This discussion of occupational education suggests that traditional programs, which award status on the basis of time spent, be replaced with programs that define worth in terms of competence. The paper first looks at some of the socioeconomic conditions underscoring the need for a change from traditional educational practices. Next, the time-based approach to education is outlined, tracing the process from collective entry of a diverse group of students into a lock-stepped program to their graduation. Specific problems in this process are highlighted, including its inability to accommodate either fast or slow learners and the waste involved as enrollment slots left vacant by program dropouts remain unfilled. After examining the issue of identifying job titles with job classifications, an alternative view is presented, which considers specific occupations as members of occupational families and argues that much of the knowledge needed to be competent in a specialization is common to the whole occupational family. The paper then outlines a competency-based approach to vocational education, which includes the following concepts: (1) what must be learned is clearly defined as performance objectives; (2) learners get immediate credit for what they know by challenging the performance objectives; (3) the learning process is interruptible; (4) learning is self-paced; and (5) learning becomes increasingly specific as knowledge is accumulated toward a defined level of competence. (AYC)