The American author Mark Twain is known first and foremost for the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He is also renowned for his diary, the reading of which Barack Obama said had allowed him to understand America. Finally, he is famed for his narratives. In one of these narratives, entitled 'Life on the Mississippi', Mark Twain dedicated several chapters to describing accurately, and with his own unique sense of humour, how he learned to pilot a steamboat on the Mississippi. At that time, the young Mark Twain was neither a journalist nor a writer, and the prestige of the pilots of these immense steamboats which sailed the wild waters of the Mississippi was such that he decided to become one himself. At the time of his apprenticeship, the Mississippi was an untamed river whose course was constantly changing: the water level varied between floods which burst the riverbanks for dozens of kilometres, and periods of drought, during which the very shallow water reduced the possibilities of manœuvring and increased the risks of running aground, or into rocks, dead trees or wrecks. These changes occurred very quickly, but the wildness of the river also kept the banks and even the bed of the Mississippi in a permanent state of flux. Traffic of all sorts of vessels was heavy, while half-submerged trees and all sorts of other floating objects could bob up to the surface at any time. The depth varied according to the season and the place, rocks appeared and mist could obscure everything. You could not find a more typical example of what ergonomic psychology calls 'dynamic environments', or environments which develop independently of the actions of a professional, and which he must manage to recognise well enough to anticipate what is going to happen and to react according to these changes.

Pilots are seen as veritable institutions, well known and very well paid, since the pilot's responsibility is considerable, and his skills are sought out and admired. The law provides that they must take neither advice nor orders from anyone else, including the boat's captain. It is a long apprenticeship, and Mark Twain had to pay the sum of 500 dollars, payable against his future salary, before Mr. Bixby agreed to teach him "about twelve or thirteen hundred miles of the great Mississippi".

The chapters of Mark Twain's narrative dedicated to his apprenticeship teach us a great deal about what workplace learning can entail, and about the role which an experienced and willing professional can play for the apprentice. Mr Bixby was not content to take advantage of the teaching opportunities which continually came his way in the course of the journey; he devised the apprenticeship and fed it on guile. He took a genuine pleasure in making him see the depths of his ignorance and, for several weeks, it could be said that the more Mark Twain learned about it, the greater seemed the extent of what he did not yet know. We have here an essential function of the most experienced teachers or supporters: hold back from too-fast development and a feeling of over-confidence, to make it clear what has yet to be learned.

If Mr Bixby was not afraid to run the risk of discouraging his pupil, he was equally willing to recognise the skills he had acquired. He was not afraid to put him into difficult or unexpected situations either, and held back until the last possible moment before stepping in. These ways of working are a long way from being shared in the working environment by those who act as teachers or trainers.

One of the gems of Mark Twain's narrative is surely where the writer manages to describe, all at the same time,

• the working environment which the pilots had to master: an untamed river with its endless changes, an enormous yet frail vessel laden with passengers and goods,
• the risks, the challenges, the ways of making mistakes or being misled created by this environment, as well as by the illusions of a premature feeling of competence,
• the actions and the tools, the pilot's tricks which reveal extremely elaborate teaching strategies;
• all of those were experienced by the young man throughout his apprenticeship.

As has already been shown with the book ‘Composing with Sheep’, it may well be that the books which teach us the most about learning are not always the books written by teaching specialists. In every case, few technical and scientific books on apprenticeship are as well written, as amusing and lively, and as rich in learning.

You can find the chapters on this apprenticeship grouped together under the title 'The Boys' Ambition: Life on the Mississippi'. Folio Editions.

In French : here

In English : here