General Education: Vocational and Academic Collaboration.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper argues the case for collaboration between vocational and academic education, between vocational and academic teachers, and between the professors who prepare the teachers. The premise is that today's society calls for an education that is "general" in the most comprehensive interpretation of the word; that is, in the sense of literacy or general knowledge of world trends and events along with practical skills. The paper acknowledges the difficulties in establishing collaboration between the fields. For example, teachers are trained as specialists, and their areas of common knowledge are small. In addition, vocational education has been perceived as reserved for the less intellectually gifted. Another barrier is increasing high school graduation requirements, which sometimes exclude vocational subjects. However, the paper asserts that collaboration, not merely cooperation or team teaching, is necessary to prepare young people for the future. Teachers must together identify the areas of knowledge needed by all youth and find ways to teach them across the whole curriculum. The paper suggests methods and provides examples of ways in which collaboration could be used in agricultural education, business and marketing education, home economics education, and industrial technology education. A final chapter points the way toward an integrated curriculum and an acceptable general education for all students. The paper includes 113 references. (KC)