The Success of Apprenticeships

Foreword – Learning by Doing

Globalization is competition, the competition between talents and human skills on a global scale. Faced with the rise of emerging countries, the Western world is beginning to doubt its model, based on the democracy–freedom relationship, because growth can no longer satisfy all popular expectations. The relocation of activities and digitization have disrupted the world of work, pushing many women and men into precariousness and uncertain futures.

In the face of rising youth unemployment, many countries are questioning the effectiveness of their education systems. It must be said that those who have left the responsibility for providing vocational training for young people to companies have had more convincing results than those who have chosen to rely on their academic authorities. It was therefore only after the double shock of the relocation of activities and digitization that the virtues of learning were rediscovered. Inherited from the Middle Ages, this practice of initiation to professions had almost disappeared in several countries in the name of a mystifying ideology. National experiences provide lessons. Consequently, considering the baccalaureate to be the key to personal success, France has decided to award it to as many young people as possible at the risk of sacrificing their employability. On the other hand, Switzerland is satisfied with having only one-third of its graduates in each age group and allows its graduate apprentices to continue ...