Apprenticeships Can Help Improve Young Lives

September 11th is a sad anniversary to reflect upon. It is widely accepted that the atrocities of that day in New York and Washington DC were committed by people who have been brainwashed and lost any sense of reality. Sadly, there are many that feel they have nothing to lose, and their life is worthless, hence leading them to committing such acts or desperation and mass destruction.

Economical progress and openness prove to be the best cure to such despair and subsequent self destruction. Young men that have a job and take pride in their job have a sense of value. They see themselves as adding to the community, adding to their family and loved ones and ultimately helping themselves reach personal goals.

There are good platforms for pulling oneself from being an un-employed young man towards a professional with a bright future. Apprentice programme (government-sponsored or private sector sponsored) have proved to be successful for all involved. The young apprentice gains valuable hands-on experience as a plumber, builder or any other trader, while the employer gets an energetic young individual eager to impress and all this for a fraction of the market price for comparable pair of hands. Of course there are stories where things didn’t work as well as expected. There are rotten apples in every basket. But the exception should not set the policy.

There are various apprenticeship ways which broadly offer the same trade off to the young apprentice. Starting at the bottom is the best way to learn a trade thoroughly and exhaustively. Some of the most mundane tasks (helping with a leaky tap, removing a heavy hot water cylinder) are standard jobs for a plumber. An apprentice gets to practice these with a watchful eye of an experienced tradesman who can step in when things go wrong and teach the young apprentice there and then on the best way to get things done.

Apprenticeships will not solve all the problems in the world and will not eliminate extremism and hatred, but they may help drag a few more young people from life of hopeless being into a life of real pride and prosperity for themselves, their families and ultimately their wider community.

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This page has been written with contributions from plumbers from Oxfordshire and heating engineers from Camden. Several of the company's qualified plumbers from Hertfordshire have worked on similar issues as well as some of our plumbing and heating engineers from Croydon and our Borehamwood experienced heating engineers.

Posted : Thursday 11th September 2008