When schools teaching actual job skills are rare (historical primary and secondary schooling consists of literacy, basic mathematics, and little else), a child hoping to become a tradesman has to start off as an apprentice. Apprenticeship typically begins in the very early teens, though anywhere from seven to fifteen is possible (or even younger if the child is apprenticed to a family member). Money may change hands; the parents may pay the craftsman to train their child, or the craftsman may pay the parents to compensate them for the loss of the child. The apprentice is a fulltime worker. He does menial work at first: sweeping, washing and running errands. At the same time, he learns his craft by observing his master and doing increasingly important small tasks related to the main work. He ceases to be an apprentice when he’s ready to work on his own, a determination left up to his master or a committee of working craftsmen, and usually the occasion of ceremony and celebration. However, the determination can be a point of contention, with a hot-headed young man yearning to be free of the rule of an old codger.