I teach in high school career technical education, and at least in Alabama, it's slowly growing as a viable option for high school students. We're still fighting the disrespect because some of our students will not be going to a four-year university, even a "lower-level" school like a UAH, UNA, or UAB (compared to Alabama, Auburn, etc.). I am encouraged, however, that my school has tried to even appeal to the potential college students with providing a skill that will enable them to work for more money and still attend college. For example, I know of several female students in our cosmetology program that want to have a career in nursing. However, they already know (they're juniors) that they will have to pay for their nursing program themselves. So, instead of going 100% with student loans, or hoping for multiple scholarships, they have found a way where they can get their Alabama cosmetology license, and be able to use that license during the day and they go to school at night. They would even have the ability to charge their own rate at certain places. I just find that to be an incredibly mature thought process.
I'm specifically teaching in electronics and robotics, and I'm trying to steer some of my students to the Alabama FAME program at Calhoun CC. It's a five-semester work-study program where students work 40-hour weeks for a sponsoring manufacturing company in north Alabama, and make $13.55/hour to start. They work 3 days/week, and go to class 2 days/week. If they do good work and/or get good grades, they're eligible for up to $500 raise per semester. When they graduate, they have an advanced manufacturing certificate where they can work and fix the machines in the plants. They will also have the work experience, so they can either walk into a job where they worked during the FAME program (if there's a spot available) or the sponsoring company will work to get them placed at a different plant elsewhere. Hopefully, we can get more and more support like this for all CTE programs in Alabama.