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Vocational and technical education is a vital component of the total education of an individual. It is a right of every individual who needs it, desires it, and can benefit from it. A continuous process which extends from childhood through adulthood, it is designed to develop work attitudes, saleable skills, and usable knowledge for employment and business ownership. It includes awareness and exploration of career choices and specialized training. There are vocational implications in all education, but technical education is best characterized by its purposes and methods.

One purpose is to provide economic benefit to the learner by preparing him or her for employment or business ownership. Another purpose is to provide economic benefit to the community and the state by increasing productivity. Since individuals spend the larger part of their lives at some form of work, there could be no nobler goal than to provide an opportunity for individuals to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to secure personally satisfying and socially useful careers which lead to personal economic gain and economic benefits to society as a whole.