Vocational ed rebounding as an answer to dropout crisis - By Dana Hull, San Jose Mercury News
Vocational ed has long suffered from a reputation as a dumping ground for misfits -- struggling students who take classes such as Auto Shop I and then enter the blue-collar workforce. For these students who never dreamed of going to college, vocational ed was widely seen as the last stop before they quit high school.
Even today, some critics worry that vocational ed is simply another way to direct students, many of them poor and minority, along a path that will never result in a degree from a four-year school.