This article should be required reading for all JWs who graduate from high school

by neverendingjourney 14 Replies latest jw experiences

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  tec

  How does everyone feel about trade schools for journeyman programs... welder, plumber, electrical, etc? You don't go to college, you start work immediately as an apprentice and then go to school for roughly 6-8 weeks per year. My husband is a journeyman welder, and he's going for a dual ticket as electrician. He only regrets that he waited until he was in his thirties before starting the trade program; had he done it after high school he'd probably have three tickets and special tickets.

  These trades are essential to society, and they are an alternate route for those whose interests do not lie in college/university. Once ticketed, they're just as well-paying as any degree, without the mountain of debt.

  Tammy

  *sorry, didn't see your post, Blondie*
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  neverendingjourney

  Blondie,

  It's interesting that you bring up welding, since i have some personal experience in the construction field. There was a trade school not too far from where I grew up that trained welders. It claimed to provide its students with the skills necessary to obtain a high-paying welding job. Someone I know quite well enrolled in the program and borrowed several thousand dollars for tuition. Six months later he was handed a welding certificate but couldn't pass the welding skill tests required by employers to certify competence in the field. The school basically ripped him off. The school later closed down and there's now an empty lot where it once stood.

  The point I was making wasn't whether some blue-collar jobs pay better than white-collar jobs. The point I was making is that trade schools often take students' money and leave them with nothing but a worthless piece of paper.
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  neverendingjourney

  How does everyone feel about trade schools for journeyman programs... welder, plumber, electrical, etc? You don't go to college, you start work immediately as an apprentice and then go to school for roughly 6-8 weeks per year.

  What you're describing sounds a lot to me like apprenticeship programs organized by labor unions. These programs are preferable, in my opinion, to for-profit trade schools because they train an apprentice while he learns on the job. Blue-collar professions tend to lend themselves to on-the-job learning as opposed to white-collar jobs like engineering, medicine, etc.
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  blondie

  Then I would go through the unions for training. Some schools don't have the credentials no matter what they teach. The buyer must beware.

  http://www.btrades.com/apprenticeships.htm
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  tec

  Neverendingjourney and Blondie - You're right. I do mean the apprenticeship programs - although my husband wasn't with any union. We have an apprenticeship board that oversees all the trades and apprentices. It probably works differently, depending on where you live. I'm in Canada. My husband also knew a few people who did the trade-school for certificate thing for welding. It was supposed to shave off a couple years of apprenticing, but they knew nothing and it didn't get them any farther ahead than where he was as an apprentice. He says the extra money was a rip-off.

  Tammy