It would also help if young American males had fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins and their peers working in these trades.
They have to be exposed to the reality of hard, dirty physical work - and of potentially high wages.
Otherwise, what's on offer is clowning around in the service industry serving food and booze.
Or sitting in a cube surfing the net, going to some meetings, sending some emails. We’re on our second generation of video game kids, too. People increasingly choose the virtual world over the real one. The trades require real world skill and demand results that are measurable. In the corporate world, just being able to sling some BS will do. Just look at our president.