PRIVATE VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS Their Emerging Role in Postsecondary Education Introduction This study undertakes to clarify the role of private vocational schools as one of the institutions providing postsecondary education. The principal topics include: estimated number of schools and students, types of occupational training, nature of instruction, student characteristics, and regulation and accreditation of the schools. The general status of vocational education is initially considered in order to explain the still inadequate awareness and acceptance of the private vocational schools and their students. Finally, in a brief concluding section, a proposal to enhance the equality of educational opportunity is offered. Status of Vocational Education Despite steadily growing enrollments in colleges and universities, the potential number of students who can benefit from instruction in private vocational schools will continue to be exceptionally large. The promising future of the schools is based upon at least two major conditions. First, only about one-fourth of all high school students are enrolled in a vocational education program. Second, less than 25 percent of all high school students ultimately complete a four-year college program. The expected advances in the use of private vocational schools are grounded in the demonstrated capacity of the schools to motivate and train students with various needs and interests for specific occupational objectives. Young persons lacking vocational qualifications, private employers, and several government agencies have shown the greatest appreciation of the schools' capabilities and have also made the most use of them. In general, however, educators and school counselors have been uninformed about and even antagonistic to the private vocational schools. Since high school graduates and nongraduates will continue to enroll in vocational schools, it is important to consider some of the plausible reasons why key persons involved in advising such students have disregarded the schools. Insights into this paradox arise from (a) the current emphasis upon college education, and (b) the contrasting objectives of vocational schools and colleges. Dr. James B. Conant and other highly respected educators have been critical of the many parents who ignore the aptitudes and interests of their children and pressure them to pursue some form of higher education. Quite understandably, the school counselors typically reflect a community's interest in maximum college enrollment. The number of counselors in most schools is, moreover, inadequate, and the counselors who are available are unfamiliar with the needs of and the opportunities for students not headed for college. The net result of these conditions is that educational resources are not efficiently used, and numerous cases of personal frustration and disillusionment occur. Dr. John W. Gardner, while strongly favoring equality of educational opportunity, has stressed the desirability of providing superior vocational education, and he has accented the possibilities and importance of achieving "excellence" in all forms of education and work. The preeminence given to college enrollment by educators, counselors, and parents is naturally related to the academic program and, perhaps even more, to the ultimate types of employment that college graduates are likely to secure. The liberal arts curriculum is an important educational component of colleges and universities. Such a curriculum may be a preparation or requirement for an occupationally oriented program, but students may also select the subjects for their intrinsic value. Even undergraduate curricula that lead directly to employment (e.g., business administration or engineering) require some general education subjects. In contrast, vocational schools, particularly the private ones, offer hardly any subject matter that is not directed toward the ultimate requirements of a job; and the courses, usually less than two years in length, are not concluded by the conferring of a degree. The term "course" is used by private vocational schools to represent the entire training program. Comparatively few of the private vocational schools are actually able to confer an associate degree under current regulations in their states. Pennsylvania, for example, began considering private vocational schools' eligibility to award an associate degree in 1969. Private vocational schools differ from colleges and universities not only in subject matter taught but also in financial structure. Colleges and universities, whether private or public, are overwhelmingly nonprofit, while the great majority of private vocational schools are profitmaking, or more accurately, profitseeking organizations. This need not be noted per se as a distinguishing characteristic between the two types of institutions, but it 1A decision by a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia might lead to the establishment of many more proprietary colleges. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Inc., was found: (1) to be in restraint of trade, and (2) to deny constitutional due process by requiring applicants for accreditation to be nonprofit institutions. See Civil Action No. 1515-66. has in fact been raised as an additional factor of comparison. However, it appears appropriate to focus less attention on the financial structure of an educational or training institution and, instead, to examine more closely student needs, the nature of the programs, and the competence of instructors. This approach could lead to a clearer differentiation between the two types of institutions. Perhaps it would then be concluded that colleges and vocational schools are "noncompeting groups," to be evaluated on the basis of their comparative excellence in instructional programs and the performance of their graduates on the job. (Colleges and universities should naturally be supported in their search for excellence in those fields of study that are not directly related to ultimate employment.) Estimated Number of Schools and Students The first serious attempt to estimate the number of private vocational schools and to consider their programs was made in 1964. Drs. Clark and Sloan estimated that there were more than 35,000 schools, with an enrollment exceeding five million.2 However, these figures included schools offering both vocational and leisuretime training programs. The author's study on which this paper is based disclosed a total of 7,000 private schools limited to vocational education and serving approximately 1.5 million students during 1966.3 These conservative estimates were divided into the following four broad occupational categories: 2H.F. Clark and H.S. Sloan, Classrooms on Main Street (New York: Teachers College Press, 1966), p. 4. 3 Private Vocational Schools and Their Students: Limited Objectives, Unlimited Opportunities (Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc., 1969), p. 9. The above figures were based upon responses to a written questionnaire by 1,200 schools and upon supplemental information provided by associations of the four types of schools. The number of cosmetology and barber schools was exact because their respective associations conduct an annual census. In 1966 the United Business Schools Association had a membership of 500 schools offering secretarial, accounting, business administration, and other courses; and it maintained a record of 800 nonmember business schools. The National Association of Trade and Technical Schools (NATTS), established in 1965, had only 200 member schools, but the Association's mailing list was several times that number. As shown above, the majority of students attended trade and technical schools. Added to the enrollment in business schools, these two categories accounted for 80 percent of all students. However, the cosmetology and barber schools are quantitatively important because they train most of the persons entering such occupations. The data also revealed that the average annual enrollment in each type of occupational training school was rather small. Less than 5 percent of the schools enrolled more than 2,000 students annually. The average business school enrolled less than 350 students annually; this exceeded the average enrollment in the trade and technical schools by 20 percent and was much greater than the typical enrollments in the cosmetology and barber schools. One explanation for the small size of most of these schools is related to the importance assigned to practical, problem-solving aspects in the courses. It follows that only a short period of time is spent in large classrooms, and the costs of adequate space and machinery in shop and laboratory settings necessarily limit the size of a school building and its staff. Second, the schools are widely distributed geographically-often either located in cities with less than 100,000 persons or situated within sections of a large metropolitan area. A third reason is that the trade and technical schools (the primary focus of attention in this study) tend to train for single or related occupations. Nevertheless, collectively, the large number of highly specialized trade and technical schools offer the greatest diversity of courses. Although most private schools operate on a year-round basis and offer both day and evening sessions, the capacity for expanding enrollment appears to be sizable. The possibilities for growth are primarily due to the underutilization of staff and facilities in afternoon and evening classes. According to a survey of NATTS members, the schools were operating at only 60 percent of their capacity. On the basis of this estimate, all trade 52-314 O 7146 |