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Monday, December 28, 2015

Apprencticeship vs Extended Secondary Vocational Education

I believe the contemporary American view (or really, default assumption) that:
  1. Higher education's purpose should be vocational
  2. The optimal form of vocational training is higher education

is a big, expensive mistake. I believe apprenticeship and on-the-job training is both more economical, and more effective, for providing most types of vocational training. And the mission of higher education (it is called "higher" for a reason) should be breadth of learning, cultivation of intellectual curiosity and development of analytical thinking.

Anyway, this quote from a chef, regarding the closing of Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, is right on:

Jones said with the foodie boom, demand for chefs is higher than ever. He said Le Cordon Bleu grads aren’t ready to run a kitchen.

“Kids come out of culinary school and say: ‘I want a job as a sous chef.’ And I say, ‘No, you have to start at the bottom, like anyone else!’” Jones said.

Those entry-level jobs cutting, blanching and glacĂ©ing vegetables don’t pay very well. Jones said grads can come out of two years of culinary school with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans.

“You learn infinitely more in a restaurant like this, than you would anywhere else, virtually,” Jones said. “The idea that anyone would want to come into this industry with debt is ludicrous.”

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