Time For New Approach To 'careers' Problem

1 THREE#ejections bynef KeV I torate of a county vocational : I catión center should mean the end I of efforts to achieve that goal by I the means proposed in Tuesday's I plpr'tilin I Our opinión is that many of I those who voted "no" this week Ifavored the idea of providing I more vocational training for I youths not headed for college, but I they disagreed with the method or I they just weren't sufficiently sold I to add another tax on property. Ann Arbor property owners not I only have been faced with a series I of tax increases in recent years ■ for city or school purposes, but ■ they can expect regular reassessI ments- always higher- and now I they see the city trying to strugIgle out from under a substantial I deficit. Other county communities I face somewhat similar problems. If there was a hope by propoInents of the Career Center that I the new youth vote would swing I the necessary support to the proIject, it was quickly dashed when I the vote began to come in f rom lAnn Arbor's Second Ward, where I most of the U-M students are reglistered. Although the Second wás lone of the few areas in all of I Washtenaw county to give a f avorI able vote to the Career Center, it I was quickly obvious that not maI ny students were interested in the I plan and bothered to vote. From our point of view, that I was good. The justice of students I living in dormitories voting on inI creases in local property taxes is pretty hard to understand. j Out-county residente opposed the Career Center, as they did in earlier votes, and one of the reasons could be that they expected j the building would be in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, necessitating expensive and timeconsuming bus trips for their students. It is always difficult to sell a project involving a building program when the site either hasn't been determined or hasn't been disclosed. THE NEED for more vocational education in Washtenaw county continúes despite the new and convincing defeat at the polls, so where do the school officials turn flotf to öilve" tfte prWlem? Som e] opponents of the Career Center1 plan have contended that vocational training should be handled i in the K-12 program. In other words, they believe each school district should have its own vocational training, as many now do, but on a limited scale. If only such courses as woodshop and typing were involved, that could be done successfully but it would h'ardly prepare students for jobs in today's world. Broader programs with the courses and facilities necessary are expensive, and high enrollments in such programs are needed to attract outside funds. Perhaps the most commonly heard question during the days leading up to Tuesday's balloting wasWhoesnTthe 1 ty College do the job?" The an-1 swer, of course, is that the college can't be reimbursed for teaching students who already are being counted for state aid to their local schools. The plan for the Career Center was that students who wanted the courses there wóuld attend their own high schools half of the day and the Career Center the other half. But the idea of somehow 1 ing Washtenaw Community 1 lege in such a program persists I and should be pursued. Enabling legislation might be difficult to obtain because so many Michigan counties already have gone the route so decisively rejected by 1 Washtenaw voters this week. ONE OF THE problems in I catión today, in our view, is that I so few decisions remain in the I province of local school officials I because state or federal aid 1 mines the course of action. It's I definitely a case of a mixed 1 ing. There should be an alternative I to the rejected program, ho wever. I The Intermedíate School District I has had three tries at it. We'd like I to hear what the superintendents of the various school districts in Washtenaw county, their legislators and officials of Washtenawj Community College might come up with after some new brain storming of the problem