My grandfather dropped out of school when he was in third grade, the sudden death of his father the driving force behind him having to abandon a formal education to go to work. By necessity my grandfather became a skilled laborer and eventually a well-to-do meat-packer; and no doubt his business success had to do with a commitment to self-education. He was an avid and voracious reader, which made him a well-rounded individual. He lived to be 97 years old, and right up till the end he could do the Sunday crossword puzzle in The New York Times in less time than I could replace the spark plug on my lawnmower.
I, in short, am not a well-rounded individual.
I may have graduated from Vanderbilt University, a (#humblebrag) top 20 school according to the U.S. News and World Report, but I’m about as handy around the house as a blind man with 10 thumbs. I recognize this failing and always have. I don’t disdain hard work, and have held my share of blue-collar jobs, including as a lawn-maintenance worker at a retirement community and a dishwasher at several restaurants. Give me a shovel and ask me to dig? No problem. Show me a steaming car engine and ask me for a diagnosis? No idea.
If I were unable to find work stringing together words, I’d have few reservations about turning to manual labor as a way to make ends meet. After all, I think I’d rather sweat than starve. Is that open-minded or merely practical?
Mike Rowe, host of “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel, thinks the United States as a whole doesn’t respect blue-collar workers. The emphasis on obtaining a “higher education” overlooks the need for society to be undergirded by a workforce that possesses practical, useful trades, he says. Rowe, who jokingly refers to himself as a social anthropologist of sorts in the video above, recently testified to Congress about the need to start a nationwide public relations campaign touting the need for blue-collar workers. He notes how odd it is that the country is suffering from both high unemployment and a labor shortage in certain sectors. Why aren’t there enough skilled welders in certain areas? In part, it probably has to do with people’s lack of respect for this profession. Why would you want to become a welder or possess some other blue-collar job? Well, as Judge Smails in “Caddyshack” put it so aptly, “The world needs ditch diggers, too.”
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While the sentiment that blue collar jobs are just as worthy of praise and respect as white collar jobs is correct, I’m not sure it’s a decent remedy for our current economic woes.
Does Mike Rowe have any evidence that there are labor shortages in certain trades? It’s pretty hard to believe that people are simply unwilling to learn to be welders if employers are in such dire need of those services.
Some sort of data would be nice.
I doubt they’re in dire need at all. They’re just not praised as much as white collar jobs or emphasized as much as white collar jobs, but people are still filling up vocational schools and doing these jobs.
My father was a Guidance Counselor for about 30 years at a Vocational School. He made this same argument every day, and I think he would wholeheartedly agree with Mike if he were still alive today.
Well said, Mike! Let none of us ever undervalue the kind of work that puts dirt underneath your nails and sweat on your brow.
How can you not love this guy!
Thank you Mike Rowe for being a voice for those of us who aren’t afraid of a 40 hour week!
THANK YOU MIKE!!!!! America needs to wake up and realize that we NEED trades promoted in the educational system. I’ve been watching exactly what you’re talking about since I was in high school in the late ’70s. We had education and opportunities in the trades that were respected, hard work and satisfaction of a job well done were respected. Check out http://www.shoprat.org/ for some more insight, there ARE people that have been trying to keep the trades afloat! But it costs big money to support industrial arts just because of the equipment needed to train on. Much cheaper for the… Read more »
I have a special place in my heart for the blue collar worker. My dad barely finished high school but he successfully ran his own business in farming and trucking. A lot of people stereotype farmers as being less intelligent and hicks. But they are some of the smartest men I know. And some are potentially even multi-millionaires. You just wouldn’t know it because some tend to like to drive around their old 1970 chevy more then some flashy piece.
Aint that the truth. I remeber back in a high school biology class where the teacher was talking about plant life and using local crops as an example. He was talking all fine well and good until one of my classmates (the soon of a succesful local farmer) started correcting him on stuff like tilling and fertlization methods. Pretty interesting.