When I was a middle class teenager growing up in suburbia in the 1960’s I performed manual labor to earn money. I worked on a farm, mowed yards in my neighborhood, painted houses, had a newspaper route, and did odd jobs for neighbors. When I was old enough to work (age 16) I flipped hamburgers at a fast food restaurant while continuing my paper route and mowing jobs. At 18 I was able to get a job with a moving and storage company paying slightly above minimum wage.
My high school had vocational programs in woodworking, graphic arts, and printing. Students at my high school interested in learning a trade could attend vocational classes at the local community college half day. Many of my fellow students who didn’t want a 4 year college degree or couldn’t afford one learn to be auto mechanics, electricians, cabinet makers, HVAC repairmen, dental hygienists, plumbers, and machine tool operators. Others joined the military where they served 4 years and learned skills which turned into careers.
Today, there are no vocational classes at my former high school and no cooperative vocational program with the community college. The community college has dropped most of the vocational classes and is focused on liberal arts instruction for students who will transfer to a four year college.
Today illegal immigrants mow yards and work on the harvest instead of local teenagers. Today our politicians and academia are obsessed with four year liberal arts education in subjects providing no skills for earning a living.
Today we have lost respect for manual labor.
BTTT
As a Southerner who came to your state for my college degree, I must state another side to your coin.
In East Tennessee we have North East State Community College that is purely jobs and trade oriented. The local industry and business have developed educational curricula directed specifically to their needs for employees that are both educated and skilled. That is, there are core mandatory education courses like math and English coupled with welding and various IT skills and health care related skills.
Additionally, there is a very technical but smaller facility that has very specific industrial related courses that can be transferred to credits at North East State
The end result is a work force that is both educated and skilled. The employe has the education to exist and progress with in the company or organization and possess high degree of training and skill in whatever was chosen.
We have East Tennessee State University that is a traditional state college offering all sorts of degrees. Many students have learned that the time spent at North East State results in immediate employment while a degree form East Tennessee State might not. It was of interest to me that while NES grew by orders of magnitude, ETSU flattened out. ETSU graduates find jobs of an administrative nature that don’t require the specific skills.
“Today our politicians and academia are obsessed with four year liberal arts education in subjects providing no skills for earning a living.”
They may be obsessed but what seems most conspicuously lacking is true liberal arts education. Recent college graduates could not pass my tenth grade final in English, History, Literature, Civics, Geography etc.