If you have a high schooler not going to college, what do you do different?

[Kelley]

My daughter is planning on being apprenticed to be a hairdresser during the last 2 years of high school. She is also planning on being a dance instructor. She has been dancing since she has been 4. She assists in some classes and learns how to instruct. She has graded ballet exams, and will eventually be taking teacher exams.

How do you adapt your high school years, for the non-college bound student?

Fortunately I live in a state with very little regulation.

 

Thanks,

Kelley

[Quiver0f10]

I asked this type of question once once and got some great responses. The one that stuck with me the most though was basicaly that if my child doesn't go to college, the education I give during high school will be all the formal education she gets. Wow that struck a cord with me. So now we do a college prep edcation no matter what the child's future plans.

 

Here is the thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96095&highlight=college

 

Edited to add: This same child is now planning on college. It's amazing what a few months difference can make.

Edited November 1, 2009 by Quiver0f10

[PeterPan]

I'll tell you what you already know: 17 yo's don't know their future. I've known many people who thought they weren't college-bound who later went to college. My uncle apprenticed in a trade, but a later company he worked for sent him to engineering school on their dime. My aunt went back to college later in life. I even had a friend in college who had done the army, was told she would never amount to enough to do college and should just do a vocational school, and SHE was perservering through college.

 

Many states have regulations on hairdressers, so I'm not sure apprenticing will open up many doors. Has she checked into regulations across the country? It would be frustrating to be experienced in one state and unable to work in another if she marries or moves.

 

I would give her the most education she's capable of. Even hairdressers need to be smart in order to hold pleasant conversation, kwim?

[Chris in VA]

ITA> I may not do as much math or read quite as many GB's, but I'd do enough to get into college so that doesn't become a closed door.

The real reason we do a college prep education is not just to be able to meet the requirements to get in. I want my child to learn to think, to become articulate, and to be able to join in The Great Conversation--same argument for going to college even if you want to be "just" a SAHM. Being a well educated person is important, no matter what your career track.

Do as much as she is able.

[K-FL]

I see my job as hs teacher/counselor as giving my dc options. That includes the skills to get into college w/o remedial classes if at all possible whether they choose that path or not. As we all know, life changes: If a hairdresser chooses to own a salon, business classes would be a great help hence possible needing to get into college classes. Your company "downsizes" you & now you need to re-train--you need to be able to possibly get into college classes. You join the service as enlisted, but the offer of Office Training or just the Sonar School (for example) comes up--you need to be able to do college-level classes.

[bettyandbob]

I would plan on the child being academically prepared for college. That way if her plans change, she can go w/o wasting time and money on remedial classes. I would expect a minimum of Algebra 2 in math (I'd really prefer trig/functions) and strong writing skills. The thinking needed at the level of Algebra 2 and strong writing skills are applicable to a variety of careers whether or not one attends college. Someone who doesn't have these analytical skills is an easily replaceable entity at any workplace. You want to be in a position to be considered an employee who can be trained to do more and learn more about broader aspects of the business rather than just what you were hired to do.

 

At my dd's dance studio, some teachers come in and teach a few classes a week, while other's are clearly learning how to manage a business (scheduling classes, writing press releases, making inventory checks) in addition to teaching. I've just been observing this small business for the last few years and I can tell who among the employees have the most secure jobs and who are readily employable elsewhere, giving them more secure futures. The same could be true at a hair salon.

[justamouse]

My daughter is planning on being apprenticed to be a hairdresser during the last 2 years of high school.

 

Thanks,

Kelley

 

 

Are you sure that's what your state requires for hairdressers? Mine requires schooling with a chemistry class that is pretty astounding, and a state exam that is hard. Just the stuff mine has to learn about skin and infections alone...

 

You know, I totally admit that when Dd said she wanted to go to cosmo I was not so thrilled (Even though she wants to do it so she can pay for college) but now that I actually SEE all that she has to do? I told her I was sorry, that I thought she was taking the easy way out and it's not. Not one bit.

[Ravin]

I'm kind of wondering what people on this board think apprenticeship entails. By my understanding, in an apprenticeship, one learns through doing. While working for someone who knows the business, one learns the needed skills from them through hands-on experience, but also through doing needed reading and preparing for licensing exams and such. Some apprenticeship programs require a short classroom training period; shorter than for someone with the same education goal who won't be doing an apprenticeship. Others may use independent or online study in conjunction with on-the-job training. Many jobs can be learned through apprenticeship, including hairdressing, midwifery, building trades, mechanics, and (from my Navy experience) some military jobs. There are also management training programs that are basically apprenticeship programs, though they're not necessarily called that.

 

Apprenticeship is no longer thought of as a "traditional" career training path; it has been supplanted in that respect by formal schooling. But neither is it necessarily the "easy" path.

[PeterPan]

I don't think anyone was slamming apprenticeships. We were just saying to make sure it meets your state requirements and would allow her to work in other states as well.

[8filltheheart]

My senior will not be going to college. However, he has no realistic career goals. So he is taking several different trade type courses (horticulture, computer repair, and small engine repair) as well as an accounting course that covers setting up a proprietership. We are hoping that one of these will help give him some sort of direction for a future job.

[Kelley]

The apprenticeship which my daughter is being offered is state approved. Lots of paperwork, etc... has to be filed. She has exams, she has to learn 20 hours a week, textbook, and does have a licensing exam at the end. The woman offering this to my daughter is a very loving woman. A great woman for my daughter to work under. We have known her for 12 years. Sometimes one can learn better by "doing", rather than sitting in a classroom. She will also have individual instruction..."private teacher", with loads of experience. She is also the owner, so she will have that type of experience too.

 

Same with her dance instructor.

 

I am thankful that my daughter is able to persue her "loves".

 

I have appreciated everyone's insight.

 

Kelley

[Jodi-FL]

and the only thing we're doing differently is not forcing her to take 2yrs of a foreign language. i know, i know. it's always beneficial to at least learn spanish. but this child has to work so. hard. at everything else, we had to think long and hard (for years and years) about what hills we wanted to die on. if she decides to go to college later on, she can always start at community college (a smart financial decision these days anyway) and take her two years in two semesters there. we felt it was more important for her to be able to read/write/do math well enough to pass those entrance exams than to have a loaded transcript full of Bs and Cs.

 

hth, and good luck to your daughter!

jodi not in fl anymore

[Janet in WA]

I asked this type of question once once and got some great responses. The one that stuck with me the most though was basicaly that if my child doesn't go to college, the education I give during high school will be all the formal education she gets. Wow that struck a cord with me. So now we do a college prep edcation no matter what the child's future plans.

 

Here is the thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96095&highlight=college

 

Edited to add: This same child is now planning on college. It's amazing what a few months difference can make.

My answer is in the above linked thread. So I'll let that speak for me now. Thanks for the link, Quiver.

[usetoschool]

My 2nd dd did pretty much what yours is - she danced (ballet) for years, plays piano and is now a cosmetologist. One side note, she did really well in her cosmo school because she was well educated. There is quite a bit of chemistry and a few other difficult topics in the program. She was the top student in her class and is articulate and well-spoken, a useful ability when dealing with the public.

 

To the point of the op - we didn't do anything differently. I strongly believe that education is NOT about job training, but about training your mind and soul.

[SW in IL]

didn't want to go to college and though she wasn't homeschooled the only difference in her high school education from those students who were college bound was that she didn't take a foreign language. We, too, figured that she could always pursue that on her own or through a community college if the need/desire arose.

 

Just my 2 cents,

Sue

[DB in NJ]

How do you adapt your high school years, for the non-college bound student?

 

I don't. :)

 

Everything is aimed at preparing them to do whatever it is they MAY want to do, not what they think they want to do at the moment. Kids tend to change their minds or at least go back and forth between a few things before finally settling on something. Even then, life could change and in 5 to 10 years, they want to do something else.

 

The essentials remain the same. Extracurriculars change based on current interests and God-given talents.

[Peela]

My dd15 has decided to go to your equivalent of CC the year after next, to do Mass Communication and Journalism. It means she can go to university- in fact the course will allow her to go straight into 2nd year- but I don't need to do any more preparation with her, so to speak. The man in charge has already said she will almost certainly get in.

I am going to dedicate her last year with me to covering things I really want to cover with her before she leaves for education out in the world....specialising in her interests, but shaped in a certain way...modern history and current events including Australian, as much literature as we can (so many books we won't get to!), creative writing/professional writing, cooking, keeping house etc.

We will do minimum maths, probably no science (she has had 3 years of good science with a teacher). We will most likely drop Latin too. I am finding that in order to really have time for her interests (she is doing a course in Multi Media at present) something else has to be sacrificed. Trying to keep all the juggling balls in the air is just stressful. I am not longer going to spread her so thin, and she will be able to do deeper into the areas she is passionate about.

[Nan in Mass]

There are many ways to learn a language other than a class. We decided with my older son that in the future, any language learning was going to be done by immersion of some kind, or at least by a program like Pimsleur, NOT by a text book. If she decides she needs Spanish, perhaps she can look for a different, non-classroom way of learning it.

-Nan