Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
The new middle: BMW joins the apprenticeship renaissance
The new middle: BMW joins the apprenticeship renaissance
Jul 6, 2025 7:11 PM

I recently highlighted the rise of hands-on vocational training in educational institutions across the State of Colorado, wondering whether such developments might signal the beginning of anapprenticeship renaissance in the United States. Indeed, many panies and industries are taking a similar approach, experimenting with a range of models for cultivating human capital in the modern age.

In South Carolina, for example, BMW is now expanding its apprenticeship program at one of its largest manufacturing plants. BMW currently trains about 35 workers per year at the facility in collaboration with munity colleges.

Anticipating growth for an ing production line, pany will need roughly 1,000 new workers over the next few years.Unfortunately, such labor is hard e by, requiring a unique mix of “soft” and “hard” skills. “You need to function in a team environment with both robot and human co-workers,” says Ryan Childers, a manager at the BMW facility. “This requires electrical and mechanical training, often some algebra or statistics, and IT know-how. It’s a new level of being multiskilled.”

In the United States, apprenticeship programs are increasingly being recognized as a viable solution in select industries and occupations. “Apprenticeships, as some economists see them, have several features that could help address skill mismatch,” writes Helen Fessenden in a report for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “They can ‘fast track’ workers (often from high school) to full-time employment in less time than a college education, as well as teach applied skills that are career-specific.”

According to Harry Holzer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former chief economist at the U.S. Labor Department, they also help train workers for “the new middle.” “You don’t need a college degree, but you do need something beyond high school,” he says. “The ‘old middle’ jobs in fields like traditional manufacturing and clerical work do not. And that’s where jobs are disappearing and wages are shrinking.”

But while such programs offer plenty of promise, significant obstacles remain. In her report, Fessenden summarizes the challenges to igniting these programs in the United States, whether political, economic, or otherwise. The most striking, however, is the resistance from the culture:

A bigger factor than finances, however, might be culture. In other countries, it’s more likely that college is seen as one option among many, and apprenticeships are considered a worthwhile route to middle-class employment. In the United States, parents are more likely to see college as a vital investment without considering other alternatives, including vocational training or apprenticeships, to place their children on a viable career track — a view that’s likely due in part to the persistent labor market advantages of a college degree. But for high school students who might not finish college for academic, financial, or other reasons — and who might drop out with debt but not the benefits of the degree — the apprentice route could be another alternative toward gainful employment. BMW’s [Ryan] Childers [manager of the Scholars program] agrees and says he sees this play out frequently when he meets with Scholar applicants and their families.

“To sell the Scholars program, you have to convince the parents,” he says. e with the mindset that their kid has to go to college, and it’s on us to show them that our program can also lead their kids into a lucrative and high-tech career — and can do so without debt.”

It is here, at the levels of culture, that we see the more significant obstacles to vocational specialization and economic dynamism in the United States. Resisting the confines of the four-year-college cookie cutter requires a fundamental shift in our educational priorities and economic imaginations, leading us toward a broader view of vocation and economic stewardship that aligns with the true diversity of human gifts and the true scale of human needs.

The range of possibilities needs to be opened up, both practically and philosophically. As of now, apprenticeships offer but one small challenge to the overarching educational, vocational, and economic conformity that dominates modern life, but the more they emerge, the more the prospect of their promise seems to stick.

Image: BMW Mini-Plant;Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5:9-17   (Read Ecclesiastes 5:9-17)   The goodness of Providence is more equally distributed than appears to a careless observer. The king needs the common things of life, and the poor share them; they relish their morsel better than he does his luxuries. There are bodily desires which silver itself will not satisfy, much less...
Verse of the Day
  Deuteronomy 7:9 In-Context   7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.   8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Luke 6:27-36   (Read Luke 6:27-36)   These are hard lessons to flesh and blood. But if we are thoroughly grounded in the faith of Christ's love, this will make his commands easy to us. Every one that comes to him for washing in his blood, and knows the greatness of the mercy and the love...
Verse of the Day
  1 John 4:19 In-Context   17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.   18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect...
Verse of the Day
  Romans 8:28 In-Context   26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.   27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will...
Verse of the Day
  2 Corinthians 6:14 In-Context   12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.   13 As a fair exchange-I speak as to my children-open wide your hearts also.   14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?   15...
Verse of the Day
  Romans 16:17-18 In-Context   15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord's people who are with them.   16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.   17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are...
Verse of the Day
  Ephesians 6:14-16 In-Context   12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.   13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on 1 John 4:7-13   (Read 1 John 4:7-13)   The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. He that does not love the image of God in his people, has no saving knowledge of God. For it is God's nature to be kind, and to give happiness. The law of God is love; and all...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on James 5:12-18   (Read James 5:12-18)   The sin of swearing is condemned; but how many make light of common profane swearing! Such swearing expressly throws contempt upon God's name and authority. This sin brings neither gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, but is showing enmity to God without occasion and without advantage It shows a man...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved