School-to-work Transition

As the concept of lifelong learning is embraced by more and more people, school-to-work (STW) transitions are now likely to occur many times over the course of an individual's lifetime. The school-to-work transition discussed here, however, will focus on only one of these transitions, the non–college-bound student's entry into full-time employment after high school. Relative to other countries (Germany, for example), the United States has only recently turned attention to this important stage in a youth's life, spurred in large part by the perception of the failure of many of its public schools, particularly those located in urban and rural areas. As evidence of this failure, critics of the secondary educational system in the United States point to increased dropout rates and a growing pool of high school graduates who are inadequately prepared for today's more demanding entry-level positions. For the non–college-bound high school student, then, the transition to work lies at the nexus of what some have portrayed as a failing educational system and a dynamic, increasingly complex business community, whose entry-level jobs demand a knowledgeable and highly skilled workforce.

An early warning sign of the deteriorating quality of primary and secondary education in the United States was reported in A Nation at Risk, published in 1983 by the National Commission of Excellence in Education. This report brought to light the widespread illiteracy rate among adults and children, as well as the significant academic gap between majority and minority group members. To remedy these failings, the report recommended school reforms that emphasized a more rigorous, academic-based curriculum to help prepare more students for postsecondary education.

This recommendation to improve the academic preparedness of U.S. high school students set the stage for enhancing the focus on educational programs for students who traditionally did not pursue postsecondary education, that is, for students considered to be in the “forgotten half” (as termed in a report by the William T. Grant Foundation) or classified as “at risk” (of dropping out of school). Unlike reforms focusing on high-achieving students, school reforms for the students in the lower half focused greater attention on vocational preparation than academic achievement.

To some, this focus on vocational preparation was a way to further institutionalize a tracking system in educational institutions, one that is based on, and perpetuates, a rigid partitioning of students by social class, offering little opportunity for future growth. These critics claimed that the reforms for the forgotten half meant that students from lower socioeconomic classes are steered into less academic, vocational programs, while students from higher socioeconomic classes continue to be given opportunities to prepare for postsecondary education. Since education is an investment in human capital with a return in the form of lifelong earnings, this system may act as a further constraint on academic and career choices for those students from lower socioeconomic classes.

Despite these misgivings, emphasis in programs for at-risk youth continued to be placed on vocational, rather than academic, objectives. Federal legislation played a major role in funding many of these school-to-work programs. One of the more influential pieces of legislation in the STW movement was the Carl D. [Page 707]Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, which was signed into law in 1990. The Perkins Act continues to provide federal funding for vocational-technical education programs that prepare high school students for occupations that do not require an advanced or baccalaureate degree. At its heart, this act promotes active partnerships between businesses and education, incorporating both school-based and work-based learning.

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