For some absurd reason, Americans came to believe that college education was for the smart kids and occupational training for the rest. Colleges happily lured in as many applicants as possible with claims that their “higher” education led to good, high-paying careers while lives of drudgery awaited anyone who didn’t go to college. Consequently, huge numbers of students enrolled in college and many occupations found it hard to find new trainees.

Now, lots of college grads are discovering that their credentials are useless, while Americans who chose occupational training are doing very well.

In today’s Martin Center article, Professor Adam Smith argues that it makes sense to combine liberal arts education and occupational training.

He writes:

Champions of the liberal arts can’t avoid these realities by arguing yet again that the real point of higher education is to learn how to be a person and not how to do a job, even though that is crucially true. If we can’t solve the cost problem, we’ll end up with plenty of truth, but no students. And if we do have any students, it will often be because we’ve convinced them to do something imprudent.

The good news is that some of our institutions are moving toward a hybrid model, combining useful vocational training and “higher” education in great books, philosophy, and so on.

Smith continues, “I visited one of these new institutions — the College of St. Joseph the Worker — a few years back, before it had welcomed its first class. The model intrigued me. Students learn a skilled trade while also studying the Great Books, and the program enables them to graduate not only debt-free but also with a good job in hand and a college degree.”

It will be interesting to see how many students migrate toward schools offering a combination of liberal arts and occupational training. Things may go badly for the many colleges that offer little else but progressive ideology.