3 ms·

When my dad had a apprenticeship, there were two types, technical, and craft. Craft apprenticeships were machinists, and they had no chance of ever going to uni

by UK-AL 14y ago

When my dad had a apprenticeship, there were two types, technical, and craft. Craft apprenticeships were machinists, and they had no chance of ever going to university. They often stayed on the shop floor for the rest of their lives. Technical apprenticeships(Often requiring o-levels and such, and came from grammar/technical schools), never touched the shop floor and many went on to university. Example Apprentices - Draughtsman and such. Obviously different companies operated differently, if you was operating as a machinist... on the university track... The image of CNC machine operator going on to engineering at an elite college may be nice, but often it's just PR to get people to apply for the jobs and a fairly exceptional career path. Most don't.

andrewcooke 14y ago
i don't completely follow your argument, so forgive me if this is irrelevant, but i wasn't saying that cnc operators should go to elite universities. my points were, i guess, that: (1) even if you're going to university it's a pleasure to get workshop experience and (2) the taught part of the apprenticeship (at the poly) was very poor quality. i don't mean by (2) that it would stop a cnc operator from going to an elite university. what i mean is that i am sure future cnc operators hated it just as much as we (future grads) did, because it was very difficult to understand or learn anything.
- UK-AL 14y ago
  I wasn't saying anything really other than the fact it's often used as PR. I was just saying the if you was on the technical track, at my dads old company you would not be training to be a machinist at all. I also agree we need make sure that education is top quality as well. We should not let them down with bad quality education. They should have high quality education that can lead onto serious study if that's what they want to do.

by UK-AL 14y ago

andrewcooke 14y ago

i don't completely follow your argument, so forgive me if this is irrelevant, but i wasn't saying that cnc operators should go to elite universities. my points were, i guess, that: (1) even if you're going to university it's a pleasure to get workshop experience and (2) the taught part of the apprenticeship (at the poly) was very poor quality. i don't mean by (2) that it would stop a cnc operator from going to an elite university. what i mean is that i am sure future cnc operators hated it just as much as we (future grads) did, because it was very difficult to understand or learn anything.

UK-AL 14y ago
I wasn't saying anything really other than the fact it's often used as PR. I was just saying the if you was on the technical track, at my dads old company you would not be training to be a machinist at all. I also agree we need make sure that education is top quality as well. We should not let them down with bad quality education. They should have high quality education that can lead onto serious study if that's what they want to do.