[DangerousPie]

What's wrong with this? Starting out in sales with a three year (not very well paid) apprenticeship still sounds a lot better to me than paying for college for four years, amassing a huge amount of debt and then going to work in sales afterwards with zero real world experience.

[AnimalMuppet]

What's good about it: It produces people who actually know how to do the work, and does so more efficiently than college. The way we do it in the US is dependent on a company being able to decide who can and cannot do the work in a few hours of interviewing, and that doesn't work all that well.

What's wrong with it: It (probably) closes the door to non-traditional entry into the trades. Also, presuming I understand it correctly, it makes it hard to change careers. You hit 40, and decide that you don't like the life you chose as a 16-year-old? Well, if you can re-take it at 40, that means three years of low-paid internship at some other trade.

[randomdata]

Community colleges, which are generally not as expensive or time consuming, exist to provide exactly that to those who want that job-specific training. For everyone else, they can walk into the job without any training. It is not necessary. The best part of the American system is that you are free to do almost anything (there are a few exceptions).

I'm not sure there is any reason to spend four years and rack up huge debt for career purposes. College is for academic pursuits, not career ones.