I'm not disagreeing with your reasoning at all...just pointing out some of my thoughts.
Time is money, no matter what the learning environment may be. Employers expect to get a guy up and running ASAP, and for students who are paying for the training, they also want to get up and running quickly. For them, to realize some accomplishment for their money, feels good and is motivation for them to continue on the path to higher learning.
That's alot to learn in 180 days of training. Actually in my opinion, welding school should be a 4 year course. And would be nice if it counted to a bachelor degree in metalergy. It takes years of welding, and trial and error to really get good at the profession.
I remember several years ago I had a temporary helper in my shop and he was the best pipe welder I had ever seen. He could lay some of the best and prettiest beads you ever saw. While he was stick welding on some overflow work I was catching up on a large aluminum production job, and he would come over and watch me tig. He had never seen anyone weld aluminum before although he had been a welder for many years. One day he asked me if he could try welding a couple of pieces of aluminum together. Sure not a problem, I gave him a quick lesson and turned it over to him. To make a short story long, he just flat could not do it, at all! I kept trying to explain the concept, but he never was able to do it. It was hard for me to understand how a certified welder, who was so good at welding pipe, couldn't tig aluminum. He didn't understand either, he kept telling me that I made it look easy, yet he never did even get the pieces to stick together. I think he kept waiting for the aluminum to turn red which I explained that it's not like steel, it don't turn red, it just gets shiney and liquid. He also had a lot of trouble with the coordination required using the foot pedal and both hands. I tried my best to teach him and we took several different sittings practicing.
On the other hand I've taken a friend who didn't know anything about welding, and never welded anything together, and sat him down at my workbench and explained a little about how to tig aluminum, and he actually did pretty good. To learn all phases of welding requires much practice and much patience, which in most cases I've noticed, that learners want to rush the job, and you just have to find out a way to convince them to take their time and use the pedal for heat control.
Also, my oldest son can run a good bead if I set the machine up for him, but when he tries to weld without my help, it just seems he couldn't set the machine. I have two sons and a daughter, and out of the three, my daughter is better at it than either one of my boys. My yougest son definately has the potential to be a good welder, but just wasn't interested in the trade. He is now an Air Force pilot, and really smart and can do just about anything he sets his mind too, but he didn't want to be a welder. I really wanted my sons to pick up the profession, but they chose other professions that they were more interested in.
I'm not sure if I have the patence to teach welding. I'm sure I take a lot of things for granted, that a learner should know but doesn't. And there are so many other aspects to the trade other than running a bead, that to get really good at it a person just needs time and experience. I feel like I've been welding forever and I know there are still things I don't know. It's probably a real challenge to get a class of 25 out after their schooling to be doing good enough to work for a company. I don't envy you at all, in fact my hats off to you, because teaching it is probably harder than learning it.
Take Care
Steve
What a great post Steve!
Teaching *IS* learning..
20 student learners over the course of a year will uncover any deficiancy in instructor knowledge.. They FORCE me to learn. They will break everything, poke holes in it.. burn it, crack it, flip every knob and switch.
We have to research questions together.
I think a year as a full time student can prepare an agressive learner for entry as an apprentice as a sheet metal, Iron worker, boilermaker, millwright or HVAC worker...
There are private and even community/Tech colleges that devote more time to specific processes because of the local job need too... You can go to Hobart, Wyo-Tech or Tulsa tech and spend all your time welding pipe if that is where you KNOW you want to go. It's a double edged sword, they leave with a high level of proficiancy in a single task but may lack the versatility to land on their feet elsewhere. Nothin wrong with either track.. Just a choice.
The problem with Associates/Transferrable toward BA type stuff is that much time is taken out of the lab to bring students up to the higher levels of Math, communications, social science etc that are required to get those credits to transfer.. Not a bad thing for learners on an engineering track but I know of several two year associates programs that have less time under the hood than 1 year technical diploma programs. Also many learners need to get to work NOW.. and it's hard to stay as a full time student when you have the skills in one year to land a job. Again.. Not bashing the AA.. Just a choice.
For me teaching is a blast! I could go on for pages about the different ways it can be rewarding.
I know this is an old thread.. But it was a good discussion and I just stumbled across an academic piece that specifically addresses the value of gas welding on program curriculum.
The Impact of Teaching Oxy-Fuel Welding on Gas
Metal Arc Welding Skills
Sergio D. Sgro, Dennis W. Field and Steven A. Freeman
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v34/v34n1/pdf/sgro.pdf