafting courses and electrical courses.
Statistics show that half of all the students enrolled in grade 9, or year 1 through to grade 12 or year 4, in Ontario, are in technical or business education courses of some kind. At a time when we are hearing about declining enrollments, it is interesting to note that in North York the number of technical credits has risen from 7,567 in 1971 to 10,153 in 1974, and they are still increasing. In 1972 there were 8,312 and in 1973, 9,779 credits.
There are now approximately 50 special vocational schools in Ontario. These are secondary schools offering courses for students who lack academic ability. The courses are of the service variety, such as auto servicing, electrical appliance repair, horticulture, tailoring, oil burner servicing, etc. Graduates of these schools, for the most part, go directly to work so that the skills learned in a special vocational school are very important to them. This kind of vocational education is the difference between working and not working for many of these students.
Business Education
The educational objectives of business education courses may be vocational or academic. As vocational, they will prepare students for a career in business or further specialized training. As academic, they will form part of their general education to develop their thinking processes, to provide supplementary skills for further learning, to create an awareness of the business community and to prepare the individual to cope with the economic world.
Vocational education has undergone dramatic changes particularly since the mid 1960s. No longer are we "turning out" from our packaged programs highly skilled graduates trained for specific jobs. Rather, we are providing a variety of programs at different levels of difficulty to meet the needs and interests of individual students. It is possible for a student to choose a combination of courses that will make it possible to graduate with a higher concentration of specialization than ever before. But it is more likely that the student of today will wish to broaden his or her educational base to better prepare for life, leisure and appreciation as well as for employment.
As a result, we have a higher proportion of students enrolled in some business education courses than ever before and a smaller proportion who are majoring in any given specialty area.
Those who have majored are ready for employment or for a short employer sponsored specialized training program, while those who have not specialized in any area may make reasonably knowledgeable career choices for further education at the secondary school, community college or university.
Further, those who do not specialize in the vocational program but who "sample" courses from various areas obtain a much better insight and appreciation of the role and function of those who do follow a career in some aspect of business.
The curriculum of business education has changed it is reflecting the changing needs and interests of our students. It is still vocationally oriented, but many courses have taken on new thrusts and emphases. Typewriting, for example, is now offered as a personal communications skill for all students and is carried on for those wishing vocational competence. Accountancy is now more than a course in bookkeeping; it is a vehicle for students to learn the concepts of business and the implications for the private individual.
New courses have been added to the curriculum reflecting student interest in some aspects of business and economic life. These would include consumer studies, law and personal note taking.
On the cost of vocational education compared to a straight academic program, while there may be a small increase in the per pupil cost to provide basic equipment and supplies, this is offset by the benefits: (1) Students who specialize in business education courses are "ready for employment." Within a very short time they will be productive workers contributing to the economy; (2) Students who have not majored in business are in a position to accept part time employment or summer employment to supplement their further education. In addition, courses such as typewriting, accountancy, and applied business machines will always give them "some marketable skills" should their primary career goals not materialize; (3) In most schools business education facilities are used for both day school and evening programs; and (4) The equipment provided for the instructional areas of our schools is rarely an expensive "specialized piece of machinery." It is understood that on the job training is the best learning environment for unique equipment. We provide those basic skills that are common to most equipment.
The job market has been rapidly changing because of technological advances and this has had an impact on vocational training in schools. Schools only provide vocational competence in basic skills and concepts. Specialization and "job training" have only limited places in secondary schools. Rather, the very nature of secondary school today is to prepare our young people for change and adaptability. The reason for choice and the emphasis on individual selection is in part to let students know that change is a fact of life. Vocational education, both technical and business, is involved directly in this accelerating change and is prepared to meet the challenge.
In conclusion and to quote Whitehead again "the law is inexorable that education to be living and effective must be directed to informing pupils with those ideas, and to creating for them those capacities which will enable them to appreciate the current thought of their epoch." We live in a technological society in which also the world of commerce is at once complex and vital to the survival of our civilization in its diverse societies. With all the recent talk of a compulsory core in the secondary school curriculum I would pose for the consideration that fundamental literacy in technology and commerce is as essential for our young people as is an understanding of Canadian history or improved reading and writing skills. The real issue is not "can we afford vocational education?" but rather can we, in societal terms, afford not to provide it to every single student while he or she is in our secondary schools?
