'Non-vocational'
courses have their advantages!
There is a time in
every man's [sic] education when he arrives at the conviction that
envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take
himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide
universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to
him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is
given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in
nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does
he know until he has tried.... The eye was placed where one ray should
fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half
express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of
us represents. It may be safely trusted as proprtionate and of good
issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work
made manifest by cowards. A man is releved and gay [sic] when he has
put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said
or done otherwise shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which
does not deliver. In the attempt, his genius deserts him; no muse
befriends; no intervention, no hope.
Trust thyself:
every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine
providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the
connection of events. Great men [sic] have always done so, and
confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying
their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their
heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.
— Ralph Waldo
Emerson (1803-1882) 'Self-Reliance'
Originally
'vocational' meant that a person experienced the sense of being
'called' to a certain line of work for which they felt a natural
aptitude. A former community education drawing class teacher (ca
1984-86) demonstrated a keen understanding of my nature when she said
to me that she was not surprised that I wanted to go much further in
my pursuit of an Arts career while my mum and jobcentre staff argued,
"But there's no money in it." The late Jane Trevelyan —
the tutor concerned — said to me, "You are well-suited to an
Arts career because you have a contemplative approach to life."
(Sadly, however, I went on to experience less support and too much
jobcentre harassment in the part-time college Fine Art & Ceramics
course I entered upon, as well as problems related to my disability.)
The 'calling'
associated with the term 'vocational' nowadays comes increasingly in
the form of orders from jobcentre staff all too keen to make some
sort of impact on the lives of JSA claimants even if that impact is
to stifle the claimant's prospects for course completion and the long-term, lifelong prospects that completion can bring when the
claimant/student keeps within the arbitrary 15 hours per week maximum
study commitment that JSA rules now dictate and their disability access requirements are appropriately addressed.
Why Should I Study Liberal Arts
Rather Than a More "Vocationally Oriented" Curriculum?
A liberal education
offers both career benefits and personal benefits. It allows you to
have the best of both worlds — an appropriate education for the
fast-changing, diverse world of work that exists today, and a breadth
of learning that attunes you to the issues of life that affect
everyone, regardless of their career aspirations or personal
goals....
What Advantages Can I Anticipate in
the Job Market as a Liberal Arts Graduate?
There are numerous
ways in which your liberal education will help you progress in your
work and adapt successfully to the rapidly changing and unpredictable
world of jobs and entrepreneuring....
How Do I Find Social Value in My
Career — "Good Work"?
Not many liberal
arts students ask this question, but it comes up frequently after
graduation, so it is useful to address it now....
[N]onvocational
courses, liberal arts, can enable you to progress greatly in the
world of work. This is because liberal arts courses go above and
beyond the mere acquisition of information or technical skills. They
enable you to learn intellectual skills and adopt a creative
perspective that you can apply to any new body of knowledge or set of
problems. Even more importantly, you learn to reflect on the impact
on humanity of the decisions you make in your work. You're not a mere
technician. You're an actor on the stage of life.
All the more
reason, perhaps, for those who are into 'only following orders' in
their pursuit of Government targets dictated by people who lack the
relevant experience or compassion, to hate 'the liberal arts' and what
they stand for?
Swheatie
