Page 11 - Contribution To Phenomenology

4 LESTER EMBREE

would be among the more skilled and thus well trained of the crafts-
people. The aspect of preparation deserves to be dwelt upon further.
Basic professional preparation can occur through relatively passive on-
the-job learning in which one simply sees how others perform tasks and
imitates them. The difference between this and the preparation of an
amateur consists in the quantity and quality of this learning. Probably
there is less trial and error and probably some coaching comes from
already skilled fellow workers or supervisors, but essentially the skill is
acquired through participation. Since skill acquisition of this type occurs
on all levels, it ought not to be overlooked or underestimated when
practices also involving other types of preparation than on-the-job learning
through participation are focally examined.
In the type of profession that might emphatically be called a craft,
preparation would seem often to involve something that might be called
"apprenticeship," which does not need to be formal or official, as it is
in some circumstances. It can merely consist in working with a selected
individual or individuals for a period of time, perhaps called the "training
period." What is essential is that the learner or trainee and those
charged with her preparation be recognized as such within the profes-
sional context. This can happen during the preparation of musicians, for
example, who can afterwards claim to have studied with somebody of
stature. The result of preparation of this sort might ultimately be called
"mastery" and the process might best be called "training." Preparation of
this sort will also be found on all levels. Even philosophers are some-
times prepared to some extent in this way.
Once the vast quantities of the amateur and "crafty" combinations of
cultural practices are appreciated, it is easy to see that, regardless of
eUtist conceits and self-deceptions, proportionally quite few combinations
are disciplinary. As sciences sometimes pretend to be technologies and
technologies sometimes pretend to be sciences, crafts can pretend to be
disciplines and vice versa. Preparation again appears the best aspect
through which to approach the matter and perhaps "advanced training"
is the best generic label for specifically disciplinary preparation. Depend-
ing on the discipline, the advanced training may occur in the first four
years of college, at least the Western systems of so-called "higher
education." Often it requires so-called graduate training at a university,
but sometimes this occurs in such institutions as art, business, divinity,
law, medical, public administration, or other professional schools not
affiliated with a university. Nevertheless, there is a marked increase in