Earthtalk

    Online, cheap “nano courses” to provide job training for qualified high school graduates who are not college-bound ( “A Smart Way To Skip College”; Business Day, June18) has the potential to replace what corporations used to do themselves, train their new hires.  Over recent decades the task of job training has shifted from corporations to universities with less than desirable results.  The classic liberal arts education has been largely reduced to teaching skills suitable for specific industries.  In the meantime, the rapidly changing needs of industries in a high-tech world cannot be met by universities that are largely unable to keep pace. 
    Nano courses run by corporations could fulfill these needs by training high school grads and college grads for specific industries.  Universities could then be left to do what they do best, provide a broad academic background that improves lives and society far beyond mere job training.
  6-18-14