Having read Chester Finn's commentary last week ("Part II: Rethinking Vocational Education"), I wonder if perhaps Mr. Finn, in his effort to review federal education policy, simply overlooked current special education law. IDEA specifically calls for transition services to be provided while disabled children are still in public school. The goal is for these children to be able to leave school and go straight to work without having to be on government assistance while they are trained. If it weren't for such vocational programs, a large number of students, both in general and special education, would drop out and never earn a HS diploma.
Mr. Finn is certainly an idealist and I agree that every child should have the opportunity to receive a top-notch education from our public school system. However, states have 10-25 percent of their students not going to college directly from high school. If you add the young people who do matriculate directly out of high school but do not finish, that number goes far higher. We can no longer afford to simply turn our head and say "they will learn how to work." The fact is, they don't.
Students who drop out are more likely to be addicted to alcohol or narcotics, spend time in jail, be single parents, and rely on government assistance. If we continue to ignore this specific demographic of young people and begin phasing out the only programs keeping them in school, then we are saying that they were never worth bringing to school in the first place. We are deeming them expendable for the sake of those who excel and will go to college.
If our education system reaches such a point, who will become the next generation of plumbers, electricians, maintenance personnel, chefs, customer service employees, landscape technicians, and builders? If these children do not see any hope of gaining a future through education, we will lose them forever. What would Mr. Finn think if one of these children was someone he knew? Would he be so quick to write them off?
Christine E. Young.
Virginia Commonwealth University