The Cellar - Trade Schools

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I was talking(email) with a guy in MA telling him my buddy can't find enough plumbers and I heard electricians are also in short supply. I told him these plumbers are making over $100,000 with very little overtime, which is better than a zillion dollar student debt that can't even be escaped with bankruptcy, and a $45,000 a year job. But they've shut down the trade schools and pushed everyone toward collage whether they're suited or not.

His reply...

Quote:

We have the same problem.
The damn teachers program the kids to think vocational training is for losers.
I am Chairman of the board for the vocational advisory.
I see it first hand.

I didn't go to college, no college debt,. i make +100k/yr.
Started out as a tool maker. became a designer, a General Manager, and now I design and build automation.
Not bad for a dirt poor single Mom environment that grew up in the ghetto living on powdered milk and ketchup sandwiches .
There was no "White privilege" in my history except white boxes of generic mac-n-cheese when Mom had an extra dollar to splurge

I do what I can to encourage success...
There was a 19 year old kid that worked here about 6 years ago. .
He was a "press Operator" ,.. a minimal wage grunt.
He looked depressed one day.
I approached him to inquire about his obvious discontent.
He said he will never have a good life because he didn't go to college.
He told me about being raised by a single mom and had to start working at McDonalds right after high school.
I asked him about his interests.
He told me a list of things,.. but 2 stood out,.. welding and scuba diving.
I told him about a desperate need for underwater welders.
We did a little research and found a school that specifies in that field in Florida.
He was able to get a full scholarship from a sponsor looking for help.
He went thru 4 months of training.
When he was certified,. he started his job the next day.
He makes 1000/day,, works 3-4 days a week.
I made a flyer to let his fellow workers know what he has become (Pic Attached).
I posted it in the break room.
He came back a year later to thank me for giving him a new life.
I told him "You gave yourself the new life, I just presented an option to get there".

There is so much good in our next generation,..
We can't let teachers keep pounding their narrative, perspectives, and opinions into these kids."

I love it!

I'm passing this information to SonofV.

I'm thinking about being a plumber. It's a bit late for a game change but it's a lot easier on the body. I think learning electrician shit would take up too much brain space.

I figure as far as the trades go people can live without a new addition, they can ignore the peeling paint, They can deal with the one light switch that doesn't work right, but no one is going to sit around with no running water or a toilet that won't flush.

You're right, whether it be no water or water everywhere it's priority #1.

My son is a senior in mechanical engineering at The University of Michigan. Freshman year, he learned to weld, That summer he got an internship -nothing to do with welding, but once he was there it proved invaluable and he made enough $$ to buy his own gear, and is now employed by the U to teach welding.

My friend (William aged 70something worked in NASCAR among other things) has always maintained that if you can weld and pass a drugs test, you have it made. I think he's right.

Son is busy trying to teach daughter and I to weld....

I have a vocational qualification in plumbing! NVQ Level 2. :D

when beest and I first bought a house, we took plumbing classes at night school. It was fun. We replumbed and rewired the whole house (totally reconfigured the bathroom, separated off the toilet, put in a corner bath..... Fucking useless over here though, everything's weird ;) We moved in to our house here and tried to fix a dripping tap/faucet/whatever. Took it apart. WTF? Took the bit that looked dodgy into Home Despot, didn't realize we were talking a foreign language when we said we needed a new one of these for our bathroom tap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 1060171)

Welding is so fun! I only learned to use a wire feed welder. I'm really impressed by proficient stick welders.

Electrical work scratches up you fingers and you need to crawl around in dusty attics some times. But I think it's good. Plumbing is fucking voodoo. You *know* how to do a thing, and do it, and the fucking thing leaks when you are done. Of course this is old work I am talking about. In new construction, you are in control, and can just do it right from the get go. You don't have to make a connection to some old existing thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 1060204)

The secret of plumbing old work is to never re-use old elbows or other fittings. Then clean the pipe to bare metal. Make sure there is absolutely no water in the line or the steam will cool the joint and you'll get leaks. Also flux and use a Mapp gas torch.

I'd say water in the line is the #1 cause of poor solder joints. Though now everyone is using crimp on style fittings.

We have some similar issues on this side of the pond (though maybe a bit less severe) - the push for apprenticeships in the last few years has done a bit to offer other routes for youngsters, though its a very flawed and uneven system, and very much open to abuse.

We used to have have a mix of further and higher education with different routes for academic and vocational specialisms. There was always a slight sense that the polytechnics (who offered a mix of technical, vocational and some academic courses)were somehow a lesser institute than a university and a City and Guilds diploma of an equivalent level never had quite the cache of a degree.

So rather than bolster the vocational pathways and work to increase their standing on their own terms, they decided to turn all the polys into universities and have kids go to university for a hotel management, or hospitality degree

The tension between more or less academic focus is still there - the old polytechnics are now new universities and for the most part there is still a sense that most of them are below the older universities in standards.

I think it would have been much better to try to tackle the class prejudice at the heart of that disparity and promote (and better fund) vocational training and education at all levels.