| This phenomenological study examined the personal experiences of high school graduates during their first year after an integrated vocational and academic program of study. Field research occurred over twelve calendar months after participants graduated from high school. The study focused on work and/or educational expectations, goals and experiences that participants had during the transition year.; The following are the conclusions of the research analyses: (1) The integration of vocational and academic education from both the vocational school and the high school programs appears to be insufficient for students to feel prepared for post-secondary education. (2) The jobs that they took the first year after high school were not related to their vocational program. (3) Career counseling of students and preparation for work survival skills are not adequate. (4) Vocational school enrollment continues to reflect occupational gender lines. (5) At the post-secondary levels, males in the study did not show determination to pursue higher education compared to their female counterparts. (6) Male transition showed a pattern of producing another working class generation. The females, for the most part, were creating a social class identity for themselves different from that of their parents. (7) Race matters in the way participants' value education and school knowledge. (8) Local economic and social conditions influenced participants' job opportunities independent of their educational preparation. The school is not the only institution that contributes to working class children reproducing their class status. The workplace, the family, the city, and peer groups were also avenues for the reproduction of working class status.; Based on earlier studies (Griffin 1985, Hull 1993) females were less certain about their future work than males. This trend is reversed in this 2000 study. Young male adults in my study faced more difficulties in their transition. The literature also reported that young females focus on marriage and motherhood as a life plan rather than on the world of work. Yet for the young women in this study, career, jobs, and college education take priority. The black females particularly valued school knowledge because they believe it will provide them greater fiscal autonomy in their adult lives. |
