Unit 3 FRQ

Apprenticeships: A Viable and Valuable Alternative to Traditional Higher Education

Apprenticeships are making a comeback, and for good reason. With bipartisan support among lawmakers, Washington has allocated $265 million in the last two years to spur programs. This has been driven in part by President Obama's Secretary of Labor, Thomas E. Perez, who attempted to rebrand apprenticeships to appeal to educators and parents with the message that apprenticeships are the “other college, except without the debt”. Apprenticeships have also expanded beyond the building trades to include other occupations such as pharmacy technicians, I.T. project managers, and insurance adjusters.

Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado is taking the movement to the next level, with a plan to make apprenticeships ubiquitous in high schools around his state. His program, backed by $9.5 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies and JPMorgan Chase, will offer hands-on training in financial services, information technology and health care as well as manufacturing. This plan will provide opportunities to students of all academic and income levels. Colorado’s program was inspired by a visit to Switzerland in 2015, where compulsory education ends after ninth grade and students can choose either an academic or a vocational path. The vocational track includes programs for 230 occupations, and has resulted in Switzerland having the lowest unemployment rate for the young in Europe.

Apprenticeships provide an alternative to the college-for-all movement, allowing working-class voters to secure meaningful jobs without the burden of debt. Apprenticeships offer hands-on training and mentoring, as well as the opportunity to earn pay while learning. They expand and legitimize educational pathways, redefining and broadening what is meant by higher education. Apprenticeships are a viable and valuable alternative to traditional higher education.