VOCATIONAL ASSOCIATION WEEK TO BE MARKED HERE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- If dreams of the future come true, many automobiles won't leave the driving to us; they'll leave it to computers on automated roadways.

Computers already are watching over some automobile systems, diagnosing mechanical problems and reporting on gasoline mileage.

Some day a video display terminal will be as standard on cars as is the dashboard radio. VDTs already are as popular as a television set in the home, and many youngsters have become masters at programming computers.

But we've only just begun, says a data-processing instructor.

"The computer field is a wide open one for careers of the 21st century," said Kim King of the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School.

King is among vocational instructors who are helping observe American Vocational Association Week this week. At the Cape vo-tech school this week sixth-grade students from area schools will tour the building. A breakfast is planned Tuesday for members of the vocational staff and guests. And the vocational staff will host a hospitality table prior to Tuesday's school board meeting.

The staff will also be on hand Saturday at West Park Mall with a display table. They will distribute information about the school and answer questions about vocational education.

Computer technology is just one of the many different vocations taught at the school.

"As computers become smaller, faster and cheaper, they are being utilized in many ways," King explained. "Already banks use them to record customer deposits and withdrawals; supermarkets have computer checkout systems; newspapers have computerized typesetting systems; and factories use computers to control machines that make products.

"Millions of computers are in use in the U.S. alone, affecting almost every aspect of daily life," said King.

The computer can do many things but it can't think. A human operator has to instruct the computer in what to do with the data it receives. That's were King comes in.

King, a native of Jackson, was thinking in terms of teaching when she attended Southeast Missouri State University during the early 1970s. But she was considering typing, accounting and other commercial subjects of that era.

"I'm teaching now," she said, "and I'm involved in commercial subjects. But it's computers, spread sheets and data processing instead of typing and bookkeeping."

Along with teaching classes, King continues to take classes in education and computers to keep up to date.

"One thing I like about teaching data processing is that you don't get into a rut," she said. "You've got to keep learning about the industry; you've got to keep up with the changes."

King started teaching at the vo-tech school when she graduated from the university in 1973, with a B.S. degree in secondary education with a business education major.

"I was involved in the adult secretarial-science program and also taught night classes in the business lab here," she said. "A year after I started teaching I took my first computer class at the university."

Between teaching and attending the university to obtain a master's degree, she purchased a microcomputer for the home.

"I taught Cape Central's first computer class, in addition to teaching at the vo-tech school," she said. "I also taught several teachers in the new computer lab here."

She is in her seventh year teaching data processing and her 18th year at the vo-tech school.

"I still have a lot to learn," she said. "Sometimes I'm only a step or two ahead of my students here."

In data processing, students basically work on three programs. "This is a nine-month class," she said. "Students are here two-and-a-half hours a day. We learn to use the Word Perfect package, the Lotus spread sheet and database, a collection of information stored in the computer for use in programming.

"I stress to students that they should learn to read the manuals and figure out some programs," she said. "There are so many facets to computers; you've got to be able to read and understand the manuals to be successful."

One of the newest classes is a networking program, which is designed to send material from two or more computers to a central location so others may use information from or feed information into the central location. "A lot of businesses are getting into networking now," said King.

"We're also in the process of establishing a bulletin-board program," she said. "We eventually want students to be able to call up bulletin boards and store programs for others to use.

"There are only four or five bulletin board programs in Cape Girardeau," she said. "Once a board is established, anyone who has a telephone modem and a communications program can call a bulletin board," she said."

The computer program, like all vo-tech educational programs, can serve as an alternative to college courses.

"We hope that our students, who are mostly juniors and seniors in high school, will go on to college, and some will," said King. "But we also want those students who may not attend college to be able to go into the job market and perform many computer jobs when they finish the courses here. It certainly is a growing field."