For trade schools, it's what's in a name

By JAMES THORNER
Published July 17, 2006

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Goodbye trade school. Goodbye vocational school. Hello "technical college."

At the risk of sounding like a short guy who calls himself "vertically challenged," regional business and academic leaders insist trade schools need a name upgrade to compete with the college-at-any-cost mentality of students and parents.

Technical schools continue to be red-haired stepchildren, and that's a shame, said participants at a forum last week headed by Enterprise Florida chief John Adams.

Curtis Austin, president of Workforce Florida, described schools in which high-schoolers are so proficient in computers they dive right into good-paying jobs. Convincing parents college isn't always the cat's meow is the challenge: Many think it's junior's birthright to spend four years on campus finding himself.

The state's skilled-labor shortage is raising the profile of trade schools. Adams, the state's chief business recruiter, chimed in with a story about metal companies avoiding Florida for lack of hands skilled with a blowtorch.

"If I had a welding school, we could retire," Adams said.

So when the name changers set to work, expect the term "college" to encompass not just poetry books but technical manuals.

- JAMES THORNER, Times staff writer