“Places All Over the Country Are Full of Really Smart People”

Mike Rowe talks the “skills gap”.

9 Responses to ““Places All Over the Country Are Full of Really Smart People””

1. Mr. Bingley says:

   June 23, 2011 at 7:45 am

   One of the best points he makes is how the “vocational arts” courses have been completely eliminated in schools. That’s a great phrase.

2. Mike Talley says:

   June 23, 2011 at 8:20 am

   Yes. We cant and shouldnt all go to college. When everyone goes, the effect is diluted. We will still need technicians and other skilled labor. He has been making this point for awhile now. But the press (and parents) have been pushing college as the answer to everything, when it isnt. No doubt you need some education to ever make it in this world, but a good Tech school will provide that and you will have the ability for a good job.

3. tree hugging sister says:

   June 23, 2011 at 8:31 am

   Exactly, Mike. Even parents who talk a good game about how “important” the trades are have blind spots when it comes to their own kids. For instance, we were having this very discussion at the shop with a fellow (who, by the way, was in TOTAL agreement with the sentiments) whose enitire family was college graduates out the yang, withOUT exception. Then he, without missing a beat, mentioned how his daughter had made it through her freshman year, and announced she was dropping out to go through welding school. Wanted to work with her hands, she did. I said good for her, but it went ZOOM over his head, because he was already talking.

   “She always was the rebellious one“, he said. “I’m gonna take care of that. No one drops out on my watch.”

   At no point did the complete hypocrisy of his statements hit him.

4. Larry says:

   June 23, 2011 at 9:28 am

   I am a professional knuckledragger. I don’t have a degree, never needed one. It doesn’t mean the degreed people are smarter than me, it just means they are more educated.
   And I have met some really stupid highly educated people.

5. Gary from Jersey says:

   June 23, 2011 at 9:57 am

   He’s right. Plumbers and electricians around here make as much or more than mid-level managers yet they’re scorned for getting dirty. Maybe that would change if hot-shot lawyers or shrinks were forced to learn to DIY; a little humility amongst the moneyed classes would go a long way toward encouraging people to learn a trade.

6. MikeT says:

   June 23, 2011 at 10:36 am

   some days I wish I worked with my hands instead of pushed a mouse and moved lines across a screen as an engineer. I watched a public works crew lay pipe. Sure it was 104 outside, but they were happy. At the end of the day they had their pipe laid and went home not worrying about a thing. Meanwhile I am chained to my desk working on plans that may or may not ever be constructed by men adn women with more knowledge than I have…*sigh*

7. JeffS says:

   June 23, 2011 at 10:28 pm

   I hears ya, Mike, and I’m withs ya.

   Mr. B, my older brother teaches at a local “technical college”, which used to be the local vocational-technical school. Now it’s run by professional teachers who have to hire retired tradesmen (like my brother) in order to REBUILD the “technical” side of the “technical college”. A lot of that was funded by local factories, who are BEGGING for trained technicians. Well paid jobs, too.

   The mind boggles, it does.

8. nightfly says:

   June 24, 2011 at 10:46 am

   I recently passed the ten-year mark at my place of business. I have some college… I’m happy enough and it’s a good place to work.

   My kid brother, with no college whatsoever, has been a mechanic most of his working life. He outearns me. And I also don’t see how he’s any less happy either… or any less smart.

   Spending ALL your time on theories and abstracts is a good way to educate yourself into stupidity, because you become convinced that you can outwit reality. Evidence for this theory is scattered daily across our newspapers and monitors.

9. NJ Sue says:

   June 26, 2011 at 8:46 pm

   As a college professor, I agree that not everyone needs go to college in order to find decent work and lead a productive life. On the other hand, I’m not sure that physical labor and the trades are the answer to employment problems. A lot of the trades are very hard to perform once you get into middle age. The tasks wear out the body. At least white collar work can be done even if you have arthritis or orthopedic problems.