Rites of Passage

Two Fridays ago, I attended my second-to-last class for "day school". That means I took my very last test, #60. What a relief!! After school was over, I went with a couple other apprentices down the road to celebrate by throwing back a couple of brewskies. It's nice to know that all these other 3rd year apprentices have made it this far. It's really quite an accomplishment. Every two weeks we've gone to the school and taken a written test before each session (almost every single session). Then we've proceeded to sit [sit!!] through 8 hours of listening, watching slides, and hearing stories. For some people, it's torture. The knowledge is great, when you get it. But the sitting! We're just not accustomed to be in one spot for such a long period of time. After all, we like to move; that is why most of us chose this profession as opposed to "office manager", right?

Now my class has only one session left to attend. August 21st. I'm sure every student in Brown Friday has that day marked on their calendars. Even though we're still apprentices, we theoretically have the knowledge of 5 years worth of apprenticeship book training. From what I understand, the JATC of Local 26 was one of the first schools to implement this "day school" program, whereby the first three years are devoted to teaching and learning the traditional curriculum of Books 1-5. It's really great because by the 4th year, we can really begin concentrating on becoming an A-Journeyman. We've got enough book learning to basically comprehend most of the electrical systems we come across, (and if we don't, we at least have some kind of text book to use as a reference) and yet there's that fine line that delineates us from everyone else -- lack of experience. It's humbling. And that's a good place to sit, in my opinion.

The best way that I can describe how this feels goes something like this: there will always be someone more knowledgeable than me, and this is a person I want to learn from; there will always be someone less knowledgeable than me, and this is a person I want to learn from. In fact, some of the best things that I have learned about the trade have come from watching or working near a lesser-qualified electrician. When you make a mistake because you don't know any better, you just don't understand why it happened, how it happened, or how not to make it happen again. But when you watch a mistake happen and you know exactly how it got to be, it's a much more memorable experience.

Three cheers to the end of day school! Three more to the beginning of night classes!

PS. I'm still terribly excited for our fourth year bump in income.