Vocational Education in the College-for-All Era: Low Income African American Youth Searching for Careers

• In Event: 366 - Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. Post-secondary Experiences and Outcomes

Abstract

In the current “college-for-all” era, many high schools focus so much on college preparation that job skills, career exploration and alternative postsecondary destinations are rarely discussed, even in schools where college-going is not the norm. This can be problematic for low-income, urban minority youth who typically are underprepared academically and have few role models who can help them prepare for a college bound future. When such students do not want or cannot pursue a college degree, and lack clear occupational goals or career guidance, what do they do? Some turn to postsecondary trade and technical schools, which have the potential to offer youth a well-defined pathway to a stable career and assist with the development of concrete job skills. However, recent research finds that many students fail to graduate from these institutions and leave with large debts and few job prospects. Why are youth encountering such obstacles? Using in-depth interviews with 49 inner-city African American youth, we find that rather than exploring career options and the training these require while in high school, youth do so later, by attending multiple postsecondary institutions in search of what they want to ‘be.’ We find that movement into for-profit trade and technical schools without a clear understanding of their career goals means that students are leaving these institutions with significant debt and no credentials.

Authors

• Megan M Holland, State University of New York-Buffalo

• Stefanie Ann DeLuca, Johns Hopkins University