A man, when born, is merely a biological being. It is the education which makes him a social being. Education is the process by which society transmits its culture, accumulated knowledge, skills, and values from one generation to another. This function of education is mainly done by schools. A school is a formal institution designed mainly for the teaching of students under the direction and supervision of teachers. There are primary schools for young children, secondary schools for teenagers who have completed their primary education. After this, students can attend universities for higher education or they can join a vocational school.
A vocational school is also known as trade school or career school. It is an institution in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job. The vocational school focuses towards a broader preparation that develops the academic and technical skills of students, as well as the vocational. It prepares trainees for jobs which are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation. This type of education is sometimes referred to as technical education as the trainee directly develops expertise in a particular group of techniques or technology.
Earlier vocational education focused only on specific trades such as, for example, those of automobile mechanic or welder, and it was therefore associated with the activities of lower social classes. As a consequence, not many students take admission in these schools as it carries some social stigma. But it was with due course of time, with onset of social processes like industrialisation and urbanisation these schools gained popularity. As the lobor market becomes more specialised and economies demand higher levels of skill, governments and businesses are increasingly investing in the future of vocational education through publicly funded training organisations and subsidised apprenticeship or traineeships.
Vocational and trade educations are popular vehicles to fast-track a well-paying skill as well as offer training suitable for career changers and other adult learners. Vocational schools teach job-specific skills and are considered to be institutions devoted to training rather than education, practical versus academic education. These schools provide a variety of courses and a student can pick up any course according to his abilities and potentialities. Most vocational schools award associate degrees, diplomas and or certificates. Most vocations require a particular certification and vocational schools prepare you to take the tests necessary for these certifications.
Apart from the above mentioned benefits, there are some cons of attending a vocational school. These schools prepare students to work in one specific area. That means that the skills learned in vocational school are likely not transferable to another career area. So if students find that the trade for which they went to school is not what they want to spend their rest of lives working in, they are back to square one. Not all vocational schools can offer students financial aid eligibility, so sometimes students take educational loans with high interest rates. And as these courses can be completed in as little as nine to 18 months, students can amass a large amount of debt.
