I'm a college graduate however many here will agree that the education bubble may be about to pop and that not everyone goes to college.
We must strengthen the skills trades and develop a new generation of entrepreneurs not union members.
There is nothing wrong with swinging a hammer for a living and I am often envious of those who do as I sit at my desk and breath stale air.
Video here: http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2011/05/mike-rowe-speaks-to-commerce-science-and-transportation-committee/
Yes, this is one incident where the celebrity knows whereof he speaks. He’s right. Not everyone is cut out for the college mold. We need skilled craftsmen for all kinds of things. A college degree is not necessary for a good life. Plus, if a person is not in college, they can’t be infused with liberal dogma....................
“We need to change the way the country feels about work”.
I don’t completely understand that statement. I was raised and continued to believe that all work is admirable. Doesn’t matter if you are an electrician, plumber, farmer, nurse, teacher, whatever. In fact, I have always wished that I knew basic carpentry skills like how to install a wood floor or how to fix simple plumbing. However, the government has no duty or responsibility to push one field of employment over another, especially with tax dollars. Usually a free market did that. If a plumber is good at his craft, he will make a good income. Same with a carpenter.
He’s absolutely right.
No skilled trades, no home repairs and no construction. Period.
I agree. This “everybody has a constitutional right to go to college” garbage is ridiculous. College should be the exception and not the norm. Strengthen the high school education so that everyone graduating from high school has the basic knowledge needed. Increase vocational training and apprenticeships, then make a college degree actually meaningful. The reason it won’t happen is that the NEA and most college campuses are actually about teacher job security and leftist indoctrination and not about education.
Wonderful, brilliant and to the point testimony.
I have seen a little of Rowe’s show, but don’t need to watch it all the time, as I am one who has been getting dirty for 35 years or more. Sensible social reformers have been echoing what Rowe is saying for decades now; including trying to debunk this absurd ‘mystique’ created around higher education and advanced degrees. Nuff said for now.
What strikes me about Mike Rowe’s testimony is that it is nothing but common sense. Why anyone would need to go to D.C. to testify before those morons in the the government is beyond me. Our representatives are so stupid that they need someone to speak simple truths to them.
Bump
If the jobs are here, and have decent pay, people will develop the skills to do them. I withhold my engineering skills except for those who will pay for them. Companies have been known to take on apprentice help, looking forward, and that is done with no assistance from the government.
If there are better jobs elsewhere, the people will move there for work. I'd leave the US in a heartbeat.
If it's welders, they're going to move steam and process material. That means something is going to have to make heat. Either gas or coal.
Lack of welders? I work in Generation construction all over the US. There's no lack of welders, qualified or not. There is a lack of clarity and resolve in the federal government bureaucracies to allow baseline power plant construction to procede. In five years, planning has dropped from 500 plants of 100Mw or more to less than 100 plants with maybe a dozen baseline plants of 600Mw or more in process.
Vilsak is an idiot.
The success of his shows will probably make these kinds of jobs “cool” again - but I think there is one huge omission from his testimony: he didn’t tackle the fact that union demands have killed off many industries in this country that need dirty jobs.
Sure, Mike loves to do this stuff and is a great ambassador. That’s not what we see inside the union halls all too often.
A celebrity went before Congress to do an infomercial?
Mike Rowe, one of my favorite Eagle Scouts!
Part of the problem is those who live in cities know absolutely nothing practical. Live in a rural area and men still know how to do a little of everything. I can not stand a man who can’t.
This is very good, I love Mike Rowe. My father was a jack of all trades like his grandfather. He was a welder first but there was nothing else that he could not figure out and fix.
I'm a college graduate, too. From that day back in 1987 when I first showed up for Freshman orientation, I knew exactly why I wanted to be there and what I was working towards. I was utterly stunned at the number of my peers who were there on their daddy's dime to figure out what they wanted to do.
I had an uncle and still have two cousins that sound like Mike Rowe's grandfather, one of whom is a GC I worked for during my high school summers. The things I learned from those men have proved every bit as invaluable as anything I learned in college.
Union and ogvernment agency licensing requirements have pretty much eliminated the ability of somebody to make a living as a "jack-of-all-trades" anymore.
MEMPHIS, TN – “Every Child, Every Day, College Bound.” It’s a slogan introduced by former Memphis City Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson. School Board Member Kenneth Whalum has proposed a resolution to discontinue the slogan. He says first we must address the district’s dropout rate which is close to fifty percent. “Secondly it’s a slap in the face for every self respecting plumber, everybody who didn’t have to go to college to make a living. It’s a slap in the face to them. Taking away a slogan would at least on the face of it indicate to our constituents that we are not crazy.”
Not every parent is crazy about this slogan. “I would hate for a child who’s just equally intelligent in other areas that may not be on the college level to be disappointed or discouraged or feel that they can’t make it or do anything because I’ve got college tagged behind me,” MCS Parent Kim Clark tells myEyewitnessNews.com.
There are some parents who say what’s on the banner works just fine. They feel it sets the bar high and that’s what the district needs. “The slogan is okay with me,” MCS Parent Latrina Hull tells myEyewitnessNews.com. “My kids are straight A students.”
Whalum says hundreds of MCS Teachers brought this problem to his attention. The resolution to eliminate the slogan will be voted on at the next school board meeting. Whalum says his hope is to replace these words with action. “Let’s stop worrying about our image. Let’s stop pitching mantras and slogans. Let’s educate our children. You know it’s a lie, and the kids in the classroom know it’s a lie, the teachers know it’s a lie; the parents know it’s a lie. “Not only that, it’s disingenuous.”