The apprentice becomes the journeyman, the journeyman becomes the
artisan, the artisan becomes the artist, and this is a natural cycle of
time and progress. Throughout each stage of this learning process,
pearls of knowledge and understanding are gathered along the way. The
pearls of your craft are books you have read, the processes you have
learned, and the successes and failures you have found in each
succeeding venture.
The objective is to establish academic environment for apprenticeship,
where young men and women will learn to work the resistant materials of
craft--wood and other fibers, the many diverse metals, and the friable
soils that become glass, plaster, pottery, and porcelain--you name it.
All of these materials are inherent to the occupation of man.
Earlier, I related how I had learned to follow the grain when carving
wood into beads. As the grain is exposed, concentric circles of grain
line are formed to perfect each shape. The bead becomes more than just
the dimensional equivalent, it is a pearl. To read the grain creates
endows art in the carving. You should see how it works on the contours
of a face. Each craftsman possesses pearls of his craft, such
knowledge and understanding.
What wisdoms would you impart to a young apprentice beginning his
journey?

LivingTrade.org
http:/groups.google.com/group/senior-apprentice

"daclark" wrote in message
ps.com...
The apprentice becomes the journeyman, the journeyman becomes the
artisan, the artisan becomes the artist, and this is a natural cycle of
time and progress. Throughout each stage of this learning process,
pearls of knowledge and understanding are gathered along the way. The
pearls of your craft are books you have read, the processes you have
learned, and the successes and failures you have found in each
succeeding venture.
The objective is to establish academic environment for apprenticeship,
where young men and women will learn to work the resistant materials of
craft--wood and other fibers, the many diverse metals, and the friable
soils that become glass, plaster, pottery, and porcelain--you name it.
All of these materials are inherent to the occupation of man.
Earlier, I related how I had learned to follow the grain when carving
wood into beads. As the grain is exposed, concentric circles of grain
line are formed to perfect each shape. The bead becomes more than just
the dimensional equivalent, it is a pearl. To read the grain creates
endows art in the carving. You should see how it works on the contours
of a face. Each craftsman possesses pearls of his craft, such
knowledge and understanding.
What wisdoms would you impart to a young apprentice beginning his
journey?

LivingTrade.org
http:/groups.google.com/group/senior-apprentice



"What wisdoms would you impart to a young apprentice beginning his journey?"

Skip the apprenticeship and go to college and become an Engineer instead.
In 10 years you will be making twice the money if you work just as hard.
Some low priced foriegn guest worker is going to undermine the salary curve
and steal your (tradesman) job anyway.

PipeDown wrote:

Skip the apprenticeship and go to college and become an Engineer instead.

Apprenticeship will make better engineers. I anticipate a large
percentage will go on to higher educations, and will have the advantage
of practical knowledge as foundation to the theoretical theories or
hypotheses...

"daclark" wrote in message
ups.com...

PipeDown wrote:

Skip the apprenticeship and go to college and become an Engineer instead.

Apprenticeship will make better engineers. I anticipate a large
percentage will go on to higher educations, and will have the advantage
of practical knowledge as foundation to the theoretical theories or
hypotheses...


Well you can start that way and do it in series but in the end, it is an
Either/OR choice. Ultimately the two jobs are very differnt. Engineering is
not always as hands on as a trade. I also appreciate that the choice is not
easy or practical for many individuals.

Many "born to be" engineers complete their apprenticeship (gain essential
skills and concepts) in the form of a hobby while in high school.

PipeDown wrote:
Many "born to be" engineers complete their apprenticeship (gain essential
skills and concepts) in the form of a hobby while in high school.

Good point. High school can provide initiation, but many of the
programs that we enjoyed are no longer part of the curriculum. One of
the essential tools of communications within construction and
manufacturing industries, mechanical drafting skill, is no longer
taught.
Shop classes in woods and metals have virtually disappeared from the
inner cities.
Derived in a cognitive approach, apprenticeship qualifies the
individual to enter a chosen profession as a journeyman with real,
substantial capabilities.

LivingTrade.org
http:/groups.google.com/group/senior-apprentice

In article . com,
says...

PipeDown wrote:

Skip the apprenticeship and go to college and become an Engineer instead.

Apprenticeship will make better engineers. I anticipate a large
percentage will go on to higher educations, and will have the advantage
of practical knowledge as foundation to the theoretical theories or
hypotheses...

Nonsense. Engineers would be better off in a coop program designed
for future engineers than doing time pulling wires.

--
Keith

krw wrote:
Engineers would be better off in a coop program designed
for future engineers than doing time pulling wires.

That presumes only one kind of engineer and perpetuates a breed apart.
Apprenticeship would also make better architects, manufacturers and
homebuilders...just to name a few.
There is a chinese proverb, "from one thing learn ten-thousand."
Apprenticeship begins in the fundamentals of tasking. A hammer is a
hammer whether you are pounding a nail or beating out a piece of tin.
Learning how to mill a piece of steel comes after learning how to make
a piece of steel...and again I am naming just a single instance in an
apprenticeship that addresses a full spectrum of human endeavor.
Apprenticeship is not designed just as a training ground for higher
educations, that would merely be a beneficial byproduct, but for the
development of higher intelligence and skilled capabilities in the
individual...and this through honest labor. Apprenticeship meets the
obligation of providing an education for all by fulfilling a gap in the
present educational system. A gap that has been ever widening in the
last few decades.
In the State of Iowa, in the city of Des Moines, of an originating
freshman class of 3600, only 45% graduated as seniors in 2006.
Statewide, ten percent of all seniors failed to graduate in their final
year of secondary education. With the facts so plainly evident, I do
not need to justify a commitment to apprenticeship programming.
What I am searching for here is not debate, but the keys to unlock this
future, and I am asking this group for its help.

LivingTrade.org
http:/groups.google.com/group/senior-apprentice

"daclark" wrote in message
ups.com...

PipeDown wrote:
Many "born to be" engineers complete their apprenticeship (gain essential
skills and concepts) in the form of a hobby while in high school.

Good point. High school can provide initiation, but many of the
programs that we enjoyed are no longer part of the curriculum. One of
the essential tools of communications within construction and
manufacturing industries, mechanical drafting skill, is no longer
taught.
Shop classes in woods and metals have virtually disappeared from the
inner cities.
Derived in a cognitive approach, apprenticeship qualifies the
individual to enter a chosen profession as a journeyman with real,
substantial capabilities.

LivingTrade.org
http:/groups.google.com/group/senior-apprentice


I'm not talking about classes. I'm talking about dive right in get your own
book and use internet resources (websites, forums and NGs) to "just do it".
Far too many people forget that they can ALSO rely on themselves to learn
stuff.

I have a friend who joined the carpenters union as an apprentice. After
several years she only had a pittiful handful of experience because the
program is so overfilled and the jobs are pathetically sparce. Very few
people in that union (san jose local 405) appeared to make a full wage that
way. Consider yourself on the job list as the # 1 or #2 spot and still
having to wait 3-5 weeks for a job assignment only to get layed off after 5
days of work then returning to the line as #60. That sucks for income, one
week of work per quarter on average for my friend. I'm not sure its that
bad today but it was a waste of her time IMHO for the time she participated.

The root problem it seems was that the majority of jobs went to private
contractors who used (in this area) hispanic non union non apprenticed
workers instead of using the high priced (almost 2x more) union workers.

PipeDown wrote:
Far too many people forget that they can ALSO rely on themselves to learn
stuff.

Your points are well taken, the employment system is fraught with
problems at every level; and people have become reliant upon a status
quo.
Essentially, apprenticeship is a self-help program, but engineered
along a path that allows each individual to be exposed to the materials
and to gain systematic, hands-on experience in a diversity of ways.
Apprenticeship has become a tool of control for different aspects of
industry and labor organization, as well as the ******* step child of
education.
My hope is to reinvent this wheel for the 21st century...and make it
round again.

"PipeDown" wrote in message news:gXbxg.9424

"What wisdoms would you impart to a young apprentice beginning his journey?"

Skip the apprenticeship and go to college and become an Engineer instead.
In 10 years you will be making twice the money if you work just as hard.
Some low priced foriegn guest worker is going to undermine the salary curve
and steal your (tradesman) job anyway.

And the engineer's job will be exported to India or Russia. The craftsman will
still find plenty of work here.

Bob

Bob wrote:
And the engineer's job will be exported to India or Russia. The craftsman will
still find plenty of work here.

And let's not forget the American spirit...that demands self-reliance
of it's self. The desire to be independent is one of man's strongest
motivations...worth dying for.
Apprenticeship provides the confidence to seek your own way, to find
advantage in change of employments, and to find opportunity in periods
of unemployment.