“This is a profession and an institution in transition,” Mr. Erickson said, adding that “the traditional kitchen is an autocratic master-apprentice model, where all the students say is ‘Oui, chef.’ ”

“Now, creativity and improvisation are also important,” he continued, “and we are struggling with how to reconcile the two cultures.”

At many culinary schools, concern has grown over rising tuition; many students graduate into sous-chef jobs that pay about $35,000 a year, often without benefits like medical insurance or paid vacation.

Adam Wilson, 21, said he would graduate from the institute’s bachelor’s program in 2014 with $126,000 in student loans. He chose the school, he said, because it was known among chefs to produce the best workers. “There are students here who understand the work and the discipline,” he said, “but there are also some who just want to coast and get on reality shows, and we see them getting away with it.”

Chefs of every generation complain that their sous-chefs don’t understand hard work. But the current conflict mirrors larger, timelier questions about the future of culinary education in an era when far more high school graduates contemplate culinary careers than a decade ago, as food television and celebrity chefs saturate the national media.

The institute began as a two-year trade school, but it has since become an accredited undergraduate college with multiple degrees, expanding rapidly since Tim Ryan took over as president 12 years ago. It now has branches in the Napa Valley, San Antonio and Singapore.

Since the 1990s, the school has required applicants to have experience in a professional kitchen, although the required length of time worked has been as long as one year or as short as three months; it is now six months. In 2011, the school revised the requirement to allow applicants with “front of house” experience, like working as a waiter or busboy or in food retailing.