Key Highlights
- Dr. Douglas Greene's initiative led to the creation of Skilled Trade Centers, fostering trade education and industry support
- Lifelong learning and ongoing education are crucial for maintaining high standards and adapting to technological changes in the trades
- Mislabeling skilled workers as 'techs' diminishes their professionalism; proper titles like 'journeyman' should be upheld to preserve respect
As my readers know, I am an advocate of the trades. I have written many columns extolling the virtues of “whole trade” education and the woeful lack of acceptable venues where that type of curricula is encouraged and taught. Recent columns about trade craft, trade education, and the new paradigm in businesses that purport to have “techs” as opposed to trained craftsmen, have garnered quite a few comments from readers of CONTRACTOR.
Who is That Masked Man?
Because of those columns, I had the great good fortune to meet Dr. Douglas Greene. Douglas is a man for whom the word “impossible” does not exist. Similarly, “can’t be done,” “not practical” and other negations do not even slow the man down. Dr. Greene was so dismayed by the sad state of the trades, and the lack of trade education options, that he actually did something about it!
You’ve read my pieces on the Skilled Trade Centers that he imagined, advocated for with the bureaucracy of the Washington State education “establishment,” and then actually put up the seed money to get built. By using the power of the purse, charm, guile and the occasional arm twisting, Douglas was not only able to have the first trade center built (several more have been constructed since), but had many of the nation’s premier retailers (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Milwaukee, etc.) and construction suppliers begging to help out with donations, scholarships and the like!
The road to success is not an easy one in this first quarter of the 21st Century, but Dr. Greene has achieved it. He has also recently published a book about entrepreneurship and what it takes to forge a successful path in today’s world. The name of the book is DOUGLAS by Douglas Greene (available on Amazon) and I recommend it to you unreservedly. The insights shared are worth the price alone. Now, if the trades (all trades) could only clone Dr. Green...
Past as Prologue
Private trade schools have been deemed superior to what was, today at least, available in the public school systems. The hope was also expressed, almost universally, that public school curricula could be channeled into trade programs sooner rather than later. Most trades experts agree that we are already in a precarious position as regards to manpower, and the “new blood” needed to promote it.
More than one reader has agreed with my assertion that a properly trained apprentice had a more concentrated education than just about any other field except medical doctors, but felt that continuing education had not been mentioned. They say that, in their opinion, the lack of continuing education in the trades was an issue that needed to be talked about.
The main thrust of the argument was that life-long learning is a habit that needs to be taught right along with trade craft if we are to produce high-quality journeymen and carry the trade into the future. It should also be mentioned that many of the responding readers represented family-run companies of some long standing, so should be in the position to know whereof they speak. I wholeheartedly agree.
If a trade education is to have any value beyond the mechanical aspects of working with the tools, fostering a love of learning is an absolute must. Today’s apprentices are tomorrow’s journeymen and foremen. Without the appetite for learning new things, they will stagnate and so will the trade at large. When pride in the trade and the skills needed to properly work at it become a part of the credo of the work force (as opposed to simply a job) then we are on the right track.
“Techs” vs. Plumbers
Speaking of jobs, one reader was really hot about how plumbers were portrayed in the advertising media by some of the shops that now profess to have techs in lieu of fully trained plumbers. He lamented that the term “plumber” was applied to inept, dirty, smelly, sloppy guys while their “techs” were portrayed as neat, clean, efficient, friendly, kind, reverent, etc., etc.
One look at the political landscape of today can show you where that type of character assassination comes from. So what is the antidote to this type of portrayal? It seems obvious that the very point we are making is the answer. We can start by quantifying the tech tag.
That’s right, I don’t like my journeymen called techs. They are not techs, they are journeymen. If they take the title seriously then they are imbued with all the respect, and credentials, that such a name demands. Calling a person who knows a tenth or less of what a true journeyman knows is the holder of a McJob—not a journeyman.
The Future is Ours...If we Can Take it!
Today, everything has to be technologically unique for it to sell. Look at the computer industry and what it has done to transform our world. Today’s hot product is supplanted by tomorrow’s even hotter one. There is at least one video online that spoofs that very fact. Mike Rowe recently made the comment that AI is coming for coders—but not plumbers, electricians, and welders. The fact of the matter is that the skill set we enjoy is unique to the trade in general and still very much relevant to our public.
So, when people see tech, they automatically assume that the guy has to be better than a mere plumber, doesn’t he? We know that the answer is a resounding NO and we need to make a concerted effort to make the public aware of that fact. Perhaps pointing out the shortcomings of a tech’s trade education and limitations—or lack thereof—might be a way to get people’s attention.
The real bottom line here is that, no matter what, we in the trades will have to be the ones to keep them alive and growing. We must take every opportunity to show the public what we bring to the table. No one else will. My thanks to Douglas Green, and to all of you who wrote expressing your opinions. Your comments are most appreciated.
About the Author
Al Schwartz
Founder
The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born author is a retired third generation master plumber. He founded Sunflower Plumbing & Heating in Shirley, N.Y., in 1975 and A Professional Commercial Plumbing Inc. in Phoenix in 1980. He holds residential, commercial, industrial and solar plumbing licenses and is certified in welding, clean rooms, polypropylene gas fusion and medical gas piping. He can be reached at [email protected].