Apprenticeship Models

I tend to focus here on geeky approaches to education, but they're not for everybody. Maybe not for most. The "Conversable Economist" writes on Taking Apprenticeships Seriously that

"At ages 15 to 16, in Switzerland, about two-thirds of every cohort enter apprenticeships.... Apprentices in fields from health care to hairdressing to engineering attend vocational school at least one day a week for general education and theoretical grounding for roughly three years. On other days, they apprentice under the supervision of a seasoned employee. ...
In Germany, about 25 percent of students go to university, and apprenticeships employ another 53 percent. At 16, they sign on for a three-year stint in one of 350 occupations. ...
Other western European countries use variations of the Swiss and German model. ... The United States is an outlier: By international standards and official definitions, it has virtually no vocational education and training program."

Is there an effect on youth unemployment, and thus on career-starts? Well, our youth unemployment is much higher. This might be part of why.

Or then again, maybe not.