Stop Calling It 'Vocational Training'

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) discusses the value of what are often referred to as vocation and technical degrees in a Wall Street Journal commentary . "Those who earn what people usually call vocational and technical degrees have long been viewed as inferior to those who graduate with a series of letters after their names," she writes. Noting there is an innately "classist" aspect in discussing education, Foxx argues, "We are all but telling people that the trade jobs this country needs are dirty, and that skills-based education is for people without means or, much worse, without potential. We have perpetuated the idea that baccalaureate degrees and desk jobs are for middle-class and affluent people; community college and technical pursuits are for the poor." Foxx concludes, "We need to think about the words we use and why we use them if we are to break the stigma around all forms of education. If we don't, we will never overcome the abiding sense of inequality and unfairness that so many Americans feel."