Replies

People shouldn't ignore the skilled trades. Given the choice between a young man getting a useless liberal arts degree or learning a trade as a carpenter or electrician, I'd say go for the trade.

I'm not AGAINST liberal arts degrees - I have one myself. But I also had the forsight to minor in comp sci, which was enough to get me in the door 20 years ago.

Some related links:

The jobs tide threatens an American industrial tsunami (John Ratzenberger)
Free Republic link

Also, at 19:20 in the video below, Mike Rowe briefly talks about declining trade school enrollment and how that is/will affect us:

Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe on Lamb Castration, PETA, and American Labor
Link to You Tube Video

My brother worked for years as a mechanic. He got so good and fast at it he was making a lot of money. Unfortunately, that was his downfall and the shop he worked for wanted to cut costs by hiring someone with less experience and, therefore, didn't have to pay as much. He's in his 50's now and worked for Bobcat since then, but got layed off from that due to the economy--they had to close the shop. Probably because of his age and experience, he's had a tough time finding another job. Being an auto mechanic is hard work. It's hard on your body, but it was good to him financially. He was able to pay off two houses over the years and buy his last one outright. He technically doesn't have to work now, but he would love to be working again. When someone is used to being a hard worker their whole life, it makes it hard when you are forced to completely stop.

I love the blue collar/working man professions. I love our garbage men. I love it that I can call a plumber up on a Sunday night and he can fix a leaking pipe in our crawl space. I love it that my brother has the know how to put new upper and lower ball joints and control arms on our vehicle. The blue collar man (woman) makes the world go around. They add to my life unlike any college educated lefty parasite on the tax-payer i.e. the political class. God bless our country that we still have these types around; although, they seem to be somewhat of an endangered species. Hopefully, that will change.

Thanks for posting! I have given this article to my co-worker for her stepson - who would never make it through college and I am giving this to an 18 year old girl I am mentoring. Her fiancee is working as a cook at Red Robin and if he takes this article seriously it could really impact their lives. They’re both trying to climb out of a bad background.

This is very practical information.