Ripley’s 1919 “Life in a Large Manufacturing Plant,” the story of General Electric’s Schenectady Works, takes a surprising turn in its description of the apprenticeship courses offered at GE, suggesting boys not waste their time with college:
“One of the problems facing most boys of 16 who are trying to choose a profession is: 1st. If I start work now I cannot get a good education. 2nd. If I get a good education I cannot start work now. As a matter of fact, they can do both.” Ripley goes on to note that Thomas A. Edison, “the greatest inventor of all time,” never went to college. And then he notes that neither did Henry Bessemer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Michael Faraday, Alessandro Volta, Elihu Thomson, James Watt, Isaac Singer … and on and on.
“In this chapter we will describe how boys may obtain a four-year job now, and at the end of the term, in addition to having received a good practical education, will have earned approximately $3,000. What is perhaps more important still, they will have learned three important things which are not taught in college, viz.: First, the value of a dollar; second, the independence which comes from earning one’s own living; and third, the strength of character developed by working with men. The usual college student does not receive pay while he is being educated, but the members of the General Electric apprentice courses are regularly paid while they are being educated ….
“Boys should appreciate that what they learn in practical work they can use right away, and at the end of the four-year course, in addition to having earned between $1200 and $3200, they will be full-fledged journeymen, possessed of a trade. The present graduates not only are capable of earning, but are actually employed in positions now paying not less than 40 cents an hour – a minimum of $3.20 per day.”
In fact, at a time when very few had access to higher education, this was a good course of study that situated many of them with jobs for life.
“Of the 66 boys graduated in 1916 from the apprentice course at the Schenectady Works, eight entered the service of the U.S. Government and 50 are still working for the General Electric Company at not less than 40 cents – and most of them are earning from 50 to 55 cents – per hour, and working nine hours a day. Think what it means to these boys, who in 1912 had no trade or profession and only a grammar school education, and yet who today are making $4.50 a day as established journeymen, all-around machinists, special tool makers, expert molders, full-fledged pattern makers, and technical draftsmen!”