Sourcing the expertise for K to 12 in the senior high schools of US, Europe and Australia

(Part III - Four decades setting the trend for K-12)

Learning to Earn, the 3rd pillar of UNESCO 21st Century Education had been part of the educational pattern of upper secondary education of Europe, USA, and Australia. With the licensed expert instructors and fully equipped work areas provided in these continents, professional occupational training enables senior high school graduates to readily find employment as technicians in construction, ship building, agriculture, health services, tourism, police and military services, etc. To some extent, skill training is also given in upper secondary high school in Asian countries, but due to the low literacy rates in Asia, efforts have been dispersed to increase it to strengthen occupational training.

The US STATE travel grant to farms and theater schools

In 1977 within the second decade of 1976 to 1986, I received a US State travel grant to visit technical high schools. The Philadelphia Farm School provided training for Butchery, Kennel Care and Breeding for Pets, Florist Business. The farm raised cattle, which were butchered and apportioned, packed professionally for sale to the public. Included was a visit to the famous School of Performing Arts in New York, where Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland, studied dance and voice. It was amazing to watch teenage students trained for a full symphony orchestra. I met ballerina students rehearsing for a full ballet concert of Coppelia. They usually wear out 3 pairs of ballet shoes within the six months of preparation. The visit to the Lincoln School for Professional Talents in New York enabled me to meet several prodigies from different countries in piano, violin, voice and dance who were individually getting or submitting their weekly contracts of academic lessons from their mentors. This schedule provided them sufficient time for their demanding practice. Exams were taken every three weeks.

The Australian Cultural Travel grant

In 1981 I received the Australian Cultural Travel grant that allowed me to visit Saul’s Professional Highschool Farm outside Sydney, which trained boys and girls in raising sheep, poultry and pigs. Their instructors were all experts who converted their lesson plans into professional technical books. The Melbourne Viniculture Farm specialized in raising grapes for Italian and German wines. The huge market for this are the numerous European migrants who flocked to Australia after World War I.

Australia pioneered in Distance Education for many families whose huge cattle ranches or 400 acre farms in the outback were not accessible to school for their children. Thus each federal state had full size staff offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. My tour guide brought me to a four storey building in Melbourne. Each floor was occupied by teachers who developed and updated curriculum, writers who took care of publishing materials and videos, as well as the full staff who regularly corresponded with the school children in their isolated farm. Each quarter of the year was spent taking exams given by the mentors in the city until they get the full credentials for completing Basic Education.

The agro technical high schools in Florence, St. Germaine Dupres and Copenhagen

As early as 1969 when I was training at the Bergamo Centro Montessori per Scuola Elementare, foreseeing that we would complete the O.B. Montessori schooling up to high school I requested Ambassador Fedele to arrange my visit to scuola professionale, a term used by Italians for their numerous technical high schools. A visit to Florence was arranged where I visited the Scuola professionale per Agricola. Large beds of poinsettia plants were already being prepared for the Christmas season. The same schedule is laid out for November for All Souls’ Day. At the Instituto d’Arte di Firenze I observed the Gemology department where students would set semi-precious stones for fine jewelries.

When I was elected member of the UNESCO Executive Board in 1986, our Philippine Ambassador del Mundo to France arranged my visit to the farm high school outside Paris in St. Germain du Pres. Regular farmers were required to attended 10-month training courses before they could secure loans from the rural bank. Farming is subsidized by the French government from cereals, vegetables, fruit orchards, ornamental flowers, cattle, fisheries, poultry and piggery. This provides the fresh produce of the world-renowned French cuisine. Once a week on different days, every French town, including Paris, has market days. Even French housewives demand that they get fresh items straight from the farm and sold in these markets, including the various regional cheeses and sausages of the various regions of the country.

Early farming history in Denmark started with the “folkschule” or folk people’s winter school. It was started by a missionary to increase the basic literacy of farmers. After the planting and harvest season when winter comes, the village farmers were invited to attend cooperative schools where they were not just organized to market the goods free from middlemen but acquire education about the history, literature and language of Denmark. The modern agriculture curriculum of young farmers require their six-month study of the theories of farming technology, after which they are assigned to licensed farms where they work for two years assisting and learning from the farm owner and the treasurer wife all the facets of farm activities. The privilege of free board and lodging includes a monthly honorarium. After this practicum they return to school to take up the farm management course so they can run their own farms taking over farms they inherit from their parents who go on retirement.

Ecole Culinaire of Paris, Amsterdam and Toronto

A major experience I was fortunate in observing French Culinary training took place at the famous Ecole Culinaire, the oldest professional ecole secondaire in Paris. Experts in Butchery, Pastry Baking, French Cuisine and Bar Tendering made up the faculty. The pastry chef showed me his personal course guide made up of recipes fully illustrated. His students were preparing trays of canapés and pastries for a cocktail that evening to be given by a private business company. A Filipino male student was preparing the bar for the party. Carcasses of lamb, pork, and beef were hanging along automatic metal circuits ready to be apportioned in the butchery department. In the ground floor, the simple brasserie restaurant, which could sit 50 walk-in customers, faced the open kitchen where students worked on six ovens. Each one had a leather holster of kitchen tool and knives to prepare various dishes. Ecole Culinaire offers a Management Course for their graduates who would have acquired at least three years of basic culinary experience. Normally the restaurant managers themselves would financially support this or the ambitious professional culinary person.

In Amsterdam KLM has two buildings. One trains their regular administrative staff while the other is the KLM Airline Culinary School, an important institution of KLM which helps feed numerous flights of different airlines making stopover in the major hub of Schipol, Amsterdam. To make full use of the state of the art kitchens it does catering to local banquets including palace affairs. The Dutch queen values their chefs, master cooks who she confers awards to in formal ceremonies.

The state supported John Brown Culinary College of Toronto, Canada partners with and are sponsored by wine, gas and kitchen equipment and 15 various companies that supply their needs. A complete set of courses in cuisine, wine tasting (sommelier) and bar-tendering, butchery, baking etc. are offered. Even specialized programs are put together for Chinese immigrants who are given a six-month culinary course to set up Chinese eateries or restaurants.

Experienced and certified chefs, agronomists, construction engineers - needed for professional high schools

The basic requirements to set up the upper or senior high school for the last two years of a six-year highschool is to have at most the lead mentor (if not all) with a minimum of ten years of experience. Even if the faculty member may have been trained in well known hotel and culinary schools of California, New York, Switzerland or France, the lack of adequate experience or apprenticeship with executive chefs, will not qualify him to direct professional training. It is also necessary for him to be professionally certified. This and the professionally equipped laboratory and working restaurant will be the biggest hurdle of putting together a credible senior high school for the K to 12 program.

(Part IV - More professional high schools around the world)