I love my trade, I love what it has done for me. When I started I was told it won't make me rich but if I'm good at it I'll never be out of work, and that has proved to be so true over the last 20 plus years.
But I'm worried for the next generation. There seem to be courses that are almost designed to put people off and steer them away from learning a trade. Keeping them in college rather than being on site learning actual skills.
This video is a bit of a rant, and I'm sorry for that, but felt I wanted to put my opinion out there about it.
Let me know what you think on the subject? Have we drifted too far from what it should be?
Should people who have never been in the trade be the ones setting the syllabus for our trade colleges?
I am reminded of the woodwork master at my school - he had had 20 years as a practicing carpenter before moving into teaching, and his practical experience showed through in many ways.
ReplyDeleteAll of my teachers at carpentry college had been on site or in workshops, I think the same is true now. I think the trouble comes from above them, people who have never had a trade deciding what those teachers should teach.
DeleteThere is a saying that I heard that goes something like, "Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach." I think that is probably applicable to what you are talking about with the trades but it also applied to my profession as an engineer. 90% of what I learned in college was never used during my career as an engineer. Like you, much of what I used on a daily basis was what I learned on the job.
ReplyDeleteSaying all that though, I guess I feel that there is a purpose behind all that. Maybe it is just ensuring that those willing to learn all that theory that they will never use are probably the same ones that are willing to learn new skills once they are on the job. I got imagine all those slackers that were there to have fun, are probably not the ones who employers like as employees. I also think there is some benefit to over training people versus undertraining. You may not need all the theory for your trade but I bet if you ever do, you could sit down and figure it out. Compare that to someone who never learned the theory and then asked to do something that needed it later and having to decline because they never were taught.
On the bigger picture, I do think we need to put trades people who never went to college on the same pedestal as college graduate professions. We need both groups and just emphasizing a higher education for the sake of it, means we end up with lots of kids in colleges that really don't want to be there and that doesn't do them or us any good.
I agree. the trouble comes with the ones there just for an easy ride wreck the college experience for the ones that want to learn. That was my experience of it. I can remember one student spending a whole afternoon session knocking in a chisel into the workbench until the top of the handle was flush. He didn't care what an employer thought of him, he was just there to tick a box for someone.
DeleteFor the last decade or more, kids were encouraged to attend university over trade schools. Today tradesmen are hard to find and are in very short supply. I agree entirely, tradesmen are important skilled specialists and should be on the same level as university graduates. In the USA, outstanding builders, electricians and plumbers with their own businesses are hugely successful and in great demand.
ReplyDeleteMore than a decade. It was certainly like that when I left school 24 years ago. Even now I get some comments about it, someone the other day was surprised I had the level of qualifications I do because of my job, hit a bit like a gut punch.
DeleteCompanies should also back those in tech colleges....youngest did wood trades, was the college's star pupil...but not one company would back him to do the third year which was two days college and three days work per week...the only offer was just full time work, to get their moneys worth as they could pay him less without that final year.
ReplyDeleteSo his job prospects have always been limited by that short term thinking.
Despite them he has been successful as an exhibition and gallery carpenter, now doing work with a company converting high dollar vans to high dollar campers.
Companies only want subbies these days. Gone are the days of firms bringing up the next generation of craftsman, in the UK anyway. We used to have apprentices on the housebuilding sites, but it was just a way to have a cheap labourier and be good for PR, they didn't leave being able to be that trade, it was sad really.
DeleteI was lucky and the guy who took me on didn't want to do the paperwork and would only agree to it if I went self employed. I did that and we worked together for 5 years, but he used to play different firms off against each other to get more money, by the end I was only pretty much the same as him, way more than any of the other lads on site. He really looked after me. Let me save for a house earlier than I would have. I had mum to show me the ropes on being self employed and managed to get a training board to pay for my college for three years (although in those days it was only about £500 a year anyway so not the end of the world).
Kev, this was a a righteous rant. It is timely too, as this sort of discussion is happening in the U.S. as well. You may know of Mike Rowe. He did a show called "Dirty Jobs", in which he went and for one day did some of the "dirtiest" jobs in the US. They were mostly manual and they revealed (at least to me) the amount of manual labor that supports even a 1st world country. He has been a great advocate now for making the trades great again.
ReplyDeleteI would be the first to admit that it seems like much of education is driven towards "college" - but I would also be the first to admit that college is not for everyone. And the trades can make quite good wages here - a skilled plumber can easily make $150 an hour and never want for work.
I do not wonder that if the trade was presented in the overall course of life: cost of college and starting pay and student debt - some would think differently about it. My wife's manager has a son that went to a two year college to get a certificate in welding. He got out without debt and started at $80,000. At the same time, law school - considered one of the most "desired" professions in terms of income - will take at least 7 years of school, incur huge amounts of debt (for most), and could get a starting wage of six figures - or a job at $50,000. If the earning potential and emotional health were presented over the course of 30-40 years, I wonder if people might choose differently?