Education for the Workplace: Another Form of Elitism

By Dennis L. Evans

As faddish as it has become, the notion of "education for the workplace" is neither a new nor, as presently articulated, a particularly democratic idea. When, in 1749, Benjamin Franklin wrote On the Need for an Academy , he envisioned two fundamental goals for Colonial education. He saw schooling as a means to promote social and civic harmony ("That we obtain the Advantages arising from an Increase of Knowledge, and prevent as much as may be the mischievous Consequences that would attend a general Ignorance among us") and secondly as a source to enhance performance in the world of work and through that to benefit society ("Thus instructed, Youth will come out of the School fitted for learning any Business, Calling or Profession ... laying such a foundation of Knowledge and Ability, as, properly improv'd, may qualify them to pass thro' and execute the several Offices of civil Life, with Advantage and Reputation...