Hello Gerald, you have heard me yap before about Washington state and how we have a welding instructors association. I sincerely believe that there is strength in numbers and that re-inventing the wheel is a waste of time. It "DOES" make total sense for those of us that are involved in welder training and associated skills to work together to provide our services to one another in the interest of the promotion and professionalism that we all attempt to achieve for our students as we move forward in our respective programs.
Unfortunately, I see stumbling blocks and challenges in making this happen as well as an abundance of opportunities. Many things are at work here from my perspective: You have some individuals who sincerely believe that they want to be a part of this industry and are driven from a true interest and drive to achieve success based on their genuine interests. Others see the financial rewards and may or may not realize what all is entailed to achieve and capitalize on their abilities relative to the trade. Once you have determined who is interested and why, then you have to provide a means. Identification is really where it is at and the root of so much of the considerations of success for individuals who consider welding and associated trades for a career. Young and old alike have to have an avenue to experience a trade (Welding of course!) if we can provide that then at least a lot of folks will actually realize if this is a possibility for them. Unfortunately and in a very well documented manner, we have seen how our K-12 system has handled this, we have multiple generations that don't see the value or importance of a trade because they were never taught any different. Hence, the reason that we have many of the shortages of skilled craftspeople that we do and also the reason that craftspeople don't garner the same respect in society that they afford white-collar workers.
The means is wide sweeping, this can occur through formal education, ie., high school vocation programs or skills centers, college level tech, trade, or vocational schools, private technical, vocational, or trade schools, union apprenticeship training centers, and likely a number of others that I haven't thought of. You can also have those folks who will learn strictly from working their way up the ranks in various shops and other technical/vocational settings as they perform various types of work. You have another group of folks who will learn while in the various branches of the military and other governmental agencies. Unfortunately, however you cut this, $$$$ drives opportunities, especially in education. In any training scenario, facility, institution, or otherwise that provides training there is competition for these $$$'s. In some instances I do believe that schools feel that they are in competition with one another for these dollars and in most cases they are. So, this can cause difficulties in communication and cooperation. I am at a community college, we are funded through the state, portions are federal $$"s, still others are local monies, both from tuition and donation of goods and services. Much of the time I believe that education at the state level only looks at specific figures tied to specific columns of expenditures. Where this is misleading is with regard to geographical and industry based results, you can show that school A has lots of graduates with great grades and other accolades and yet their graduates don't show up on the states tax-roles. Why, because maybe they go out-of-state and go to work. Does this mean that the program isn't providing education as it "should be" in the states eyes? and how do you judge that? School B has lots of graduates with great grades and similar accolades yet their students don't find work.... at least not locally. But if they go where the work is they do go to work and are successful. But, they don't want to move and even though they've been told at the onset of their education that this is the reality they choose otherwise. Has the school failed? or have the students/candidates simply ignored what they were originally told?
The reason for much of what I have mentioned here is relative to the survival of training programs, you not only have to consider how you will operate your program and where the funding will come from, you have to consider the federal level, the state level, the regional level, and the local level of this as well as grants and any other source of monies that can be gotten to assist you. Many folks who operate programs similar to yours or within the same system are wary that if they provide you with information that puts "you" out ahead in the game that it will damage "their" chances for success and survival. This reasoning applies to almost everyone to one degree or another, you will see this relative to a private facility, union training centers, pretty much everybody. If my memory serves me correctly training facilities both private and union apprenticeship related are tied to outside dollars (federal, state) in one form or another as well. Due to this sort of structure we (community college, voc-technical, etc. state operated programs) are often looked down by some apprenticeship programs. The unions in our particular area have been really good about embracing a "we're in it together attitude", others (schools) that I have had conversations with are not so fortunate.
More to the point of how conversations between our program and others have been conducted in past and recent years: Snail mail and the phone system was the mode in the infancy of the welding instructors association. With the internet coming on board, emails and setting up bi-annual conferences for members was the way that we all got together. We have maintained the bi-annual conference structure which includes one conference specifically for welding instructors and the other one generally coinciding with a state-wide, WAOE (Washington Association of Educators) conference which is comprised of vocational educators from all of the states community, vocational, and technical colleges and all forms of instruction not just welding. We have also experimented with an internet system referred to as "Wiggio", that has fizzled a bit and most recently "Facebook" was discussed as a vehicle for promotion and communication. I noticed that you went with "Linked-in" and I joined. I haven't had any conversations with my other com padres in the state here to promote that, but I will.
I know that you and others have seen some of the posts that I have included on the forum here in regard to the sharing of experiences, techniques, and other information. There have also been other instructors within my system that have posted as well. I hope that more individuals from "elsewhere" will get on the bandwagon and start sharing and networking information for the betterment of what we can bring forward to current and future generations. Thanks so much for the topic Gerald and for all that you share globally. Sorry to the OP for hi-jacking his thread although some of this topic will very possibly apply to his original questions. Also apologize if this post is a bit dis-jointed and doesn't "flow". Best regards, Allan
Hello jshot,
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