Blue-collar HS training leaves women behind.

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

What is the best way to prepare high-schoolers for jobs in the 21st century? Education leaders and the general public have been debating this question with more heat in recent years, clashing over whether to focus on college preparation or vocational training, especially training linked to blue-collar jobs. The way the pendulum swings may have profound consequences for young women, according to research by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., published in American Sociological Review.

Blue-collar training without a strong college-preparatory focus leads to blue-collar jobs for men, but penalizes women in the labor market, indicates lead author April Sutton, postdoctoral fellow at the Population Center. 'This has been a real blind spot in the public discussion: the assumption that men and women would equally benefit from high school training for...