I assume this call for vocational education means educators have decided that some children in some neighborhoods need to be tracked into an lower level academic program to prepare them for their teachers' expectations of them.

My original vocation was teaching, and I needed a college prep program to be prepared for it. So I don't guess these teachers are referring to finding one's true vocation in life. In order to do that, we all need the highest quality academic experiences.

I don't know if these calls for vocational education come from people who have been in private industry for the past 10 years. We are in the information age which requires a high degree of formal, traditional education. If these calls for vocational ed mean we need to return to wood shop or home economics, we certainly need to look at the changing global economy to determine the wisdom of those choices.

I'd strongly suggest we use our tax dollars to pay for the highest quality education for every child since today's students will have to compete in an economy that has bifurcated into jobs that pay less than a living wage and jobs that require a high level of education.

[Ed Note: Certainly it should be the child's / parent's choice, correct?]