"You don't have to be a top economist," he says. "As long as the Big Dig is here...any kid can go out and make, even as an apprentice, $10 to $15 an hour."

One of the problems facing vo-tech is the broad appeal of its offerings but the limited number of students who actually want to learn a trade.

Most students taking auto mechanics, for instance, want to learn how to fix their own cars, not train to be auto mechanics, Lividoti says.

On one hand, vo-tech teachers say this makes their courses important for all students.

"A lot of these are generic skills. They're life skills almost," says electronics teacher Tony Russo.

But on the other hand, the preponderance of students who want to dabble in a trade means it is harder to offer in-depth training courses.

Lividoti says the current system isn't ideal but has one major advantage: It means vo-tech courses attract many students. The vo-tech department can boast that more than half of CRLS' students take its courses, even though few of them are there to learn a trade for career purposes.

"Numbers are the game," he says.