[I cannot think of a name]

Actually, this article is correct, with an unmentioned twist.

The main problem is boys and modern life. When I grew up boys were building model airplanes in their youth, working on cars (hot rods) in their adolescence, and by young adulthood were quite capable with their hands. They could move into a manufacturing job with ease, and there were lots young guys to fill them.

Today kids don't build anything. And cars are almost impossible to work on - not to mention that hod rodding is financially unreachable for most kids. As a consequence, trying to find someone that even knows which end of tool to pick up is difficult.

And I can't say for every field, but I can assure you that in aviation, someone that is REALLY good at sheet metal will be paid as much as a entry to mid level engineer. A move might be required, but there are companies paying BOUNTIES for top quality sheet metal people. As kids grow up less and less quipped to use their hands, I only expect that increase.

[EQAndyBuzz]

We had something in NYC called trade schools. You went there as an alternative to high school.

[RoosterRedux]

I think you are correct.

OTOH, I was watching my local access TV station the other day and the hot new activity in the local high school is robotics. They robotics club/team is going to CA for a competition (we are in GA).

[varyouga]

Your post also made me realize something else. When I was a kid and opened up electronics they looked like this pic. You could fix almost anything by hand and you learned electronics hands-on. There were also many more moving parts like tapes and turntables. Today's super-slim, sealed, stationary, printed electronics don't give kids a chance to learn about hardware.

Inside the ipad: