As I watched the umpteenth feature I have seen (and read) about students leaving highly expensive four-year colleges and universities with degrees that will have little or no value in the real world…
…I thought it might be a good idea to re-post a blog I wrote on April 20, 2016 – that’s right, over 10 years ago – suggesting an alternative form of education/business training: the White Collar Trade School (WCTS).
Here, in its entirety, is what I wrote at that time – which, if anything, is even more salient now than it was then:
WCTS: A MODEST (AND, I THINK, SENSIBLE PROPOSAL)
I’ll make this short and to the point:
With so many colleges charging anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 per year, even more…
…and disgorging students highly proficient in political causes and where the good parties are, but all too often deficient in what will prepare them to be productive for the rest of their lives…
…why aren’t we developing and encouraging two-year White Collar Trade Schools (WCTS)?
Think of it: two years of high quality, intensive training in fields such as business, management, pharmacy, marketing, advertising, etc. – not just a few courses but serious, career-oriented instruction – including, I envision, significant on-site experience with participating companies in each of these areas.
The payoff for students is serious knowledge and experience in a valued profession they can make a career of, at a cost dramatically lower than just about any quality four year college – and two more years of their lives to be productive.
The payoff for companies is young, motivated employees who have knowledge of both the profession itself and how companies in that profession function day-to-day.
Yes, there are two year colleges and two year trade schools in existence right now. But how many of them are there in total, and how many of them specialize in this this kind of learning? Not many.
It seems to me this fills an important void.
What do you think?
Again: I wrote this over 10 years ago. And, as noted above, the idea – two years of intense training in an area students can make a career of, coupled with two years of on-site experience with companies engaged in that area – is, if anything, even more relevant now than it was at that time.
Students with a WCTS degree will have both major learning and major on-site experience in their chosen professions. And it will happen at least two years faster than if they were in conventional colleges/universities…
…which means they will pay at least two years’ less tuition, and have at least two years more in the work force/earning money and progressing professionally.
Does this make sense to you? It certainly did to me over ten years ago when I first wrote the above blog. And it 100% still does now.
Yes, there are a few such institutions of higher learning. But way too few. I can only hope the number of such WCTS’s will grow exponentially in the near future.
