have ya'll seen this? http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/mike-rowe-senate-testimony.html A quote to get you started.... "A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber, if you can find one, is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both. "
Very interesting. Think of all the kids that struggle with higher math and science. Who are told how dumb they are because they're not really "college material". Who are excellent working with their hands, but not memorizing worthless facts.
That's so cool. Hopefully it didn't fall on deaf ears. There is something to be said about the "good ol' way" of educating!!! Our poor kids today have so much pressure to be just like everyone else that all of our society is hurting for it. Go Mr. Rowe!!!
I've admired Mike Rowe for many, many years. If you haven't heard his Ted Talk yet, check it out. He's really an amazing advocate for hard work and old fashioned values. (and he's an Eagle Scout)
As the old saying goes: No one wants a blue-collared redneck until their car brakes down or their toilet backs up. Then suddenly we're their new best friend! :roll: The attitude toward skilled tradesmen has been a beef of mine for quite a few years. Everybody crabs about big rigs on the road until their grocery store selves are empty. Yes, truck drivers require training to drive. Everybody laughs about "plumbers crack" until their sink plugs or their toilet explodes. Everybody grumps about the utility truck blocking traffic until the electric goes out. :x Not every blue-collared redneck is equivalent to the village idiot. I'll climb down off my soap box now. Sorry for the rant. Marty
But the other side of this is that some trades are very demanding when it comes to some of those skills. My dad is a retired aircraft maintenance engineer and despite being a junior high dropout his reading skills, math skills and understanding of physics is extremely high. Same with my electrical technician husband. I think the difference is not that trades demand less in the way of math or science but that they teach it in a way that is directly applicable to some hands-on problem right in front of students. I never did get what sines, cosines and tangents were in high school but my dad lived them everyday. Lift? Air pressure? What? But for Dad they're easy as pie because they were fundamental to keeping a plane or helicopter in the air. I think those kids that are good with their hands are likely capable of being brilliant in math and science as well, they just have to be able to understand and use what they learn to truly get it rather then do exercises out of a book. Of course, you're point is still correct. Those brilliant kids are still lost when academics only means stuff in textbooks.
As the quote goes, if you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree, he'll spend his whole life believing that he's stupid. Mike Rowe and Sir Ken Robinson are a couple of the most outspoken advocates for non-academic education.
Great link. Thanks for posting. I expect my sons will be attending trade school at home while DH takes them to furnace, septic, electrical and the many other calls he gets every week. What he knows and does is a combination of training by his dad and electrical training the the navy. The man is a genius and can fix almost anything, and if he can't fix it he can just make something else work for the job. He stunk at school. But he's a very successful owner of his own business now. Hence, why my boys won't be required to go to college. They are so much like their father. I hope between him and me, they will learn all they need to know to make their own decision regarding higher education.
VERY well said, Dawn!!! Trouble is, those kids are stuck in "traditional" classrooms, where it isn't connected and so they grow up thinking they're "dumb", when in reality they just learn better by doing rather than reading.
Yes! Absolutely! My Ivy League educated, PhD. in Chemistry husband hopes we have at least one plumber in the family. In his words, "every family needs a good plumber!" I think it is a grave error that our society in its push to send every kid to college, fails to teach the trades. So many kids either drop out of school because what they are learning seems so impractical, or they graduate with few to no useful skills, and then don't go on to college.
My "little" brother has a college degree is Philosphy!!! And what does he do? Sell expensive bike/parts to all over the world via internet!
We work in an industry where skilled labor is a must. There is a huge lack of it. All of the "peers" in my husbands line of work are in their 50's and getting ready to retire. It is also highly math focused, and if there is somebody who is interested in it, very few can do the math that is required to perform the task well. On the forums they talk about it all the time, wondering what is going to happen in the next 10 years as the machinist retire, leaving no one to replace them. The people who don't do the job, say that robots, or computers will take the place of the people. But that just will not happen. The robots might do some of it, but a human just can't be replaced in all of it. I think it will be interesting.
I have always love Mike Rowe, and ds has watched nearly every episode of DJ. He has always struck me as a "real" guy, and this just proves it. I agree 100% with him. It also makes me feel better about ds. He is mechanically gifted,as is his dad, and cares nothing for "book learnin".LOL Coming from a long line of blue collar workers, I would be just as happy if my kids never went to college, which is not a popular view among most of my friends.
Thanks for posting this! We saved about $1,000 over the last few months simply because my husband knows how to do plumbing, electrical, mechanical and hvac. He can literally fix anything. He is treated like a janitor by a lot of people at work even though he is highly skilled and has over 30 years of experience. People look down on him because he is a blue collar guy and they have a degree but guess who they call when they need help
My dh has to use math for work a lot. He was working with his boss one day on some plans and had to do some calculations. His boss went looking for his calculator. By the time he found it, dh had the answers they needed. His comment "does everyone need calculators today?"
