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The following is a brief history of the UAW-Ford Apprentice Program... In the area of Skilled Trades, the method of passing the craft on from one generation to the next is called an Apprenticeship, an age-old system that dates thousands of years to ancient Babylonia. The Code of Hammurabi - one of the oldest laws in recorded history - required that artisans teach their craft to younger people. Throughout history, the Apprenticeship practice has had many setbacks, but remains an important part of education because it is essentially a method of learning by doing over an extended period of time. In Medieval Europe, parents sent their children for eight years of unpaid labor with a craftsmen to become a Journeyperson. At that time the practice was monitored by powerful trade guilds. These guilds issued strict standards to which Apprentices, Journeypersons and Master craftsmen had to adhere. In the 1600's, the concept of the Apprenticeship came to North America. It was modeled in the French and English tradition but was governed by loose laws and had little guild monitoring. Therefore, Apprentice training was never the same from one craftsman to another. The position was usually indentured and the young Apprentices received only room and board in addition to their training. As the industrial revolution spread across America in the mid to late 1800's, Skilled Tradespersons were viewed by some as unnecessary due to increased automation. However, the machines that changed the landscape and automated production processes needed to be built, maintained, and repaired by knowledgeable workers creating an even greater need for Skilled Tradespersons. During this time, a young man by the name of Henry Ford became an Apprentice in a machine shop in Detroit. He went on to found the Ford Motor Company in 1903. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Apprentices across the country were often denied a Journeyman's card or their Apprenticeship was extended to keep them at a lower wage level. Employers feared that newly graduated Apprentices would leave and apply their newly learned skills elsewhere. Most of the time these men were from eastern or southern Europe. In 1937 the National Apprenticeship Act (part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal Program) was passed to standardize United States apprentice programs. The law established the National Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training. Ford Apprentice Schools were a model of the type of program an Apprentice should go through. Since that time 5 million men & women have graduated from Apprenticeship programs in the United States. The goal of the act was to hold Apprentice programs accountable. Programs were mandated to track hours more effectively and to be accountable to the US Department of Labor for the program content before a certificate of completion was issued. As both a philanthropist and an astute business owner, Henry Ford recognized the importance of specialized skilled training in particular fields and felt he should assist under-privileged youth to learn a trade. In 1916, Henry Ford founded the Henry Ford Trade School with three company administrators, and one instructor as a component of the company's welfare programs. To be selected, candidates had to be less than 17 years old and in need financially. That year there were 9 students housed in the AA Building of the Highland Park Plant. The following year Frederick Searle was hired as superintendent and the enrollment grew to 61. By 1927, 2,800 students were enrolled. Thus was born the modern form of vocational training that combined shop training with formal classroom instruction. This is the model upon which the UAW-Ford Joint Apprentice Program is based. The small school was an instant success and Henry Ford then incorporated the school and in 1919 took over St. Francis Orphanage next to the Highland Park Plant. The alternating training schedule was changed from 1 day in class and 2 days in the shop to 1 week in class and 2 weeks in the shop. When the Henry Ford Trade School moved out of the Highland Park Building in 1932 for the Rouge Complex, Edsel Ford contributed to the founding of another school there. Lawrence Institute of Technology was an engineering school that pioneered degree seeking night courses. This greatly effected the Joint Apprenticeship Program as it allowed students to attend class at night and work during the day. Lawrence Institute of Technology left the building in 1955 when it began constructing its campus in Southfield Michigan. After they left, Ford Motor Company tore the old building down that same year. Buildings at the Rouge Complex were used for academic classes and shop training. In the late 1930's Henry Ford Trade School academic classes moved to a building located at Michigan Avenue and Southfield Road, while Shop training remained at the Rouge along with the Apprentice Program. Ford Motor Company World Headquarters was built on this site in 1956. In 1947 the Henry Ford Trade School revised its curriculum and was able to grant high school diplomas. As a result its training became more concentrated on teenage boys from age 14 to 18. The Henry Ford Trade School closed in 1952. Operations wound down until 1954. The Henry Ford Trade School merged with the Dearborn Junior College. This College was formerly the Fordson Junior College until 1946 when the Dearborn city schools merged. It was an outgrowth of Fordson High School and occupied a building on Michigan Avenue and Lois Street that also served as an elementary school. A grant of $1,000,000 in 1952 by the Trade School Board of Trustees from the Henry & Clara Ford Estate was made to the Dearborn Junior College, the new college became Henry Ford Community College in honor of this donation. The grant from the Ford Estate assisted the college to move to its present location on the grounds of the former Henry Ford Fair Lane Estate in the 1960's. Henry Ford Community College continued its involvement with the joint program by being one of the primary schools used for Apprentice Related Trade Instruction or RTI. During the 1980's the UAW-Ford National Development and Training Center was located at the Main Campus of the Community College, the National Program Center currently resides in Downtown Detroit. In 1923 Henry Ford established the Henry
Ford Apprentice School. |
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In Solidarity, |
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