A few words in favor of vocational education for all: In high school I had no idea that I was going to become a product design engineer (as an AP kid I concentrated on liberal arts classes). But now I regularly use skills I learned in the mandatory Metal Shop and Drafting vo-ed modules (which, granted, were semester-long classes as opposed to Merlin's 3 week mini-modules).

Few kids know exactly what they'll be doing later in life; exposure to a variety of skills/occupations may help to steer some in a particular direction, or provide others with a knowledge base that may prove useful in the future (after all, even those of us who do now pound keys all day long do so in some larger context).