Kaine visits NN Apprentice School
NEWPORT NEWS—An important part of the Hampton Roads economy rests on the shoulders of shipyard workers, and Sen. Tim Kaine says the government should make it easier for more people to get their hands dirty.
He didn't hear any argument Wednesday during a tour of The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding, which trains workers to build nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines that form the backbone of the U.S. Navy fleet. The stop was part of a two-week swing through Virginia while Congress is in recess.
Kaine has formed a Senate caucus that seeks to further career and technical education. He says federal and state policy sometimes under-values the craft trades while pushing people toward four-year college degrees.
Kaine is a Harvard-educated lawyer, so he has nothing against higher education. But he favors incentives that would encourage would-be welders as much as attorneys.
For example, the military offers tuition assistance for active-duty troops at two- or four-year colleges, but not at high-quality technical programs.
"We ought to broaden tuition assistance and GI benefit programs to enable people to get these kinds of skills for the next generation of shipbuilders," he said.
Sometimes, government just sends the wrong signal. In Virginia, community colleges receive funds based on the number of students taking degree-based programs, but not for people attending workforce skill programs.
"People go to community colleges all the time to pick up technical and other skills, sometimes to help them advance in the job they're in or find another job," he said. "We basically send the message to community college – well, that's not important."
If The Apprentice School is any indication, shipyard careers are as coveted as corporate desk jobs. The school turns away thousands to arrive at a student body around 840. It offers tuition-free apprenticeships in 19 trades and eight advanced programs. The school pays its apprentices for their 40-hour week, which includes classroom time.
During his one-hour tour, Kaine visited two physics classes and a drawing class, accompanied by Newport News Shipbuilding President Matt Mulherin and Vice President of Operations Danny Hunley. Shipyard officials say the school fulfills a leadership function for the company, much like the U.S. Naval Academy grooms future leaders.
Due to a hiring freeze in the 1990s, the shipyard workforce is weighted at two ends of the spectrum: older veterans and young employees with less experience. That should even out over time, assuming the workload at the yard remains steady, Mulherin said.
The risk, said Hunley, would be if the work flow is interrupted and those younger workers decide to go elsewhere while older workers naturally leave due to retirement.
Kaine said he was optimistic that career and technical education is seeing a rebirth. His own father ran an iron-working and welding shop, and while the future senator said he admired craftsmen, he was told in high school that college was the way to go.
"I always thought there was something out of whack about that," he said.
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