<p>"The Brooklyn school takes students in the ninth grade and aims to have them graduate six years later with both a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineeringnot to mention a likely job at IBM."</p>
<p>There are schools with vocational programs. I went to such a school and they still have vocational programs today though with newer equipment.</p>
<p>IBM has had a pretty poor track record in how they treat their employees. It’s fairly well-known in software engineering circles.</p>
<p>Our district has had a high school level public vo-tech alternative during afternoons for high school juniors and seniors for as long as I’ve been alive. It’s basically a dual-enrollment type situation. They even transport from the high school to the vo-tech for those that don’t have a car to use. But it is limited to juniors and seniors. (16-18 year olds primarily) although graduating seniors can continue to take classes if there is a course of study they are pursuing. </p>
<p>More interesting is their enrollment numbers are down (as reported this year) as “traditional” community colleges and even four year colleges add more and more vocational education into their curriculum. I think sometimes parents ‘prefer’ that their kids go to something with the word “college” in the title.</p>
<p>This program seems to be going on for 6 years starting in high school.</p>
<p>One of the problems is that in New York State, the regents degrees are really only college prep (minor deviation for trades). These are now the only degrees which HSs can issue.</p>