College grads seek skills boost: Vocational training helps nation align job seeker capabilities, industrial needs #XiVision# #XiJinping# #习近平# @XisMoments

>Be Germany >Have literally one of the best vocational training systems in the world >Dual education: work in a company AND go to school, get paid while learning >Perfect system that other countries try to copy >Decide that's not good enough >Tell every kid they need to go to university >Push university attendance numbers like it's a competition >Successfully destroy the prestige of apprenticeships >Now you have record university enrollment >And a massive skilled worker shortage at the same time >Boomers retiring in huge numbers >Nobody left to actually do the real jobs >"Don't worry, robotics will save us" >Robot demos look cool but reality isn't there yet Follow for more painfully obvious observations.

Opinion | The idea that a technical and vocational education is for “other people’s children” is a hard habit to break... “trad” education routes remain the favoured choice of successful or highly aspirational parents Read more:

American colleges are facing an enrollment crisis as more young people opt for vocational schools and trade jobs, per NYP The number of high school grads enrolling in traditional colleges could decline 13% over the next 15 years, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education predicts.

On May 14, following the closure of the East Campus bathhouse at Xuanhua Vocational College of Science and Technology in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, the management refused to fully refund the money students had stored on their bath cards. Instead, they demanded a 10-yuan "card return fee." This triggered widespread dissatisfaction among hundreds of students, who gathered outside the bathhouse entrance in protest. By the morning of May 15, under pressure from the student body, the school announced that the bath fees would be refunded in full and the "card return fee" would be waived.

COLLEGE NO LONGER GUARANTEES THE AMERICAN DREAM AI, RISING STUDENT DEBT AND A TOUGHER JOB MARKET ARE PUSHING AMERICANS TO RETHINK THE VALUE OF A COLLEGE DEGREE, WITH TRADE AND VOCATIONAL CAREERS GAINING GROUND.

WorldSkills Australia strengthens bonds and educational ties in Vietnam. READ MORE @RobynMudie @MySkills_VET #VETnews# #AUSnews# #VocationalEducationAUS# @AusChamvietnam

Learning from the western classics: Hypatia of Alexandria - The most powerful philosopher in late antiquity wasn't a monk or a bishop. She was a mathematician who ran her own school, edited Euclid, & taught that the highest activity of the human mind is the contemplation of eternal truths. The mob killed her in 415 CE. Her ideas didn't die. 1. Mathematics as purification. Hypatia taught that geometry/astronomy weren't vocational skills - they were disciplines that elevated the soul from the sensory to the intelligible. The proof was the practice. In an economy optimized for engagement/narrative, mathematical thinking is an act of resistance. The person who can hold a formal proof in their head has a different quality of attention than the person who only consumes argument. 2. The commentary as the highest form of intellect. Hypatia didn't write original treatises. She edited Euclid, clarified Diophantus, improved Ptolemy. Her genius was refinement, not novelty. The obsession with "original thought" is a modern vanity. Most value is created by people who take existing systems, make them coherent enough to use. Founders who can't explain their idea in terms of what already exists usually don't understand it. 3. Public reason has no tribal membership. She taught pagans, Christians, & foreigners alike, admission by merit, not identity. Her school was a neutral ground in a polarized city. Institutions that gatekeep by affiliation rather than capability degrade their own edge. The moment your hiring or investment thesis prioritizes "people like us" over "people who can think," you've exited the game of compounding returns. 4. Influence w/out office is the most dangerous position. Hypatia held no formal power, yet her counsel was sought by the city's prefect. She was killed not for what she did, but for what she represented - independent intellect in a zero-sum political landscape. 5. She built instruments, not just theories. Hypatia designed astrolabes + hydrometers. She didn't separate the contemplative from the practical. The "ideas vs. execution" dichotomy is false. The deepest theorists are usually the best tool-builders cos they understand the underlying structure. If your philosophy doesn't change how you build, it's decoration. 6. Ideas survive through networks, not individuals. None of Hypatia's original writings exist. We know her through her students' letters, through Synesius, through the historian Socrates Scholasticus. Your work will outlast you only if you teach & share knowledge. Build people, not just products. 7. The eternal is not a consolation prize. Neoplatonism held that the intelligible realm is more real than the material. Hypatia lived this w/out retreating into monastery or escapism. She was in the world, teaching in public, designing instruments, engaging w power. You don't need to renounce to be serious. The highest form of detachment is not withdrawal - it's full engagement without clinging. Run the company. Make the trade. And hold it lightly enough that losing it doesn't destroy you. 💙🏃🏻‍♀️🫶🧠🚀