Posted on Woodworkers Unite!
|
#1 posted 1247 days ago |
That is definitely a healthy tax bite, but good schools cost good money. If there isn’t an improvement in the economy pretty soon, I expect to see tax increases to support basic education here in WA. Union apprenticeship programs used to be a big factor in educating tradesmen, but the union busting attitudes of the last 30 years have done away with a lot of those programs. When I was an apprentice, I went to school for 2 nights a week for 4 years. The state of Washington recently required nonunion apprentices to have 8 hours classroom training a year. It is little wonder we are getting electricians that can’t do much more than run conduit in a straight line or be a stud boring specialist. Now the union program is 4 days a week on the job and 1 day a week in the classroom for 6 years. I’m not sure a decision between trade school or college should be made at age 15. I graduated high school with an appointment to the Air Force Academy. I ended up dropping out of college at the end of the first semester to start my apprenticeship. One of my profs had a EE with a PhD. He was teaching college because of the low wages for engineers at the time. One of my neighbors who was an engineer ask me about the money I made as a 2nd year apprentice. He got all huffy and never spoke to me again! It wasn’t my fault he got an engineering degree instead of a journeyman card. That disparity has leveled out in the last 40 years. -- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0 |
