This is something we really need to be doing in the USA. I would still encourage folks to learn & be engaged in the arts, humanities, & sciences, but we have to admit that the overwhelming majority of people who are going into higher education for vocational reasons would be FAR BETTER served by something like this Swiss model.

As young Americans contemplate the immense cost (and considerable indebtedness) involved in a college education, it may be worthwhile to consider the options available to the Swiss—and whether they are worth importing into the U.S. In Switzerland, even though university education is free, the vast majority of students opt for a vocational training instead.

Take Jonathan Bove. This spring, after he completed his three-year business training at an insurance company, the 19-year-old was hired by a telecommunications firm; his job as a customer care representative offers a starting salary of $52,000 a year, a generous annual bonus, and a four-week paid vacation – no small potatoes for the teenager who is still living at home and has no plans to move out. “The idea of university never appealed to me,” he says. “The vocational training is more hands-on and the path to a good job is shorter.”

Bove’s situation may be enviable to teens in the United States, but it is not unusual in Switzerland…

Continue reading @ Who Needs College? The Swiss Opt for Vocational School | TIME.com.