So who is a mechanic

[Poodle]

ok I am on holiday today and its too hot to go outside so here we go !!!!

college is there to provide a broad, widespread awareness & knowledge to receptive students.

qualifications can be seen as;

a hurdle to prevent people who are not interested or capable of doing the job---they cant be "taught" as they do not want to be, they will apportion blame on everybody in the universe except themselves......its later on when they realise it was their own fault when they see the rest of the class have completed a qualification.
     or as a stepping-stone that can be seen as a badge of honour that shows that an individual student can "be taught" and pass exams, that they can get their heads down and listen/question & discuss what is going on in a college lesson-----------these people want the pieces of paper that show they have levels 1,2 and 3.  

most learning will be done in the workplace, we learn by doing the job and by having somebody else explain how or why they are doing the job. very few people learn by reading about a subject, its easier to see/feel components that then back up what they have learnt in college & vice versa.

college qualifications are there so that we can plan a progressive route, added to being in a workshop also being taught--so that people can go as far as level 3 to use at an interview stage, getting into a garage or main dealer that will continue to evaluate/train to give us marque master techs.

the u.k is slowly introducing the prickly subject of technician licensing,  already there are previously non-qualified techs attending a 2 day practical assessment course to gain a nationally/internationally recognised qualification.

the plan is for all uk techs to be licensed so that the industry can be regulated so standards are raised.

I understand and appreciate the theory behind college courses, the issue typically stems from the execution being a load of shit. Naturally this opinion is only born of my own experience (3 colleges and 6 tutors, out of which only one of the tutors was any good and all the colleges administrators were a joke), but then how else are we supposed to assess these things. My personal opinion is that the mistake is to base a practial qualification on an academic process and an obsession with quantifiable grading, but that's a whole other argument.