I stumbled into the power of apprenticeships, and I heartily agree with sentiments of this article.
When my eldest was 17, he told me that he didn't think he wanted to pursue college. I asked him what sort of career path he wanted to explore. He said, aviation. (He'd always been fascinated with flying things...drones, planes, hawks). He told me he could become an airframe and powerplant mechanic (AMP) by logging 4000 hours under supervision of a certified AMP and passing an FAA exam. Once certified he could afford to pay for flight lessons.
Well, he certainly had a more profound career plan than I did when I was 17. He's now 18 and just past the half-way point to get his AMP certification. He still enjoys the work...and getting paid to learn about his passion.
My second son is 16 and has been working as a full-time carpenter for a year and a half. He loves the work and plans to run his own crew next year. But he's also interested in college and plans to enroll in introductory chemistry and physics course at the local community college. While he didn't matriculate through a formal apprenticeship, I think the work experience has helped him understand the aspects of the world he'd really like to explore, maybe formally in college, or informally in his hobbies (wood and leather working).
Personally, I wasted a lot of time (and money) at a university. I think I may have been better off going to work, first. I think the workplace forces a focus on: what can I do to add value, what do I want to do, what am I good at? Having a better awareness of oneself might help us get more out of our higher education or help us find a different path to a career.
Hi it's me again. lol. I'm a community affiliate research coordinator and very curious about this topic. Got a few questions and thoughts here:
1. How exactly do we define "apprenticeship"? What differentiates this from internship? For instance, what about a coding bootcamp? That seems like an apprenticeship, but is it?
2. Also, while we wait for policy to happen, what are some ways to encourage organizations to take the steps to be ready for a formal apprenticeship?
3. Similar to the coding question, are there ways to transform jobs that are traditionally only accessible through college into jobs that can be accessed through internships? I'm thinking of orgs like yearup and opportunity @ work that offer internships at fortune 500 companies that break the "paper ceiling"
would love to have this discussion with everyone here hehe
My question for this and any other research on underemployment is how "employment" is measured... Is that a measure of how many people are on W2s?
If so, I have a feeling that we're doing more handwringing than necessary. The internet has developed such that there are a great many people who are able to replace "employement" with entreprenurial income.
I think the apprenticeships should be highly tech-oriented and focused on being remote. We shouldn’t put men into apprenticeships for work that is physical labor that machines and AI will be able to do in the near future.
“Apprenticeship” is basically a substitute for what companies used to do more often, which is invest in their employees job training. Maybe that will shift, but we also need a robust safety net.
We need a UBI by now. I don’t believe men or woman and built for the plethora of jobs in our economy that are becoming redundant. And honestly, have had a negative effect on society and our ability to connect.
With the rise in A.I how many jobs are ceasing to exist each year? With a shrinking demand for labour, and more women competing in both education and the workplace, men are suffering. George Gilder writes: "The society thus has a much larger stake in employing young men than in employing young women. The unemployed man can contribute little to the community and will often disrupt it, but the woman may even do more good without a job than with one." Apprenticeships have long been an answer, a way to close the gap in both education and employment. The government certainly need to invest more.
I stumbled into the power of apprenticeships, and I heartily agree with sentiments of this article.
When my eldest was 17, he told me that he didn't think he wanted to pursue college. I asked him what sort of career path he wanted to explore. He said, aviation. (He'd always been fascinated with flying things...drones, planes, hawks). He told me he could become an airframe and powerplant mechanic (AMP) by logging 4000 hours under supervision of a certified AMP and passing an FAA exam. Once certified he could afford to pay for flight lessons.
Well, he certainly had a more profound career plan than I did when I was 17. He's now 18 and just past the half-way point to get his AMP certification. He still enjoys the work...and getting paid to learn about his passion.
My second son is 16 and has been working as a full-time carpenter for a year and a half. He loves the work and plans to run his own crew next year. But he's also interested in college and plans to enroll in introductory chemistry and physics course at the local community college. While he didn't matriculate through a formal apprenticeship, I think the work experience has helped him understand the aspects of the world he'd really like to explore, maybe formally in college, or informally in his hobbies (wood and leather working).
Personally, I wasted a lot of time (and money) at a university. I think I may have been better off going to work, first. I think the workplace forces a focus on: what can I do to add value, what do I want to do, what am I good at? Having a better awareness of oneself might help us get more out of our higher education or help us find a different path to a career.
Thank you for the insightful article.
Hi it's me again. lol. I'm a community affiliate research coordinator and very curious about this topic. Got a few questions and thoughts here:
1. How exactly do we define "apprenticeship"? What differentiates this from internship? For instance, what about a coding bootcamp? That seems like an apprenticeship, but is it?
2. Also, while we wait for policy to happen, what are some ways to encourage organizations to take the steps to be ready for a formal apprenticeship?
3. Similar to the coding question, are there ways to transform jobs that are traditionally only accessible through college into jobs that can be accessed through internships? I'm thinking of orgs like yearup and opportunity @ work that offer internships at fortune 500 companies that break the "paper ceiling"
would love to have this discussion with everyone here hehe
My question for this and any other research on underemployment is how "employment" is measured... Is that a measure of how many people are on W2s?
If so, I have a feeling that we're doing more handwringing than necessary. The internet has developed such that there are a great many people who are able to replace "employement" with entreprenurial income.
I think the apprenticeships should be highly tech-oriented and focused on being remote. We shouldn’t put men into apprenticeships for work that is physical labor that machines and AI will be able to do in the near future.
“Apprenticeship” is basically a substitute for what companies used to do more often, which is invest in their employees job training. Maybe that will shift, but we also need a robust safety net.
We need a UBI by now. I don’t believe men or woman and built for the plethora of jobs in our economy that are becoming redundant. And honestly, have had a negative effect on society and our ability to connect.
With the rise in A.I how many jobs are ceasing to exist each year? With a shrinking demand for labour, and more women competing in both education and the workplace, men are suffering. George Gilder writes: "The society thus has a much larger stake in employing young men than in employing young women. The unemployed man can contribute little to the community and will often disrupt it, but the woman may even do more good without a job than with one." Apprenticeships have long been an answer, a way to close the gap in both education and employment. The government certainly need to invest more.