Skip to main content

Back to School: Round 2, Week 8

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am now only 2 weeks from completion, at least for this level of school. While there is a part of me that is itching to get back to work, a part of me is going to miss the bubble. The one that seperates school from the rest of your life. There have been some funny, good times, and while there was an inherent trust in this group of people from day 1, we've reached the point that is more than just comraderie from circumstance. 

I looked around the class one day this week at the 60 or so of us. Out of the group, I've had conversations or interactions with at least half of them. While there are social 'groups' within our numbers, there wasn't ever the sense of division. Maybe some people feel that way, but that's not the way I've experienced it. 

Part of me wonders if those that I've talked to have ever had the experience of working with a woman on the jobsite before. I wonder if their contact with me or the other women in our class have impressed a new or otherwise unthought of opinion about having women working in the trades. Granted it's a little different, my generation is growing up to fight these kinds of gender stereotypes. But still, part of me hopes I made an impact.

As for actual school stuff, this past week was mostly absorbing the last of the information we need to learn. We are wrapping up the last of the new concepts, or taking that last step in the progression. Next week should mostly be review, and the final week will be all the testing. There is certainly a sense of things winding down. 

That being said, there is a part of me that is overwhelmed with the amount of information I've consumed in the last 2 months. I feel like before school I'd been working blind compared to the things I understand now. And unlike some things you learn in school, most of it I feel like I'll actually use! I can tell that I've been lucky with the exposure on the job that I've had. It makes a big difference in the learning process. I've witnessed first hand those that work in restricted environments or narrow sectors of this trade and how that has hindered their learning in school. 

Personally, my goal is to be a generally well rounded electrician, and not stuck in a narrow, specific section of the trade. I think that makes for a more desirable employee.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back to School: Round 3, Week 8

Well this is it! The last week of learning before the next weeks exams. At this point, the focus on learning the last few things, and getting that last bit of practice before we get tested. Just when collectively we seem to be mingling more as a group, it's so soon going to come to an end. The Dean of the school came into one of our classes to gather feedback about the school environment and the curriculum. The electrical curriculum hasn't officially been updated since 2003. The technology has changed so much since then. The teachers have been great with staying up to date. However, with fairly strict guidelines as to what they have to teach, there isn't much time to deviate for new material. There was also an interesting discussion that came up about the school environment, specifically as a trades school. Generally, non-trades people won't notice or pay much mind to things like plumbing issues (toilets not working for long stretch of time), communication wires ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back to School: Round 3, Week 5

This week is the halfway point. After this, only 4 more weeks to go. On Monday, Graham and I swapped vehicles. After driving the truck, getting in the Civic was like watching a dog drag its butt across the floor, except I was the dog. It seemed like I should have been in Fast & the Furious, driving under tractor trailers. I digress... There were two test this week: PLC programming (I got an 87.06%) and Prints test (I got an 92.68%). I I had someone commend me this week for dealing with all the accident related stuff but still getting 80's and 90's for my grades. (Also got 100% on an Instrumentation assignment!) This has been Hump week: we are now at 4 more weeks to go before school is over. So it's really 3 more weeks of learning and a week of tests. WIth how busy I've been, I've had to drop any tutoring I wanted to do. I've had a minimum of 3 appointments a week, mostly after, sometimes during school. With missed classes I had enough of my own catch...
Post a Comment
Read more

The "Social Impacts" of a Female Working with "Mostly Male Construction Workers"

The first time I'd heard anything about comments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on Newstalk 1010' s The Night Side with Barb DiGiulio .  For reference, here is a section of the comments from Mr. Trudeau at the recent G20 summit as posted in an article from the National Post : " Even big infrastructure projects, you know, might now say, well, what does a gender lens have to do with building this new highway or this new pipeline or something? Well, you know, there are gender impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area. There are social impacts because they’re mostly male construction workers. How are you adjusting and adapting to those?"    A lot of people are focusing specifically on the "social impacts... ...of mostly male construction workers" part in a negative light. I'd agree, it certainly doesn't sound good, does it? The resulting public interpretation of what that comment meant spinned the narrative to that of t...
Post a Comment
Read more