Dear Chris,

A model that requires all teenagers to learn trade skills in high
schools has many merits. These students learn their skills in high
school or at vocational school BEFORE entering university.

Our schools are universities. We do not teach stand-alone trade
skills except in specific courses that will in most cases be
integrated into a larger university degree program.

Students should not be attending university to master a trade.

University level work requires a high level of abstract thinking
skills, analytical ability, general knowledge, writing ability,
problem-solving skills, and -- even in the first year! - some basic
research skills. We also emphasize judgment issues, particularly
ethics.

When we rebuilt our four-year integrated master's program, we
instituted a first-year course that emphasized these skills. We
follow this course with at least one course in each of the next two
years that also emphasize intellectual and judgment skills as well as
course content.

This approach was new to the school when we introduced it. Several
members of the staff argued against it on the basis that first-year
students needed to "learn the basics before they start to think for
themselves." Others challenged the ability of first year students to
do serious intellectual work. A few proposed a pedagogical model that
seemed to view students as empty containers to be filled with
content, with the idea that a filled container would suddenly begin
to think.

It was our experience that the course fulfilled its purposes well.
Nearly everyone supports it now, and for good reason. Student skills
rose visibly. Students were better able to handle the work in later
courses. When the first cohort to go through this full program
reached the master's thesis stage, thesis quality rose dramatically.
The difference in overall quality of master's thesis projects today
as compared with master's thesis projects written by students who did
not take this first-year course or the subsequent courses is
immediately visible.

The demands of university level education render the concept of
liberal arts foundation or some form of general education program
more relevant, rather than less.

The demands of the knowledge economy for improved professional
practice has moved design out of vocational schools and into the
university. Those same demands require a solid foundation in
intellectual skills.

This is not merely the case for students headed toward research
training. It is the case all design students who intend to practice
professional design.

Best regards,

Ken

p.s Yikes, Chris! Do you really think I would trust my plumbing to a
lawyer? Plumbing is a decent profession!


Chris Rust writes,

"Also I sometimes wonder if we could turn the liberal arts foundation
argument on its head and follow the idea that students need a
repertoire of focused professional/trade skills and knowledge on top
of which they can develop a broader and more intellectually driven
kind of learning as they mature. I understand that in the Czech
republic it used to be normal (maybe it still is?) that people
learned a trade in their teens then went on to advanced study later
if that was their inclination. That way every lawyer can fall back on
their plumbing skills if times get hard or they are caught cooking
the books."



--

Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Technology and Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management

Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University