Physics Professor Becomes Apprentice Electrician

     The Electrical Worker,  the official journal for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has an interesting piece in its Aug issue.  It's the story of Cindy Krysac, a Toronto physics professor who applied for and received an apprenticeship to become an IBEW electrician.  She is now in her third year of this apprenticeship, and is quite happy with her choice.

            Most people would find it surprising that a 50 year old physics PhD who has taught at a college level for many years would trade this life to be a construction electrician. But having worked at the electrical trade for nearly forty years, and having been married for nearly forty years to a woman who just retired from a professorship at a local college,  I’m less surprised than most.

            Those who work at the skilled trades are sometimes attracted to the academic track—and vice-versa.  In my own local union, over the years, I’ve seen two Journeymen resign their positions to accept jobs teaching electrical skills at community colleges; and I’ve seen two people give up teaching careers to become apprentice electricians.  Other applicants for apprenticeships have included a general foreman at a major avionics factory, a recent graduate with a BA in philosophy, and numerous others with some kind of academic credentials.   Yet a few journeymen have returned to school to seek engineering degrees.   It has always been a two way street, with a small but equal flow in both directions.   Between the skilled track and the academic track, both have their rewards and disappointments, and neither is quite what it appears to be.

            Cindy Krysak says she enjoys the hands-on involvement and real world problem solving, the chance to get away from a stifling desk job, and the loyal and protective support of the “bright, friendly, and creative” people she works with.   She says some of her friends in academia envy her new life “mucking about with wires and using cool new tools.”

            At one time, back when manpower was in short supply, I was given the task of talking to high school guidance counselors in the area about recruiting apprentices.  In nearly every case they would suggest something like, “Well I’ve got a few guys who were never any good at math or science, but they’re good with their hands. Maybe they’d be good construction workers.”  Then I would patiently explain that any applicant who would not be accepted at Iowa State or some other fine engineering school would probably not be chosen for our program.  And if they were accepted into our program, they’d never make it past the second year.   In short:  the admission requirements for an IBEW apprenticeship are about the same as for any good engineering school.

              Actually, I felt that some of the guidance counselors already knew this, but had their own ax to grind.  A counselor’s job performance rating is based on the percentage of graduates who are admitted to four-year colleges.  If some bright young kid, who could easily be admitted to M.I.T., chooses a community college or an apprenticeship instead, this is chalked up as a failure for the counselor.  Even if such a person obtains a rewarding and remunerative career, and does so without impoverishing his parents, the counselor failed.  So when counselors try to aim every student they possibly can towards a four-year college, it may be their own careers they are trying to promote—not their students’ careers. 

            I wish Cindy Krysac the best of luck.  I have no doubt that a 52 year old woman can become an electrician.   I had an apprentice who was a middle aged woman, and she became an excellent electrician.  My only concern with her being 52 years old is that in ten years she’ll be  62 years old, the same age I was when I took early retirement because my body just wouldn’t take it anymore.  There is both a cerebral and a muscular-skeletal dimension to what electricians do.  When an apprenticeship committee interviews an applicant, they ask two questions:  "Did you get high grades in math and science?"  and "Did you do well in sports?"