Culinary school gains popularity among the laid off

MSNBC.com reports that laid off workers with grim job prospects in their current fields are pursuing culinary education in droves, hoping to land one of the 1.8 million jobs the restaurant industry is expected to add over the next decade.

I'm not enough of an expert on the food industry to know whether it's a good field to enter right now, although the decline in consumer spending has most restaurants closing locations and cutting staff, not opening new ones and adding.

But for people who are considering pursuing training in the culinary arts, I have this request: Please, please, please avoid for-profit programs with private student loans bearing double-digit interest rates.