Yeah, the problem here is the devaluation of the language making casdave less of a snowflake, rather than kids being co-opted into jobs paying a third of the minimum wage.
Unfortunately there has long been a tradition of hijacking things such as job titles in order to make a specific role seem more important, and this is generally used as a cover for rubbish pay.
Apprentices did used to get pretty low pay, in effect they were investing in themselves, and a good employer would also contribute - an apprentice trained tradesperson was usually a pricey asset.
I have seen schemes that claim to equip a person to a trade in 26 weeks - utterly ludicrous - the object of many of those schemes was to reduce the number of long term unemployed at lowest cost rather than provide a career or a competent tradesperson.
Why would a government scheme hijack this term? Because it is, or was, regarded as something worth having and something worthy of being. They are devaluing the term to appease some voters, and they are providing a cheap workforce.
There has been a long history of such training ‘opportunities’ from the notorious YOP through to the jobseekers training allowance, but over time people get to understand what they are - they have a certain shelf life beyond which their credibility decays to such a level they are almost worthless so other names are used to disguise the exploitative nature of them. Hijacking the word apprentice is simply trying to ride the back of a term that still has some currency. In time these schemes will be seen for what they truly are, but by then it will also have marred the reputation of a true trades apprenticeship.
Lots and lots of job take time and skills to learn, I have just seen on my own organisation intranet someone who is being lauded for having completed a one year ‘modern apprenticeship’ in IT. Whilst this may well make her feel good, and learning is generally a good thing, its simply a con.
Learning office skills takes time, but it is not an apprenticeship - this is mainly a functional skill, desirable and there is a demand for such skill - but I prefer to see things priced in money rather than job title.
Technician and engineer used to be terms that designated a high skill level, but nowadays they seem to be attached to the lowest skill level in a field.
Apprenticeships and internships seem to be just another way for companies to cut costs and get cheap or free labor, without much benefit to the people who serve in these roles.
They also serve to block older, more-experienced workers from getting a job. Companies that are looking for interns often set a pretty high skills bar considering they aren’t intending to pay the worker.