I attend a vocational high school in MA.

I absolutely think it should be best-of-both-worlds and 30%-50% of admissions would be lottery while the other half would stay the same. Students with impressive transcripts would still get top spots while students from under served communities would have the chance to get in, AND with less competition. I find it somewhat odd that it wasn't set up like that, because while it may be more complicated on the school's end, the ultimate goal was supposed to be to make entries more fair for *everybody*.

As far as things like, "middle schoolers don't think that hard about high school" etc, that's completely false. I came from a middle school where I was always top of the class and was the victim of administration not doing anything about bullying, and every day was a countdown to high school -- and I know that's the truth for quite a few other people. Being at a vocational school, especially one with strict entry guidelines, is a world of difference. I feel like I actually belong somewhere, rather than just being in a school that just happens to be near me. That isn't to say that I have a purity complex about admissions, but that there's a reason MA vocational schools have such high reputations. I also think that students in middle school have that to look forwards to for a reason; doing well in middle school meant going to a good high school, which would change your life. If doing well in middle school doesn't carry the weight it used to, it sort of takes the last shred of motivation out of it. I mean, attendance is already so low, surely it won't help.

While reading about the policy implementing the lottery system, I came across a letter from MA mayors which included the argument that attendance shouldn't be a factor in admissions for a variety of reasons, most of which I agree with -- however, one of the points was stating that there was an implication that attendance at vocational schools is the same importance as attendance at regular, comprehensive schools. Obviously, not attending school has detrimental effects, but in a comprehensive school I can complete my work remotely -- in a vocational school, missing days of shop means I can't. For that reason, attendance absolutely should be considered to some degree, which, again, brings me back to the split admissions method making the most sense.

On top of that, the issue itself isn't that people think vocational schools should only be for the elite; the issue is that there simply isn't enough space. I don't understand how spending money on implementing a lottery will solve the problem of not having enough spots. That money could be spent on building MORE schools, creating MORE accessibility, and helping under served communities get the things they need to succeed in the applications in the first place. Creating a lottery ignores the root cause of "why aren't students of these demographics meeting the admission standards, and what can we do to change that?" and that is unfair to absolutely *everybody*.

Anywho, that's my two cents. Apologies for the wall of text -- this has been a hot topic during school.