Five Takeaways From Mike Rowe’s Speech About Work In America

[GURPS]

Finding people who were willing to show up early and stay late and learn a skill that was actually in demand. The business of recruitment was a difficult thing. Everywhere I went on the road was ‘Help wanted’ signs. The least I could do was to shine a light on some opportunities that typically go ignored.​

The statistics back Rowe up. There are currently 1.5 trillion dollars of student loans on the books, and seven million jobs available, 75 percent of which don’t require a 4 year degree. But they do require training. Rowe wanted to provide such training as a way to begin to bridge the gap between goals and completion, college and a job, and failure and dignity.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/19/five-takeaways-from-mike-rowes-speech-about-work-in-america/

 

[glhs837]

Parents, peers, news organizations and education institutions themselves applaud kids going to college who will graduate six figures in debt and may have to move in with their parents afterward because they can’t get a job paying more than $30,000 per year. Rowe wants to know why these same folks — or society as a whole — doesn’t start talking about plumbing the way it does pediatricians? Or welders the way it does lawyers?

He's not wrong.

 

[This_person]

Rowe wants to know why these same folks — or society as a whole — doesn’t start talking about plumbing the way it does pediatricians? Or welders the way it does lawyers?

I don't think we should start equating being a decent pediatrician with being a decent plumber. One is MUCH easier than the other, and neither is over-staffed right now.

Personally, I would be much more proud to say my kid is a welder than a lawyer, however. One of those requires a great deal of skill, the other is grossly over-populated right now.

 

[glhs837]

I don't think we should start equating being a decent pediatrician with being a decent plumber. One is MUCH easier than the other, and neither is over-staffed right now.

Personally, I would be much more proud to say my kid is a welder than a lawyer, however. One of those requires a great deal of skill, the other is grossly over-populated right now.

One is indeed much easier. And that one can make you decent money for less than the $300K in cost and eight to ten years of your life a medical degree can run you. How many people rack up $150K and four to six years in before calling it quits. And never make the money needed to pay off that $150K? Not much discussion bout that, sadly. Or even why the hell it costs that much to begin with. Which of course doesnt touch the real problem. Which is $40k-$80K liberal arts degrees for tens of thousands of people when there are maybe tens of jobs that might allow them to pay those loans off.

 

[This_person]

One is indeed much easier. And that one can make you decent money for less than the $300K in cost and eight to ten years of your life a medical degree can run you. How many people rack up $150K and four to six years in before calling it quits. And never make the money needed to pay off that $150K? Not much discussion bout that, sadly. Or even why the hell it costs that much to begin with. Which of course doesnt touch the real problem. Which is $40k-$80K liberal arts degrees for tens of thousands of people when there are maybe tens of jobs that might allow them to pay those loans off.

We're in 100% agreement. I'm just saying that if you can handle the education, training, and certifications required, being a pediatrician is one hell of a great thing to be, and we need more good ones. Same with being a plumber, but one is a bit more exclusive on who can do it than the other. An awful lot of people can get a law degree, and probably less can be a GOOD welder.

I'm just saying "pediatrician" isn't what I would have picked to show a useless degree that people don't need a good education for, or that the country doesn't need right now.

 

[glhs837]

I dont think Mike meant that that way, more of a respect for being a person who works, be it taking Lil' Johnnys temps when he's sick, or coming out at 1pm on a Saturday to unclog a toilet that Lil' Johnny clogged up with his matchbox. Both of those professions should be respected for what they are. A community needs both, but the education-industrial complex has fostered this "degrees uber alles" to the detriment of those trades and ultimately society. If we sent fewer kids off for womens/gender studies degrees there are no jobs in and more into vocational tracks, we would all be better off. But society has panned those jobs for so long that you cant even get kids to consider them.

 

[This_person]

I dont think Mike meant that that way, more of a respect for being a person who works, be it taking Lil' Johnnys temps when he's sick, or coming out at 1pm on a Saturday to unclog a toilet that Lil' Johnny clogged up with his matchbox. Both of those professions should be respected for what they are. A community needs both, but the education-industrial complex has fostered this "degrees uber alles" to the detriment of those trades and ultimately society. If we sent fewer kids off for womens/gender studies degrees there are no jobs in and more into vocational tracks, we would all be better off. But society has panned those jobs for so long that you cant even get kids to consider them.

Fair enough. We definitely agree on the sentiment, so maybe I just read the wrong thing into it.