On Friday February 9, 2007 an article in the National Post editorial section perpetuated a myth by referring to tradespeople as ‘marginal specimens’. The Bogus Case For Lower Tuition references: “…marginal specimens who truly belong in trade school (should) not while away a taxpayer-subsidized year or two flunking liberal-arts courses merely because they enjoy the frat scene.”

Sadly, this bias is a typical, pervasive, and negative perception. The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum – Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA) is a pan-Canadian not-for-profit organization that conducts research into and promotes apprenticeship training and the skilled trades. The CAF-FCA is currently conducting research on the return on apprenticeship training investment for apprentices. Preliminary findings reveal that apprentices rank higher than the national average when it comes to high school completions. Moreover, their mean reported average grade in high school was 74 percent.

This means that apprentices are making a wise choice because they emerge from the training with relatively low debt, plenty of opportunity, and good pay (hourly wages are expected to double upon completion of apprenticeship). Some individuals may have been too distracted by their own smug rhetoric to heed this message, but it is one that is beginning to resonate with youth across the country.

One only has to look at the myriad of successful people who currently work in over 200 skilled trades across the country, and who contribute to the economic health and vitality of this country to get the message. Tradesperson and successful businessman Donald Oborowsky recently donated $1 million to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). Mr. Oborowsky arrived in Edmonton from Saskatchewan with $65 in his pocket. He now owns several successful companies; one of them, Waiward Steel Fabricators Ltd., has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies. In addition, Mr. Oborowsky was bestowed the Alberta Premier’s Award of Distinction.

Hardly a ‘marginal specimen’.

Allison Rougeau, Executive Director
Canadian Apprenticeship Forum – Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage