Conversations about higher education often focus on colleges and universities offering traditional two-year and four-year degrees. But America’s postsecondary education system is much broader. Career and trade schools play a key role for students who want a focused education connected to a particular profession.
This is especially true for those who aspire to fields where practical training and state licensing are essential.
That makes career schools an important part of the larger discussion about the purpose and value of education after high school. Students need different educational pathways that can prepare them for the many career paths available through specialized training.
What Role Do Career Schools Play in Higher Education?
Career schools are designed around an occupational goal. Rather than asking students to complete a broad course of study, programs concentrate on the knowledge and practical skills needed to start a career in a particular profession.
While the United States needs universities that educate researchers, engineers, teachers and other professionals, it also needs trained cosmetologists, nail technologists, estheticians and other skilled professionals whose careers require hands-on abilities that cannot be developed solely through lectures and textbooks.
Career education provides another route from education into the workforce. It has gained considerable public support, with a recent survey finding one in three American adults recommending that high school graduates go to trade school.
Why Is Hands-On Education Important?
Some professions require students to learn by doing. Cosmetology offers a clear example.
Students can study hair cutting, coloring, chemical services and client consultations, but learning about these topics only takes students so far. Students also need opportunities to apply what they learn and become comfortable performing services in an environment that reflects the workplace.
At Empire Beauty School, students combine classroom instruction with practical training. Supervised student salons and clinics also give students opportunities to work with guests as they develop technical and customer-service skills.
This type of learning illustrates one of career education’s greatest strengths: the direct connection between instruction and application.
How Can Career Education Provide a Different Path After High School?
Not every student wants or needs the same postsecondary experience. Some students want a bachelor’s degree. Others may begin at a community college. Some enter apprenticeships, while others choose programs that prepare them for licensed occupations and specialized careers.
Career schools expand those choices. For a student interested in beauty, for example, cosmetology school offers an education specifically centered on that profession. The curriculum and practical training have a direct relationship to the student’s professional objective.
Recognizing those different paths does not require arguing that one form of education is better than another. The better question is whether students have access to the type of education that matches their interests and career goals.
Why Are Transparency and Value Important in Career Education?
Students making decisions about education deserve clear information about what they are purchasing and what will be required of them.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has called on postsecondary institutions to publicly describe their commitments to areas including educational quality, transparency, affordability and workforce preparation. Although many of the questions raised in that initiative concern traditional universities, the larger themes apply throughout postsecondary education.
For career schools, transparency is especially important. Schools should make it easy for prospective students to learn what a program costs, how long it takes, what training it provides, what financial aid may be available to qualified students and what requirements they must meet as they prepare for professional licensure.
Those are not abstract institutional questions. They offer information that students can use when deciding whether and where to enroll.
How Is Technology Changing Career Education?
Another challenge shared across higher education is preparing students for a workplace being changed by technology. Artificial intelligence is already changing aspects of many careers, including beauty. Beauty professionals may encounter AI and other technologies in marketing, scheduling, customer communication, trend research, business management and even tools designed to support consultations.
Yet technology also highlights the enduring value of practical skills. A hairstylist still needs to understand hair, perform techniques safely, communicate with a client and execute a service successfully.
What Does Career Education Contribute to the Larger Education System?
Higher education works best when it offers students options that fit their life goals.
Traditional colleges and universities provide essential academic pathways. Community colleges, apprenticeships and career schools provide others. Together, they create a postsecondary education system that serves people with different interests and professional ambitions.
Empire Beauty School has been educating future beauty professionals since 1934. Its role within higher education is to provide career-focused beauty education and opportunities for students to develop the skills required to pursue careers in the industry.
That mission is reflected in the Empire Beauty School Statement of Principles, which outlines the school’s commitments to transparency, educational standards, student support, career preparation and adapting to changes in the beauty industry.