MUST NOW, SHOULD KNOW and NICE TO KNOW... These are the three (3) learning categories that each opticianry school considers when they design their curriculum. And here is where private v. public school training models are remarkably different.
In 1999 a Weinberger Report was commissioned in British Columbia, by respected New York educator Jane Weinberger. She examined the curriculums of over 30 USA public Colleges offering Associates Degree 2-year opticianry programs and found that virtually all 30 schools spend a maximum of 200 hours on CL fitting education. She also examined our 6-month BC College of Optics (BCCO) curriculum and found that we spend 260 hours on CL Fitting.
As a private ‘career training’ opticianry school, we choose to devote most of our education hours to the MUST KNOW (core), and SHOULD KNOW topics of opticianry, and we try to minimize any NICE TO KNOW information in our field. And our experienced BCCO instructors concentrate on theory training and ‘hands-on’ labs, so that BC College of Optics can offer innovative ‘accelerated’ Optician/CL Fitter training... and in only 6-MONTHS!
Ours is a ‘niche’ market ... and we are proud of the knowledge and confidence that BCCO graduates demonstrate everyday in Canada’s optical field. In fact, many BCCO graduates have been promoted to management positions at major Canadian optical chains. And one 1992 BCCO grad now owns a 9-store optical chain, with 5 stores in BC and 4 stores in Ontario.
So if you are a young person straight from high school, then completing a 2-year public College program may well help you become a well-rounded individual. But if you are older, already feel yourself well-rounded and want to receive an excellent opticianry education in the shortest timeframe in North America, then consider joining our BC College of Optics 6-month ‘accelerated’ program.
www.bccollegeofoptics.ca
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