Vocational college, to go or not to go?

On that day， Xiaoming went back to his room alone， closed the door and sit at his desk in a daze， with the vague sound of arguing hanging over behind the door. The situation makes him feel awkward since it has become the only arguing topic in his family those days and the problem remained unsettled. To be honest， he himself was also hesitating to decide his own fate.

The score of Xiaoming’s college entrance examination was not as satisfying as expected and it could only offer him a vocational institute instead of college according to the cut-off line. Thus， the families’ attitudes differ a lot on the issue of choosing a suitable college. Xiaoming’s father， who is a typical traditional and strict Chinese father， dreamed of sending him to a good university， at least a qualified junior college. He suggested Xiaoming to restudy for a year to enter a good university. Holding the opposite attitude， his mother didn’t want her son to be too stressful under such high pressure. In her mind， entering a junior college is unsatisfied but at least acceptable.

XIaoming’s uncle， who strongly recommended him to go to a vocational college of civil aviation so that he could be expertise in a certain major， which would offer him a certain job in an airport or airline company after graduation. But his parents hold the different thoughts. Firstly， the quality of non-publicly funded vocational institutes is not as reliable as colleges， and this kind of college limit the occupation choice. Under such disagreement between Xiaoming’s families， he felt lost and confused to decide whether he is suitable for vocational college.

那天，小明默默地走回自己的房間，關上門，坐在書桌前發呆，門外隱約還傳來家人們的爭論聲。他覺得很尷尬，因為自己的上學問題成為了家人這幾天唯一的議題，而且目前尚未有決定。說實話，當時小明自己也不知道該選擇哪條路。

高考成績剛出來，小明的分數并不是十分如意，按照分數線來看，他可能僅僅能上一所不太好的大專院校而已。家里人在小明擇校問題上產生了巨大的分歧。小明的父親是一個典型的中國嚴父，他希望孩子能考上一所好的學校，哪怕就是大專，也要考上好點的大專，或者再努努力，上個二類本科也好，他問小明是否愿意再努力一年，再考一次。小明的母親心疼孩子的備考壓力，盡管她也認為大學一定要上，但她覺得反正都是大學，差一點的大專也沒關系，畢竟復讀之路太艱苦。小明的大伯在這件事上一直堅持讓小明去報一所民航類的高職院校，將來畢業了，也有一門專業在手，可以去機場或者航空公司就職。但小明父母卻不太樂意讓孩子報考這類學校，他們覺得首先民辦院校不靠譜，其次，這樣的專業性院校會限制孩子以后的就業選擇。小明家族成員漸漸地變成兩派，一派支持就讀這類專業性較強的學校，另一派則提出反對。小明自己也不知道自己是否適合就讀這類專業性較強的學校。

Actually， this kind of disagreement between families has occurred once after Xiaoming’s high school entrance exam. Though his score was not good enough to enter a good senior high school， his family spent some sponsorship fee and managed him to enter one. Some of his fellow friends who hadn’t reach a satisfying achievement turned to go to vocational college instead of junior high school.

Xiaodong， one of Xiaoming’s neighbors， chose to study western-food cooking in a well-known vocational college. It is acknowledged that most of the graduates of this major have a promising career future. This college is recommended by one of Xiaodong’s remote relatives， who works in a famous hotel in Shanghai as the chief of western food. Just as similar as the situation， Xiaoming’s uncle wishes he go to the vocational college of civil aviation to have a good job. Considering all the factors， Xiaoming’s mother tends to stand by his uncle’s side and prefer the vocational college. However， his father， strongly show his objection toward it， he thinks it’s too risky to escape from high school education and vocational high school limits further career development， which means one has no other choices after graduation.

Finally， Xiaoming obeyed the will of his father’s and attended a junior college majoring in computer. Nevertheless， he didn’t like the major and was not performing outstandingly on his major， so after graduation， he was not engaged himself in computer-relevant job after all. Later， he took a training class to learn baking and went to be a patissier for a cake shop. Sometimes， Xiaoming asks himself， what it would be like if he went to study baking right after his graduation from junior high school? He might have become a senior patissier already.

Xiaoming is an assumed name which represents a true story of my friend. With the development of the society， more and more young people have the pulse to be educated professionally. Despite the fact universities are instantly expanding their enrollment， the number of students who can take higher education is also very limited， which makes vocational colleges an important supplement to the educational system. What’s more， universities and vocational colleges emphasize on different sides. The former one focuses on comprehensive education which makes the society longing for more professional and technical personnel. In this case， educational education is back to the focus of social concern again. Nowadays， parents treat occupational education with a different attitude， but the opinion of Xiaoming’s parents on occupational education is representative and could be regarded as an epitome of our society.

而事實上，這類論戰在小明初中畢業那年就已經出現過一次了。小明的中考成績也不是很理想，但小明還是通過交贊助費上了一所普通的高中。而那年和小明一起中考失敗的同學們，有一部分人選擇放棄繼續上普通高中，轉而去報了職業高中。小明的鄰居小東就選擇了去一所職高學西餐烹飪，那是一所業內知名的職高，里面的西餐烹飪專業學生大多數畢業后都有良好的就業去向。就像小明的大伯了解民航就業狀況，希望他報民航院校一樣，小東的一個遠方親戚在上海某知名大酒店當西餐大廚，他向小東一家推薦了那所職高。小明媽媽聽完小東家人的介紹后，確實也有點心動了，要不要讓兒子也報這個職高？小明爸爸聽完以后，表示了強烈的反對，他覺得這不是在開玩笑，好好的高中不上，以后出去就真的只能當廚子了。

小明最后還是選擇了聽從父親的話，上了一所普通的大專，學了計算機專業，但畢業后，小明也沒有從事任何與計算機相關的工作，他說自己不喜歡，專業也不夠突出，在這個領域不好找工作。他參加了半年的西點培訓班，現在小明在一家蛋糕店做一名蛋糕師傅。有時候小明也會問自己：如果初中畢業那年就去職高學西點，現在會不會已經成為高級西點師了呢？

小明是一個虛擬的名字，但小明的故事卻是我身邊的一個真實故事。隨著社會的發展，越來越多的年輕人有接受更多教育的愿望，但盡管大學每年都在擴招，能接受高等教育的人數比例也是有限的，職業教育就成為了一個補充。再者，大學強調綜合教育，專業性技術人才也成為一個缺口，這個時候，職業教育又重新回到了社會關注的焦點當中?，F在家長們看待職業教育的態度各有不同，但小明家人們對職業教育的看法，也可以看做是社會對于職業教育看法的一個縮影了。