Recognizing the value of vocational training

Re “Struggling Students Want Vocational Education, Poll Shows,” April 6

As an exceptional-needs specialist for more than 20 years, I teach children with behavior and learning disabilities. My students are bright, motivated and eager to learn, but due to the passage of No Child Left Behind, they are being left behind as never before. Expecting my students to master grade-level standards is unfair, unrealistic and cruel punishment.

My experience has taught me that a four-year university experience is not appropriate for every student. I teach children who would excel if given the opportunity to be an apprentice for someone in the cable, plumbing, auto repair, cooking or other vocational fields.

My students are hardworking and honest, and they have unique and caring personalities. I know that their futures would be successful if they were encouraged and allowed to pursue their areas of interest.

When the president and his education team acquire a realistic view of society, then vocational education will again become a way to meet the needs of all students. Then we will see fewer high school dropouts, and we will truly give everyone an opportunity to become a productive member of society.

BONNIE BLITZSTEIN

Los Angeles

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I am gladdened by your article on vocational education, for I was one of those “dumb shop kids” throughout my school years. I am a graduate of the Los Angeles Unified School District, and my shop classes did more for my cognitive capabilities than any of the academic classes.

I was a product of the print shop, and what I was taught in those vocational classes helped me to better understand and appreciate how much math, science, history and art were to be found in doing menial labor.

Math helped me to cut paper to get the most out of a sheet; science was used in developing film and running an offset printing press; learning the history of the printing industry helped me to see what was coming in the future and prepare for that day; and the art of reproducing the same exact printed sheet can only be cause for celebration.

I was going to become an industrial arts instructor when I graduated from Cal State Los Angeles in 1977, but I could already see the writing on the wall. Academics was the important thing to concentrate on, not learning a skill that uses those academics.

Education comes in many different forms. It is sad to see that shortsighted vision is still with the people that make policy.

GARY MARC REMSON

Sherman Oaks