College isn’t for everyone. It’s time to challenge the status quo and embrace the potential of apprenticeships in tech, healthcare, finance, and more—which can provide a sustainable pathway to economic opportunity. For decades, college has been the only respectable way to access the world of work, despite paralyzing tuition and a dire lack of practical skills that has left 40 percent of college graduates underemployed, unfulfilled, and struggling to repay student loan debt. Education and workforce expert Ryan Craig explores how a modern apprenticeship system will allow students and job seekers to jump-start their careers by learning while they earn—ultimately leading to greater workforce diversity and geographic mobility. With a deep dive into the history behind America’s outdated college system, Craig reveals: The origins of the student debt crises and admissions scandals Why apprenticeships are an effective pathway to career opportunity What America can do to catch up with other nations making apprenticeship opportunities broadly available Where students and job seekers can go to land an apprenticeship Featuring a directory of US apprenticeship programs by industry and location, Apprentice Nation is an accessible blueprint for a country where young Americans of all backgrounds can launch careers in a variety of in-demand fields. With just a few common sense changes to education and workforce development, anapprentice nation will put the American Dream within reach—for everyone.

Apprenticeship or vocational training is a subject of lively debate. Economic historians tend to see apprenticeship as a purely economic phenomenon, as an 'incomplete contract' in need of legal and institutional enforcement mechanisms. The contributors to this volume have adopted a broader perspective. They regard learning on the shop floor as a complex social and cultural process, to be situated in an ever-changing historical context. The results are surprising. The authors convincingly show that research on apprenticeship and learning on the shop floor is intimately associated with migration patterns, family economy and household strategies, gender perspectives, urban identities and general educational and pedagogical contexts. Bert De Munck is Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, where he teaches social and economic history of the early modern period, history and social theory, and European ethnology and heritage. His research focuses on the history of craft guilds, 'social capital' and vocational education. Steven L. Kaplan is Professor of European History at Cornell University. He published Les ventres de Paris. Pouvoir etapprovisionnement dans la France d'Ancien Régime (Fayard, 1988), Le meilleur pain du monde. Les boulangers de Paris au XVIIIesiècle (Fayard, 1996), La fin des corporations (Fayard, 2001) and (as editor, with Philippe Minard) La France, malade ducorporatisme(2004). Hugo Soly is Professor of Early Modern History and Director of the Centre for Historical Research into Urban Transformations at theVrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. His writings focus on five major areas - urban development, poverty and poor relief, 'deviant'behaviour, industrialization, and craft guilds. Currently he is working on perceptions of work in pre-industrial Europe.