Mike’s second video after the initial launch of the site in 2008. It’s good to have resources and stuff, but don’t you think we should do something about this issue?
Watch this and tell us what you think.
Click here to watch the video.
7 Comments
I have the idea that will bring this all to a point. contact me back. Thanks
Mike, thank you for your push to get the skilled trades off its knees and standing tall and proud again like it should be. I wish there were more apprenticeship programs around to learn these skills and help people get back to work in jobs I have found very gratifying in the past and would like to get back to again. There is no more satisfying feeling than at the end of the day being able to look back on a job well done and have a sense of pride and accomplishment in the craftsmanship of your work. I would also like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of you who do these important things on a daily basis. You are truly some of the countries unsung heros.
Mike
Thank you for your adress to the government regarding skilled labor. As a Technical Instructor at a 2 year college and being a tradesman/owner myself for the past 30 years I completely agree. In addition to those massive numbers retiring there is a large number of folks that have to leave the skilled areas due to health issues. Everyone I know that is connected to this industry agrees what he problem is. The real issue is how do we get the spotlight on the affordable schools and programs in local communities to help with this. Our local Workforce Investment Board has been a leader in this area. Educating unemployed/under employed and judicated individuals to obtain skills in the building trades. I hope your position regarding this problem is heard at the highest level. Those that have the power see the need and offer continued assistance to existing and new programs that will be needed. Hope to see the difference!
I applaud you Mike. You are right, the skilled laborers are disappearing at a drastic rate. I remember working side by side with my dad as he fixed something, because of his teaching I can proudly say I know how to fix and install a toilet by myself. I can install a faucet also. He taught me much more than how to do plumbing, we hunted together, worked on the car together and up until the engines became so complicated that it takes a act of congress to get to the spark-plugs, I changed them as well as my oil. Sadly, I do not do that anymore.
I went to vocational school when I was in high school, I started with cosmetology, and ended up becoming an LPN. Unfortunately I injured my back in 1993 and could no longer work as a nurse. I miss it. I miss my dad too. I think of him sometimes when I watch Dirty Jobs. I appreciate what you do. I do worry about you and hope that you are current on all your vacinations!
It is great that someone has started a national movement for trade and indusrty. Mike has hit the nail on the head here. I have been a machinist for more than a decade and am now an instructor at a community college. The area I teach in is full of opportunities in trades, but we struggle greatly to find students. Why? Well H.S. and parents have engrained in these kids that success is equal to a four year degree. While I am a supporter of education, not every kid is a B.A. bound student especially out of H.S.. I have an A.A.S. in tool and Die, a B.A. in Industrial Technology (which I earned while working as a machininst) and now am woking an a masters degree. The single best educational experience of my life was at a tech school because the instructors had that “real life” experience that Mike shows weekly. Our H.S. teachers most often times have gone to school, gone to college, and then tought without ever really having expereinced what they are teaching. It is this process that leaves them with tunnel vision. More than that look at the people making decisions on the future of education more often than not they are over educated under experienced life long professionals, something needs to change and soon or we simply will not have a work force to deal with the Chinese threat.
I am glad someone is finally speaking up for the tradesman. I was at one time beguiled into thinking that “higher education” was the answer to economic problems. After I worked and went into debt to find a better job, I ended up working in a travel trailer factory that eventually went bankrupt. However, I learned an important lesson: There is good money working with one’s hands and it can be fun. Now I am a welder with a bachelor’s degree,I get dirty every day and I get well paid for it.
Still missionary after all these years. My how flies time when you’re having fun, or flies are fun when you’re having time, or something dirty like that.
I’m seriously hoping some industry locally will invite Dirty Jobs here. We could use the boost. Too many new and old foreclosure notices and bank owned properties for sale. Would love to invest in the $25,000 duplex in downtown Port Huron, but even that is out of reach…