The author is not helping here with statements like "we have a class of vocationally trained workers with a sense of entitlement to be treated as an intellectual elite".

Vocationally-trained people want to be respected, just like everyone else. Making broad accusations about them, and insulting their abilities and qualifications, has been a significant source of conflict.

Every person deserves respect for their training and efforts, regardless of whether that is at a university, vocational school, dancing studio, acting class, on the farm, on a PC at home, or anywhere else in real life.

Start to respect other people, and they will start to respect you.

I feel like that comment is that there is a difference between vocational training and classical liberal arts. It isn't that one is better than the other. But when vocational training is packaged at a college as though it is pure intellectualism, there is a disconnect between what was accomplished and what was promised.

Given his complaints about all college education not being the classics he manages to be even worse than that. Implicitly anything of practical value is considered "vocational" even highly complex and important fields like medicine, chemistry, and physics. All while relying upon unproven but furious assertions that they are somehow peak intellectuals and leaders.

Given that the other fields actually advance instead of being a frozen canon that are artifacts of irrelevant aristocrats. Notably mathematics was in the liberal arts but once it became practical instead of a flex it was heavily de-emphasized. It is the same folly that alienation from the wordly is inherent superiority An enduring terrible idea that we have Ancient Greeks to blame. If anybody doesn't belong among intellectual elite it is those arrogant and cargo-culting fools.