In this final (short!) installment of exploring education in our next chapter, I want to explore what happens when we blend work into our traditional education years.
Most of my grandparents left school at 14 years old. This was typical of the time, and at 15 years old my grandmother was trekking across rubble-strewn London during WWII to get to her job at a stationary (paper, books, writing tools etc) shop.
Both of my grandfathers were in the engineering business - one (Ken) worked for Ford Motor Company, the other (Doug) was a machinist for an engineering firm. In his later years, Doug became a shop teacher at a local high school. He pretty consistently bemoaned the skill of the teachers and the caliber and interest of the students. Of course, many of the students he saw were not there by choice - it was simply a class they were required to take.
On the other hand, his eldest son, my uncle, who was also an engineer, spent his later career teaching students as part of apprenticeship program - a ‘work-study’ program - where students (aged 16 and above) spent some time in the classroom, but also some time in a job, as an apprentice. He loved it and was so proud of the kids when they did well.
I started the week talking about Leonardo da Vinci. He too was an apprentice, also beginning at around age 14 or 15. He studied under Verrocchio, a well-regarded painter and sculptor of the day, and Leonardo spent around seven years in his tutelage. It is almost certain that we would not have benefitted nearly as much from da Vinci’s genius had he not been given such a focused beginning.
So where are we with apprenticeships today and what value might they hold in the future?
Apprenticeships generally fell out of favor last century, as the economy moved more from manufacturing to trades and white collar work. But they’re now making a comeback in America, and I think that’s an excellent trend.
First of all, I think for some students, traditional school is too long.
In Britain, you can graduate high school at 16 years old with your General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs). I think it’s not such a bad plan to wrap up the required part of school by 16, because by the time you’re 17 and 18, school (even for those going on to yet more school - in advanced courses or college) can be a bit of a drag. You’re with the same kids you’ve known all through high school (or before), same teachers, same topics. And most of us are itching to get on with our lives by then.
Although the high school graduation rate in the US is around 85% - an all time high - that still means that 15% of students don’t finish high school, or at least don’t graduate with a diploma. This is even higher for students of color and from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds.
So what if we could give more of those students the chance to leave school earlier (with a ‘completion’) and take on a paid apprenticeship with a company, but with some further education built in? And what if you could do that and still go to college afterwards if you like? It need not be only for what we commonly call ‘a vocational track’, by which we normally mean trades or blue collar work, it can also be for IT, business administration, HR, teaching, and really, almost anything you can think of1.
Internships are fine and good, but they are usually unpaid (which needs to stop), and brief. It gives the interns a taste of the industry or company, and can sometimes boost the intern’s career or prospects, but not all employers are particularly good at mentoring and teaching interns and there are wildly-varying experiences.
Apprenticeships on the other hand, can blend work and further schooling. They can be better regulated with clear goals and certification if needed. They give the employer someone they can count on for at least a couple of years, and they would also be paid.
A healthy culture of apprenticeships also means that people in mid-career, looking to make a change, could take an apprenticeship in a different field without having to give up a salary altogether. You wouldn’t always have to go ‘back to school’ to change careers - you could blend education and real work - with a pay check, albeit a generally smaller one. And people who have already gone to college can still get into a variety of fields via an apprenticeship.
The one thing we have to ‘get over’ if we want to offer more apprenticeships, is that by definition, an apprentice is not yet a master of his or her craft. We are so impatient to look good on a resume, or to claim expertise, that I think this is not an insignificant hurdle. There should be no diminishment of someone because they’re learning a skill and a field. But somehow there still is.
If our egos can take the idea that to train and learn and do - all at the same time - can make us better at our craft, over time, then I would like to see all of us, and especially our high school students, have access to the mentoring and teaching that exists outside of a traditional institution of education.
Wouldn’t it be cool to start out and maybe re-start our next chapters by apprenticing?
Let me know!
I can imagine I might have chosen to be an apprentice archaeologist, or wildlife photographer, or research diver….or something. It genuinely might have changed the direction of my career. And if I could do that now…..hmm….would I? Perhaps!