There is a huge amount of elitism in the industry and I agree, it sucks. One of the guys I apprenticed under taught himself in the cupboard under his stairs... How does this qualify you to teach other people?!

That being said, I think the main reason established artists are so shitty to potential "scratchers" is the serious amount of damage you can inflict when you don't know what you're doing (plus you would not believe the amount of shitty scratcher tattoos the average artist gets asked to cover up, haha!) Watching videos and learning on fake skin and fruit is all well and good but doesn't actually prepare you for tattooing a human and, let's be honest, most people practicing intend to graduate to skin at some point...

IMO, I think the apprenticeship/scratcher debate really comes down to supervision and hygiene, someone to make sure you don't fuck up your first few tattoos tooooo badly and to make sure you aren't going to give anyone hepatitis in the process. But there are a lot of artists out there who are shitty to "scratchers" for basically no reason, they resent that they had to suffer through a tough apprenticeship and think you have to do the same to somehow "earn the right" to tattoo and that's bullshit if you ask me.

Wow that got long and rambly, I hope this doesn't come across as me being a dick - I just think this is an interesting topic and you make a valid point, no one was born with a machines in thier hands! Do you have to pay to do an apprenticeship where you live? This seems to vary massively from place to place... I didn't have to pay to do mine BUT I did have to work 7 days a week at the studio, unpaid, during said apprenticeship.