Enrollments in vocational programs are declining

"Whether prompted by insufficient economic returns, increased emphasis on academics, or other factors, a broad shift away from vocational education and toward academics has occurred in the last decade. After a period of growth in the 1960s and 1970s, secondary vocational education has been shrinking. Students are taking fewer vocational courses than in the early 1980s; there are fewer vocational teachers and fewer university programs training them; fewer state employees work in vocational education. This trend continues even though total secondary enrollments are beginning to grow, after a period of decline due to the 'baby-bust' generation." (U.S. Department of Education, 1994)

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