I’ve never been a big fan of articles that just come out and claim that such and such is a success or failure. I did check the link to the article provided as support for the claim that job training was shot down in 2004, but it was simply an Amazon page for a book. I’m not interested in ordering a book. So I’ll just make a couple of points:
-
Many US Companies offer job training. I worked in the Insurance Industry for 21 years and my company like all other insurers that I’m aware of offered training…first reading materials, then classroom, and finally on the job guidance. I though that training was excellent and very successful.
-
The US Military is in essence ‘job training’. Young kids with no particular direction in life join the military and are trained in teamwork, responsibility and normally some field of expertise. When they leave the military, they are considered hot prospects. They have training in technology, EMT, managerial, etc.
-
Most advanced European and Asian countries offer job training in lieu of intellectual education like our 4 year colleges. (Now 6 to 8 years and thousands of dollars in debt only to step into a $10 an hour job on achieving your degree.). I’m more familiar with German job training, so I’ll reserve my comment to that country. This is an excerpt:
One reason that vocational programs are less common in the U.S. is that companies are less willing to pay for apprenticeships that offer on-the-job training. German companies “pay 75 percent of the $19,850 annual cost of each trainee, and the government covers the rest,” PBS NewsHour reports in 2014.
There’s also the issue of consistency. Whereas, American vocational programs differ from school to school, German vocational training is regulated — with “standardized occupational profiles, or curricula, developed by the federal government in collaboration with employers, educators and union representatives,” according to The Atlantic. The outlet also noted the following:
( https://www.attn.com/stories/13232/how-germany-and-america-differ-job-training )
*** If it is so successful in Germany because they approach it well, then why does the author dismiss it as nonsense? I think crediting companies to help pay for real world training is an excellent idea. It sure beats having kids exit college with a BA after 8 years and a mountain of debt …and no job.
