Choose vocational school: what makes you worried?

When retrospect to ancient times， some chose to let their children persevere in studies in spite of hardships， and some also chose to let their children learn artistic skills from mentors. Today， due to the nine-year compulsory education， it seems that most of parents prefer to let their children take part in college entrance exams after 12-year hard study. If there are things like learning from mentors nowadays， it could only be vocational schools. Since the increasing demand of workers of professional skills and the popularity of internet talk like “learn to be a cook” and “drive an excavator”， some people start to reconsider the importance of mastering some skills.

回溯到古時候，有人選擇讓孩子堅持寒窗苦讀，也有人選擇送孩子去拜師學藝。時至今日，在全民九年義務教育的基礎上，似乎大多數家長都傾向于讓孩子寒窗苦讀十二年后，擠上高考那座獨木橋。如果說這年代還有拜師學藝，那么可以說非職業學校莫屬了。隨著社會對某些專業技能工種人才的需求增大，“學廚師”、“開挖掘機”等網絡段子肆虐的同時，不少人也開始重新思考一技傍身的重要性。

In China， school choosing is not the problem for students， but for their parents. 11 out of 10 parents hope their children have a professional skill， but few of them would like to send their children to vocational schools. So， for parents， when facing vocational schools， what is you worried about? With this question in mind， I interviewed some parents at the hall of an extracurricular counselling organization， and they talked about their worries.

在當代中國，擇校問題似乎并不屬于學生，而往往屬于家長。十個家長大概有十一個都會希望自己孩子有一技之長，但十個家長里面不見得大部分家長都會愿意把孩子送去職業學校。那么家長，面對職業學校，你在煩惱什么？帶著這個問題，記者去到一家課外輔導機構報名大廳，采訪了幾位家長，他們也說出了自己的一點擔憂。

The school spirit cannot be guaranteed

校風無法保障

“I just worry about the school spirit，” Ms. Huang answered me immediately when heard my question. It is said that Mencius’s mother moved three times in order to find a good neighbor for his son. The study environment is of vital importance for a child’s growth. In Ms. Huang’s mind， vocational schools always have semi-closed management pattern. If the school has strict management and the students all obey the rules， it can let parents be at ease. But she has seen the report about many students violating discipline due to the lack of school management， and she worried her young child cannot concentrate on study since the shortage of self-care ability and judgment.

“我就擔心校風不好?！秉S女士聽完我的問題，馬上給出了回應。中國早有孟母三遷，擇鄰而居的典故。一個孩子的成長學習環境確實有著至關重要的影響。在黃女士的印象中，職業學校常常會采用半封閉式的管理模式，如果學校管理嚴格，學生也恪守紀律，那確實很讓家長放心。但她曾經在報道上看到過不少由于學校管理松懈而出現的學生違紀問題，她也會擔心自己未成年的孩子沒有自理能力和判斷能力，無法專注于學業上。

Qualified and disqualified teachers are intermingled

師資良莠不齊

Ms. Huang’s husband said his opinions. He thought the school spirit is definitely an important question needs to be considered， but there is another one， which is the quality of teachers. “A good teacher can guarantee the quality of education. It is the same as we finding counselor here， and before choosing the teacher， parents would see their experience first. I know the recruitment and evaluation of teachers in vocational schools are not that strict as in normal colleges， especially for nonprofessional courses teachers. Some schools think that they have good teachers for professional courses shall be enough， but since children are young， parents still want them to develop in an all-round way rather than just learn a kind of skill.”

黃女士的丈夫也在一旁補充了他的看法。他認為校風確實是要考量的一個重要問題，但還有一點很重要就是師資問題。“老師好，才能保證教學質量。就像我們來這里找輔導老師一樣，家長選擇老師之前也會先看看他們的履歷。我知道現在很多職業學校老師的招聘和考核都不如普通?？圃盒栏?，尤其是一些非專業課的老師。有些學校覺得專業課有王牌老師就夠了，但是孩子還小，家長肯定是希望他們可以全面學習發展，而不單單是學一門手藝而已?！?/p>

“Only poor students go to vocational schools”

“差生才讀職?！?/p>

On condition of anonymity， a mother told me that， if she sends her child to a vocational school， she mostly worries about others’ comments. In many people’s opinion， vocational schools are for those students who have poor scores or cannot go to good normal schools. “Others’ kids all go to high school， but my child go to professional high school. It is so abnormal and people would talk about it. I cannot stop others from saying this and I don’t want others to say ‘only poor students go to vocational schools’ to my child. I am not comfortable with that and it would affect his confidence in study and work when he hears this.”

一位不愿意透露姓名的母親告訴記者，如果讓她把孩子送去職業學校，她最擔心的是別人的嘴。在很多人眼里，職業學校是那些成績不好或考不上好學校的學生去的地方?！皠e人家孩子都上高中，要是就我家孩子上職高，多突兀，多招人閑話呀？三姑六婆的嘴管不住。不愿意別人把‘差生才讀職?！拿弊涌墼谖液⒆宇^上，我聽著不舒服，孩子聽了，多影響他以后學習和工作的自信心呀？”

The job options are limited

就業出路有局限

Parents may shoulder the pressure of choosing a wrong major or a wrong industry for their children since they help to choose the schools and majors for them. Mr. Gong said that， he accepts vocational schools， and if his child agrees to go there， he would support him. But the question is， if choose schools and majors for children according to their immature interests and parents’ judgment on the current hot jobs; it would limit the employment scale for them in the future. “If I ask him to learn vehicle repairing， but he wants to be a journalist in the future， you tell me， would your magazine give priority to him?”

家長為孩子擇校，為孩子參謀專業，自然也會承擔起害怕為孩子選錯專業，將來入錯行的壓力。龔先生表示，他認可職業學校，如果孩子愿意，也會支持孩子上職高，但問題在于，現在如果全憑孩子不成熟的興趣和家長對眼前所謂熱門的判斷，來為孩子選擇職業學校和專業，就等于限定了孩子將來的就業范圍?！叭绻易屗W汽修，但他將來想改行當記者，你告訴我，你們雜志社會優先考慮他嗎？”

Enterprise recruitment thresholds are not easy to pass

企業招聘門檻過不去

Mr. Zhang is an HR of a company. When heard my question， he said from his professional aspect， what he worried about is the threshold of enterprise recruitment. The professional workers from vocational schools always can find the right industries and have high employment rate. But just as Mr. Gong’s words about the difficulty of profession change， Mr. Zhang also said， most of the company recruitments have requirements on education background， which is not good for graduates from vocational schools to enlarge their job options. “Why there are thresholds for enterprise recruitment? It is because now enterprises also pay attention to the comprehensive quality of staff， and during the interview， time is too short to see their qualities. Therefore， they can only evaluate employees’ comprehensive quality through education background and other objective conditions. Vocational school students have no advantages in this regard.”

Five main concerns have been raised by parents， actually in one words， they just worried about the vocational schools cannot provide high-quality comprehensive education to students. I think it should be the most important direction of development for a good vocational school.

張先生是一名企業人事部門的負責人，他聽完我的問題以后，從他的專業角度告訴我，他的憂慮其實就是企業招聘門檻。職業學校出來的專業性人才往往都能找到對口的行業，就業率也較高。但正如前面龔先生擔憂孩子以后轉行不易一樣，張先生也告訴記者，現在大部分企業招聘都對學歷有一定要求，這點來說，職校孩子想擴大就業范圍，相對吃虧?！盀槭裁雌髽I招聘會有門檻？因為現在企業也很注重雇員的綜合素質，招聘時候接觸應聘者時間較短，難以看出這些問題，所以往往只能通過學歷等客觀條件來判斷應聘者的綜合素質。職業學校學生在這點上并不占優勢?！?/p>

家長們提出的五點最主要擔憂，其實歸根到底都是擔心職業學校無法給學生提供高質量的全面教育?；蛟S，這也應該是一所好的職業學校最重要的發展方向吧。