When Should Vocational Education Begin?

This is a study of the costs and benefits of two competing vocational training programs. The public and private direct, implicit, and opportunity costs of the two programs are computed and compared with the probable increase in lifetime income resulting from completion of the training. Since one program is conducted at the high school level and the other at the post-high school level, both public authorities and private individuals are faced with a clear choice as to when the investment ought to be undertaken. The author's general conclusion is that the graduate of posthigh school vocational training has made a relatively poor investment if he chooses to train in the same skilled trades open to vocational high school students. The return to that investment improves somewhat if the post-high school student undertakes semi-professional training during his thirteenth and fourteenth years of study. In all these considerations payback periods are computed, and the author uses the results of these computations in drawing some implications for educational planning.