Apprenticeships as an Alternative to College

In the Middle Ages, in Western Europe, apprenticeships would usually last seven years. Guilds during this time would control how the apprenticeship training was to be conducted (Encyclopedia Britannica). Additionally according to James Spady, the author of Dictionary of American History, in the early colonial days of North America the colonists did continue to use apprenticeships for teaching the youth a trade but did not use the guild system of Western Europe. Since the colonists did not continue using the guild system, the local government had to take over the responsibility that guilds in Europe would have performed. The craft and agricultural apprentice indentures were common during this time. Before industrialization in early American cities, the craft apprenticeships were common. Apprenticeships were not as common in the South as they were in the North because African slaves were trained in various craft techniques. The use of apprenticeships in the South declined in favor of slavery. Also, the South had a more agrarian economy, as compared to the manufacturing economy of the North. Therefore, the use of agricultural apprentices' indentures was still common in southern staple crops until 1670, when plantation owners started to use dramatically more African slaves for laborers. In the eighteenth century, the apprenticeships had a major change when the masters started to introduce paid wages and disciplinary measures; however, apprentices increasingly fled from their masters. White agricultural apprentices stopped completely after the American Revolution because there was increasing association with this apprenticeship and slavery. In the nineteenth century, apprenticeships were struggling to remain relevant because of the increasing numbers of factories. The factories shut down many master shops and forced journeymen and masters to work in hard labor instead of opening up a shop.