The amazing part to me was using physical trade competence for a philosophical foundation. Is their program ideological? Absolutely, and they are pretty forthright about it. It reminded me a lot of Matthew B. Crawford's "shopclass as soulcraft," book, which riffed on the same themes of the intrinsically moral quality of competence. That's the root idea in their ideology right there, I think.
On the scam side, their church affiliation only needs approval at a fairly low level, as the Church isn't really that monolithic, it's very much a federation in which things as different as liberation theology, jesuitism, cults of saints, and even opus dei can co-exist under the same umbrella. If the objection were that this school is mainly a conservative ideological training ground, I would agree that's an accurate assessment, but I didn't get the impression that was hidden from sight, so I didn't think we needed to be oblique about characterizing it.
They don't say, "welcome to our unaccredited reactionary conservative stochastic terror indoctrination centre" because they don't define themselves in terms from critical theories that originate from (to them) an alien worldivew. I'd agree it's the something-else you are referring to, but that's what makes it interesting.
I've read Shop Class As Soulcraft, and the resemblance is superficial. Again: my issue isn't that there's ideology mixed in with the practical stuff; it's that the school is overwhelmingly staffed with ideologues that don't have credentials or practical experience with what they claim to be teaching, that the school doesn't produce a credential relevant to the trades it claims to serve, and that it costs quite a bit more than community colleges that do provide those credentials, facility, and faculty.
If they were going to a school that will be overwhelmingly staffed with ideologues that don't have credentials or practical experience with what they claim to be teaching, I would agree they could probably get a better credential from a regular state university.
A regular state university? How about just one of the 1,167 community colleges around the country, most of which have programs that specialize in getting people prepared and credentialed for these trades, and all of which cost a fraction of this organization?
On the scam side, their church affiliation only needs approval at a fairly low level, as the Church isn't really that monolithic, it's very much a federation in which things as different as liberation theology, jesuitism, cults of saints, and even opus dei can co-exist under the same umbrella. If the objection were that this school is mainly a conservative ideological training ground, I would agree that's an accurate assessment, but I didn't get the impression that was hidden from sight, so I didn't think we needed to be oblique about characterizing it.
They don't say, "welcome to our unaccredited reactionary conservative stochastic terror indoctrination centre" because they don't define themselves in terms from critical theories that originate from (to them) an alien worldivew. I'd agree it's the something-else you are referring to, but that's what makes it interesting.