What is the state farm-technical school, on what occasions concerts and balls were given earlier, what students looked like 100 years ago, visitors could find out about this on the exhibition "What I Want to Be?». The original documents, photographs, faleristics items from the museum's collection and family archives presented on it reflect the main stages of the secondary vocational education development in the country, some of them are exhibited for the first time.

Photographs of the early and mid-20th century with views of cities of pre-revolutionary Russia, school buildings, students and teachers in the process of studying, as well as certificates, diplomas of completion of vocational education, commemorative badges and medals could be seen on the exhibition. Among the exhibits, there are the card for three meals a day for students of schools and colleges of the Ministry of Labor Reserves, the invitation ticket to the concert ball on the opening of the Industrial and Economic School.

As a special stage, the secondary vocational education was formed in the late XIX – early XX centuries in the era of industrial formation of Russia. Commercial, railway, agricultural, medical schools, pedagogical seminaries were opened in all provincial cities at that time. After the October Revolution 1917, system of qualified workers and specialists training underwent the radical restructuring. In 1920, FZU (factory apprenticeship), a new type of school where vocational training was combined with general education, began to be massively organized throughout the country.

In 1959, all educational institutions of the state labor reserves system and most departmental educational structures were transformed into the vocational schools. It was in Soviet times that the main types of secondary specialized educational institutions were formed: technical schools, colleges, and a new type of the secondary vocational educational institution appeared - the state farm-technical school adapted to the needs of agriculture.

With the collapse of the USSR, some technical schools were renamed to colleges, more than a half of which were attached to various universities as structural units; vocational schools were transformed into lyceums.