Federal And State Training Assistance
In 1962, the Manpower Development and Training Act were enacted by Congress. This legislation funded a broad program of training and retraining of unemployed and underemployed workers in various trades and occupations where jobs were available. The act enabled thousands of people to improve their basic education and make a start in some skilled occupation. The Comprehensive Employment Training Act was enacted in 1974. It absorbed and expanded the federal training programs being conducted under the Manpower Development and Training Act.
In 1982, the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) was passed to replace the Comprehensive Employment Training Act. This new act marshals federal, state, and local government resources to help economically disadvantaged and long-term unemployed people gain skills.
For the metalworking industry, the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) have conducted a special full-time pre-employment training program for people interested in metal-working careers. NTMA, with federal funding assistance since 1964, and now under JTPA, has provided valuable pre-employment training to more than 17,000 persons. That program is an accelerated, twelve-week course including hands-on training on the milling machines, lathes, grinders, saws and drill presses, and classroom instruction in basic shop math, blueprint reading, machine shop theory, and bench work skills.
This special pre-employment training program conducted by NTMA is the largest continuous nationwide program of its type. Many of the innovative procedures and practices developed in this program have been adopted by other organizations. These federal training programs have helped thousands of people secure basic education and training to enter the active work force of America. If you are eligible, contact your local government employment service office to see if any JTPA programs are currently being offered in your community.
Several states also fund training and educational programs. Consult your local government employment service office for information on programs in your community.
Veterans Training Programs
For eligible veterans, apprenticeship offers special opportunities. When a veteran enters an approved apprenticeship program, he or she may receive-in addition to wages-a monthly training assistance allowance under the Veteran's Pension and Readjustment Assistance Act of 1967.
As a result of their military training, some veterans will already be eligible for craft worker status when they are discharged. The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes and has certified many of the military occupational specialties so military work experience can often be credited toward a civilian craft program.
If you are a veteran, you should inquire at any Veterans' Administration office or the nearest government employment service office. The local posts of the American Legion, or the Veterans of Foreign Wars can also provide advice and assistance.
If You Are Under 18 Years Of Age
If you are about to enter high school or are already in high school and are interested in a metalworking career, enroll in a machine shop or machine trades course if it is offered at your school. Many high schools have excellent vocational technical programs.
If your school offers such a program, typically half of your school time will be spent studying the usual English, social studies, and other academic courses. The other half of your program will be devoted to special classes where you will learn shop mathematics, science, and blueprint drawing. You will also receive substantial hands-on practice in the school machine shop. After graduation you will have a big head start on people who have not been so fortunate. However, do not expect to be treated as a first class machinist when you graduate. You will still have more training and classroom study before you reach that status.
A technical school course differs from a vocational course because it provides less shop work and puts greater emphasis on sciences and mathematics. Also, the technical courses are arranged to allow sufficient credits for entrance to a college engineering or science program. The technical course will usually provide a sufficient number of machine shop and related courses to give you a good start in industry.
If you are already in high school and committed to a college entrance curriculum, it may be too late for you to change, even though you might now want to become a machinist. In that case, it is best for you to finish your studies and get your diploma. Concentrate on mathematics and science and, if possible, take mechanical drawing and all the general metal shop work you can. Many metalworking firms will offer apprenticeships to high school graduates who can demonstrate a sincere desire and have good grades in high school math, science, and mechanical drawing.
Stay In School
If you are in high school and are thinking of dropping out to get a job-don't! Under present day conditions, the minimum acceptable educational background for any sort of job with a future is a high school diploma. There will be very little place at all for the uneducated and the unskilled in the future except in the most menial, dead-end jobs. As industrial and commercial life becomes more mechanized and automated, only the alert, the informed, and the skilled will be wanted. A high school diploma is a must as a guarantee that you have had at least a basic education. A high school diploma is required for all civil service jobs and for most apprentice programs.
A high school graduate will earn more income from age 18 to retirement than a person with only an elementary school diploma. Numerous studies conducted under varying economic conditions show that persons with more schooling earn more money. The cultural and social advantages that come with higher education may well be worth the time, money, and effort required to stay in school, even if the immediate economic advantages should cease to exist.
Get your high school diploma. Don't let the promise of an available job and the expectation of a weekly paycheck and money in your pocket lure you away. The job may end, and you could find yourself in the ranks of the unskilled and unwanted looking for almost anything to do. If, however, circumstances are such that you have no choice, then you should try to complete your high school requirements at night school or possibly through a good correspondence school. It is an absolute must!
Consider Your Future
Finally, suppose you are already at work in a metalworking plant in some narrowly specialized job such as operating a production machine or doing some routine bench work. The chances are that you cannot get any experience or practice that will enable you to become a machinist. You have found it most difficult to break away from this production work since you must keep your job, and perhaps you are worried about the future.
The way out is through evening and other trade extension courses, which are offered by practically every large community in the country, and by the large, reputable correspondence schools. Such cities as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia conduct evening classes in machine shop practice where you can learn to operate all the machine tools, use the precision measuring instruments and hand tools, and, in short, prepare yourself to break away from the ranks of the semiskilled. In addition, you can learn the necessary trade mathematics, blueprint reading and drawing, and related science through the same channels or by taking correspondence courses.
Of course, it is not easy. It means sacrificing your evenings. It will require hard study after a day's work; but it is worthwhile. Thousands of top-grade machinists have taken this road. Get in touch with your local board of education and vocational advisory services to find out about these courses.
