While Governor Easley and his ilk want to stuff as many students into higher education as possible, schools in the Netherlands have created superb vocational options for students.
There is an understanding that students may not be able to (or for that matter, want to) pursue academics at a university. More importantly, there is an understanding that students who do not attend such a post-secondary option must develop specific labor skills to have some form of work option available to them. Yet, even within that component of studies there is additional delineation between those who will become laborers and those who will become designers, administrators and even company owners.
By the way, Dutch students outperform students from most other nations on international math and reading tests.
HT: Joanne Jacobs
