Several years ago I had just finished my second master's degree and was looking for work. During one of my interviews as I was extolling the virtues of what I knew due to my education, the interviewer looked up from what I thought was a polished resume and asked, "yeah, but can you type?".

It took me a moment to fully digest what he was asking me. Then I simply answered, "yes". The lesson I learned from that interview I have carried with me and has influenced every interview I have had and given since. The bottom line was he was much more interested in what I could do and did not care so much about what I knew. After so much effort to achieve my academic goals I mistakenly assumed that potential employers would be equally impressed. Was I ever naive.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but when push came to shove, my degrees got me the interview but my skills got me the job. Ironically, in many cases it was the work experience that I gained while putting myself through school that actually got me the job and not my wonderful Bachelors of International Relations and two master's degrees.

Now, before you pick up your pitch forks and torches, I must say that I advocate both secondary and higher education. The only problem is that our traditional education system seems to emphasize more theoretical knowledge and to a lesser extent, practical employable skills. It seems that there is an intellectual divide between traditional and vocational education.

I think vocational education gets a bad rap. When I was young those who took calculus in high school were the "smart ones" and were bound for college. The "outcasts" took shop and other vocational subjects. I think this stigma still exists in our academic system. Vocational or skill-based education is somehow beneath the memorization and regurgitation of facts, dates and information. So those of us who continue onto higher education believe that at the end of our college experience companies will hire us based on what we know and we have the student loans to prove it. Then instead of accepting reality there are still others of us who continue on to grad school so we can finally do something beyond telemarketing, working in copy shops or flipping burgers only to discover that we have more student loans and we are still not much further ahead.

Meanwhile the former "outcasts" have been gainfully employed and have been earning seniority and marketable experience. So who are the "smart ones" now? The former "smart ones" are paying off student loans and are just entering the work force at entry level jobs. Admittedly, those with advanced degrees have a better chance to earn more over the long run but it will take time and I would love to see a study done that compared the lifetime net earnings of those who pursue vocational training vs. traditional educational paths. I am confident that many assumptions would be debunked. I find it interesting that my plumber drives a Mercedes and the richest man in the world - Bill Gates dropped out of college to "do" something. I do not think he is struggling with student loan payments.

Fortunately, there is a growing trend at all levels of the education system to emphasize marketable skills. Such programs as "school to work" and others actively encourage preparing students for the real world with practical skills. I have also seen another trend away from rote memorization to application of knowledge which indicates that we are all beginning to see the need to better align our curriculum with the ever changing demands of the workplace. Preparing our students for the rigors of the modern workforce may not be an easy task but it is necessary to achieve our primary objective as educators.

My point is not to dissuade anyone from higher education but to learn from and de-stigmatize vocational education and improve the quality of education at all levels. We have all been to conferences extolling the virtues of applying concepts into meaningful learning scenarios for the students. But how do we do it? Who has the time? May I recommend three simple things we can all do to improve the learning experiences of our students:

• Use real world scenarios. Whatever the topic, demonstrate how the information is used in the real world. This requires a little more preparation but as students understand why the topic is important and how to apply it, their interest in piqued and the learning situation is enhanced.
• Incorporate hands-on exercises. This may sound obvious but incorporating hands-on exercises enriches the learning experience and it actually accesses different parts of the brain and makes the learning experience more engaging.
• Use technology instead of lecture. Remember we are teaching a media savvy audience and listening to an instructor drone on and on is not effective with this audience. The more you can incorporate multimedia and a wide variety of media you will appeal to more learning styles and keep learning fun and interesting. I personally love to use games and simulations as teaching tools.

Quinn Sutton
-Editor

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