Photo Essay: Chinese School is Lesson for US Policymakers
The Chinese are serious about vocational (aka career and technical education). The United States is not. Vocational education in the United States has a long history of being used as holding bin for African American students by purposefully providing inferior education relative to traditional academic and college preparatory education. Here is a quick background on the rise of vocational education abridged from the peer-reviewed paper From Jim Crow to the Top 10% Plan: A historical analysis of Latina/o access to a selective flagship university
First some historical background, then the photos.
During the first few decades of the 20th century, there was a rising notion in Texas that education should follow along “practical lines” (Eby, 1925). In other words, training in agricultural and other manual jobs as well as domestic service were seen as the goals of education. As a result, high schools began offering courses in the trades (e.g. auto mechanics, cooking, carpentry) (Holley, 1937). Furthermore, it became “the general view that this type of training was more suitable for the “colored” population because it fit them for more efficient service in the basic industries of the country” (Eby, 1925, p. 270). Though there was a strong opposition from some in the African American community, practical training “prevailed.” However, some African American-serving high schools wanted to have the “same cultural training as white people” (Eby, 1925). In fact, vocational curriculum was viewed as “lamentable”; but according to some vocational educational was more appropriate for African American students as they doubted “the wisdom and judgment of confronting the negro pupil with a course of study that little fits his life needs” (Taylor, 1927). Especially since only 4% of African American students made it to high school and much smaller number obtained a high school diploma (Taylor, 1927). In fact, the rise of vocational education was concomitant with the increasing African American high school attendance. From 1928-29 to 1935-1936 there was a 60% increase in the number of African American students in grades eight through eleven and a disproportionate number compared to whites were tracked into vocational work (Worley, 1937).
A recent student paper in my History of School Reform course authored by Alexander, Liao, and Worthington related,
Students eventually would be perceived to have different needs, skills, and mental capacities which required them to be prepared for socialization into society and especially to enter into the workplace in proper ways. Curriculum began to be differentiated and tailored to different kinds of students. It seemed common sense that students had differing levels of intelligence. Why prepare students for a lifestyle or job they could never attain? It was logical that students needed to be tracked and placed into proper classes that would better suit them and their inevitable future. Students could even find themselves in alternative education settings where they were prepared for a world of vocational work.Photo Essay: Chinese School is Lesson for US Policymakers | Cloaking Inequity: