I came across the interesting story of a Vice-Chancellor who started out in life as a Shoemaker and was naturally drawn in to read more (Who wouldn’t be?)
I must say though that the full article is a bit lacking for depth (rather sketchy details), but the moral of the true story is still compelling.
Which is why I shared it to my wall on Facebook.
But I made the point in my Facebook post, about a massive opportunity the Shoemaker-turned-VC is missing to use his achievement to influence a badly needed modification of the Learning Solutions Menu on offer in the University System. Read my comments below:
“Great achievement. But why BE CALLED FORMER SHOEMAKER?
If I were in his shoes, I would have employed few reliable hands to take my shoemaking business to the next level.
This argument becomes easy to relate with when one considers the
GLARING FACT that increasingly larger numbers of “graduates” unable to find work years after leaving school are enrolling in footwear making (and other vocational) schools springing upTake it from me. Just last week I was in the office of the CEO of a popular footwear making training school – who told me he quit paid employment as a Chartered Accountant with a firm to focus on his shoemaking business because he discovered he earned more than twice his salary.
More significantly, he noted that over 95% of people he trains in his bags and shoemaking school are graduates who got tired of looking for jobs…or of doing jobs that did not reward them satisfactorily – especially in terms of what they earned.
It is therefore my considered opinion that this Shoemaker-turned-Professor is missing a MASSIVE opportunity to change the narrative of University education as it relates to its real-world-relevance.
Indeed if he is smart, he will setup a shoemaking course (or even a Faculty of Practical Vocational Studies) that his university’s students will be encouraged to enroll in.
It’s amazing that this opportunity could have been missed by him – and those who saw him evolve to become who he is today!!!”