How my apprenticeship shaped my future

When I was a kid, I was always the one taking apart our bicycles just to see how they worked. I loved working with my hands. Many kids and teens today are probably just like me, but instead of helping these students develop trade skills, we instead dissuade them and push them toward a “one-size-fits-all” traditional four-year college.

An apprenticeship program shaped my life – taking me from construction work to Congress. Now, as a member of the House of Representatives, I’m fighting to raise wages for hardworking American families and make sure there’s a seat at the table for everyone.

{mosads}I received “the other four-year degree.” I was an electrician’s apprentice and then worked for years installing and restoring power for New Jersey homes, businesses and industrial sites.

When I was an apprentice, every spot in my program was spoken for – with a waiting list of hundreds more who wanted the same opportunity. Today, it concerns me to see a stigma surrounding apprenticeships in America. I also noticed it when first arrived in Congress. I found for some there was a lack of understanding about apprenticeships and the day-to-day needs of workers.

During this year’s National Apprenticeship Week, let’s start breaking down that stigma. We should remember that our country needs electricians and computer programmers, just like we need doctors and lawyers.

I recently returned from a bipartisan three-day congressional study tour, where we saw how the thriving Swiss apprenticeship model works. In Switzerland, two-thirds of all students start their careers with apprenticeships. At a Nestlé facility in Lausanne, we met lab technician apprentices who are conducting food and nutrition research. Many Swiss apprenticeships, such as this one, lead to white-collar, high-paying jobs, and help create an educated, skilled and secure middle class.

Here at home, we need to learn from the successes of the Swiss model. We need apprenticeship programs here that are as appealing as they are in Switzerland and as popular as they were when I was starting my career.

When a child is born, you don’t know if they’ll want to go to college or build the college. In Congress, we should be supporting each kid equally. That’s why I introduced the 529 OPTIONS Act. Right now, students and families can use 529 tax-free savings accounts for college, but they can’t use those same savings accounts for apprenticeships. This exclusion is unfair and counterproductive. My bipartisan bill gets rid of the exclusion and makes skilled-based education more affordable. We should pass it and level the playing field for the students and future workers who start out in apprenticeships.

I also started the bipartisan Congressional Building Trades Caucus that focuses on issues that affect millions of construction workers, like how we can prop up and inform others about the building trades’ successful career-training programs. The North America’s Building Trades’ Unions invest $1 billion a year in apprenticeships, another $10 billion in apprentice wages and benefits, and have 1,600 privately-funded training centers around the country. We need other industries and companies to step up and follow suit for the betterment of the next generation of Americans and our 21st century economy.

For centuries, our ancestors passed down their knowledge and skills to their children and grandchildren. It’s fundamental to our survival, after all. But, nowadays, it seems our society is only focusing on the knowledge part of the equation, not the skills part.

An apprenticeship gave me the tools I needed to make a living and life for myself and my family. I learned about the dignity of a hard day’s work back in 1979 and it’s what drives my work in Congress today. As I fight for higher wages, worker’s safety, job creation and erasing the stigma that surrounds “the other four-year degree,” I am grateful for the apprenticeship that started it all.

Norcross represents New Jersey’s 1st District. He is a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee and is a graduate of a skilled apprenticeship program.