The fusion of higher ed and K-12 continues:

Loudoun County School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III announced a partnership this week between the school system and Inova Loudoun Hospital to develop courses that will give more high school students hands-on training in medical professions.

The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation has given the venture a push with a $150,000 donation, which was presented to the partners before Hatrick’s "State of Education" address at a Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday morning.

The training programs could offer a solution to staffing shortages at hospitals and become a national model, said J. Hamilton Lambert, executive director of the Fairfax County-based foundation.

Some might point to this as evidence that eeeeevil corporations are converting schools from places of childhood innocence to factories whose sole purpose is to churn out obedient little worker drones.  Even assuming schools were ever independent from the labor force (which is something I seriously doubt can be supported by historical record), consider the fact that this nation is presently suffering from an ongoing health care labor shortage, which will only be exacerbated in a few years months when that first wave of baby boomer retirees really hits hard.  Also, maybe it’s a good thing that students are exposed to highly-paid career opportunities!

American education is a lesson in symmetry: in comparison to a suffering K-12 system stands our, post-secondary network, which with all its faults is the envy of the world.  I think this is just another sign of an increasing collaboration between the two systems, and one that is long overdue.  If students come out of it with increased career opportunities–not to mention opportunities for increased earning potential–then at the end of the day, victory will have been achieved.