Christy Tucker has a sidebar link on her blog to this post by George Siemens at elearnspace. Some corporations in the U.K. can now grant the equivalent of high-school qualifications.
Siemens likes the idea — “real world training and practical hands-on activities” — but wonders, as I do, about what could be lost.
Here’s the Globe and Mail article that Siemens is talking about.
I’m really intrigued by this. As the article says, McDonald’s is “introducing a ‘basic shift manager’ course, designed to train staff in skills needed to run a McDonald’s outlet, from marketing to human resources and customer service skills.”
So Shannon can work at McDonald’s, cope with the challenges of a shift manager, and presumably learn on the job ways to improve her abilities.
Read the comments that follow the Globe and Mail article. An astonishing range (and intensity) of reaction. (I agree with one comment: McDonald’s as a participant, rather than, say, Target, makes the idea a richer target for mockery.)
Couple things come to mind…
McPloma
NCLB (no cheeseburgers left behind)
Years ago, I had a part-time job as a teacher in a program for adults who were returning for a “regular” diploma (not a GED). My students were in their mid to late 20s. All had disliked high school and had gone to work. Now they wanted the credential that in some cases blocked advancement, or wanted to correct some deficits (like atrocious spelling, a hard thing to fix at 27).
I thought at the time it would have been good to have some midpoint between straight through 16 years of school and the rough road most of them had traveled. What that is, I have no idea.
I’m not crazy about the idea of McDonald’s granting diplomas (by whatever name), though if it were, say, associate’s degrees, I think I’d feel less leery. So maybe I’m worried (or fretting) about a younger, possibly more vulnerable group.