In today’s Advisor, we share a brief excerpt on the history of apprenticeship from The Art of Work by Jeff Goins, which first appeared on HR.BLR.com.
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In the Middle Ages, a young person worked for free in exchange for experience, room, and board. The student, called an “apprentice,” would live sometimes in the same house as the master, sharing meals with the craftsman’s family. This was the way a person became a professional, and the process began as early as age 12.
After completing the first stage of apprenticeship, the student, who was now called a “journeyman,” could venture out and travel to other cities, working on his own. What a journeyman could not do, however, was take on apprentices. That right was reserved only for masters. In many ways, a journeyman was still a student, though now able to be paid for his work.
To be a journeyman meant applying the techniques your teacher passed down to see if they worked in the real world. It was a test to see if you had what it took to become a master. There was a certain amount of restlessness to being a journeyman. It meant you hadn’t found your place in the world yet.
After a season of wandering, a journeyman had to submit a masterpiece to the local guild. If they found it worthy, the journeyman could graduate to the title of master, being accepted into the guild and finally able to take on apprentices. Then the process would start all over again.
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How much time do you think this process of apprenticeship took? Based on the modern equivalents, we might guess a few months, possibly even a year or two. Not even close. Under this system, an apprentice typically worked for a minimum of 7 years before venturing out on his own. Then he would spend another few years as a journeyman before finally becoming a master—if he was worthy.
The entire process took about 10 years. If you started training at age 12, it meant you wouldn’t become a professional until your twenties. And if you started later, you might not be able to practice a trade until your thirties. That’s only if you were lucky enough to get an apprenticeship in the first place.
Ten years—that’s how long it took to master a craft. This may be difficult to grasp today, when nearly every college student has the opportunity to go through multiple internships without much practical application, but as we have seen so far, finding your calling takes time.
Practice is essential not only to achieve excellence but also to clarify the call itself. An apprenticeship was an excellent way of learning a skill under the guidance of someone wiser and more experienced. But these days, there is little left of the apprenticeship system, which has left an unfortunate gap in our education. With the dawn of the Renaissance, the guilds eventually declined, and the popularity of universities grew, replacing the apprenticeship with a more general education. The ancient art of diving deep into a specific craft all but disappeared.
Jeff Goins has written four books, including The Art of Work, and has written and guest-blogged for over 100 magazines, publications, and blogs. He is also a speaker, consultant, and online writing teacher.
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In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll learn about apprenticeships in the modern world in another excerpt from his book.