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I absoultely support this option.

I mentioned in another thread, that my husband was educated abroad. He's the only one of his siblings that attended college, the other 3 have all attended the "trade" option and it was wonderful for them. They're all employed and happy.

I feel like too many employers now use a degree as a way to weed out applicants, whether or not a degree is actually needed. Too many people need jobs and there aren't enough jobs to go around, so they just make a bachelors a requirement to cut down on the applicant pool. That sort of thing worries me, and I hope it changes and we start respecting more trades and non-college options for employment… but unless it is actually happening in the next 18 years I will push college so she doesn't foreclose herself from 90% of her job options (or 90% of her job options that actually pay enough to make a living anyways..)

My high school had a track for this which was nice and a lot of people really enjoyed it. When we were in eighth grade we also had the choice to apply to the county vo-tech school where you could earn various certificates and licenses depending on what vocation you chose. It sort of got a bad reputation because I think a lot of people saw it as the easy way out or as a lesser choice but odds are the joke is on the people who didn't take it and are still working at a menial job fourteen years later.

My Florida HS had tech prep courses. Some of my classmates treated HS like it was a part time job. The kids I knew who took those classes really needed to get to work soon after graduation to help support their families or themselves. I think these programs are wonderful.