Tour of PKKY

Chicken sculpture at PKKY

5/25/15- Edited to add pictures and clarifying note.

Today was my first working day in Finland. We toured PKKY in Joensuu, the college where Junnu teaches, though not his campus. Junnu teaches at a smaller campus in Kittee, and we will go there tomorrow. PKKY offers many different kinds of vocational training, and we toured different facilities, including (but not limited to) plumbing, dress making, welding, and something with robots and 3-D printers.

I have to admit, there is part of me that has some reservations about vocational training, or at least the way vocational training is done in the States. Clearly vocational training has immense value and is a better choice for many students than a bachelor's degree. However, I have concerns about a two-track system where working-class students are shunted off into trades with limited futures and wealthier students take career paths that lead to positions of power and prestige. Finland's educational system seems to avoid these pitfalls in several ways: first, many people study trades; they are well-paying jobs and seen as viable options for people from all backgrounds. Second, students can easily take their vocational degrees and use them to pursue higher degrees, from bachelor's all they way up to masters. These vocational programs are not certificate programs of limited worth, but rather highly-skilled trades requiring years of (free) education. Finally, more jobs in Finland pay a living wage and there is a strong social safety net. You will likely make more if you seek more specialized education, but even with just a three year degree it is still possible to live a comfortable live.  It would be great if we could develop more stronger vocational programs in the United States, but Finnish culture is so different from American culture that it does not seem an easy translation.

Loom in the textiles department

ETA: I don't mean to sound critical of the vocational programs offered at PSC and other community colleges. I think these programs are an excellent option for many students, and they can provide the training needed by workplaces. I know many of the programs offered at PSC are quite rigorous and provide a high-quality education. The issue is that some vocational programs don't necessarily lead to jobs that pay living wages, nor do I think they always easily transition to further education. This is a problem not only with education, but also with the way certain occupations are compensated. CNA's readily spring to mind as an example of a job that is extremely crucial, requires education, and yet does not pay even close to a middle-class wage.

Something that really stood out to me on the tour today was how much was invested in these programs. All the facilities had the latest technology used in the field and were designed for the students' learning and comfort in mind. For example, the nursing assistant program had a room set up with couches in front of a screen. In an adjacent room there were patient simulators in front of a video camera. A student would go in and tend to a patient while the other students could watch on the big screen. This creates an atmosphere where students can tend to patients without the pressure of their classmates hovering over them, but everyone still gets the benefit of reflecting on each other's experiences. This is all for education that is provided to students at no cost.


I have more to say about all of this, but I feel myself growing increasingly less coherent (I remain pretty jet-lagged), so I am off to bed and will revisit this topic tomorrow.

In other exciting Finnish news today, I took my first sauna. At first it was uncomfortably warm even though I was a sauna amateur and was only at 50 degrees celsius (apparently some people like to go up to 80-90 degrees). But with time I began to really enjoy it, especially after a long day of being out in the cold rain. After my sauna Junnu provided me with salt licorice and Finnish beer, so I am really getting the full experience. To Kittee tomorrow!

This was in the home construction department.
I can't remember what it was intended to be,
but it would definitely make a great chicken coop.