Last week we were getting something to eat at an Italian place called The Three Brothers. We had a good conversation going with the franchise owner. He was still working the place every day after 30 years. He had been successful enough to support his family and pay the bills. We got to talking about how hard it was to find good help. His analysis was that the kids today did not want to work. He mentioned a 15 year old girl who made $17.00 and hour with tips who just didn’t feel like coming in and texted him to ask if he would cover her shift.
We asked him about his kids working in the place. They had helped out and could run it for him but he did not want his kids to do it for a living. He didn’t want them to be forced to work as hard as he had worked.
He expressed the feelings of most parents today. They want to have their kids do better than they did. That is good. The problem is that our culture has decided that blue collar, working class type careers are inferior. They don’t see any prestige in working with their hands or getting dirty as they make a living. It goes even deeper than that. Our culture seems to feel that people who work in the trades are beneath those who work in professional careers. We really need to change that.
I see it in education. Someone decided that everyone has to go to college. As a result we have done away with the wealth of industrial arts classes we used to have. We are trying to prepare people for college who hate to read and don’t have any desire to develop the skills necessary for those careers. People who would have made good mechanics, plumbers or electricians don’t necessarily have the mindset to be lawyers or doctors. Our culture needs both types of people.
John Gardner wrote a book called Excellence. I read it years ago. I think I still have a copy but it is 3,000 miles away. I Googled the quote I remember.
“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
Our current attitudes do not speak well of the future.
This attitude is behind some of the problems we are having with immigration. It is one of the reasons that we want more immigrants. Many of them come with skills we need. Most of them are willing to work hard, get their hands dirty and sweat. Because of that we need to improve the process for legal immigration while getting serious about the scourge of illegal immigration.
We need to start with a change of attitude toward work and its value. We need to stop being impressed by college degrees and embrace those who want to do and contribute whether they be our children or the recent arrival.
homo unius libri
So much truth here I don't know what to key in on! Although I now do white collar work I am from a blue collar family, and still respect those who work with their hands. In fact, I sometimes feel that is what I should be doing, too.
ReplyDeleteI really like the quote about plumbing and philosophy. It is so true.
It is ironic that the man doesn't want his kids to have to work as hard as he did. It is hard work that has him where he is today, and will do the same for his kids.
Good post.
As I look for work, I constantly come across jobs that I could do well, yet cannot get because some idiot decided to make the position require a better college degree than I have (I only have two associate degrees). The fact is, most JOBS don't require the knowledge that ANY college degree can give you, they only require common sense and a good attitude. The EMPLOYERS require the degrees, thinking they'll be getting smarter employees, when usually all they get is someone who's never done an honest day's work in their life and has no common sense at all.
ReplyDeleteWarren,
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is that he doesn't see how his own example of hard work is paying off. He avoided our attempts to open spiritual issues so I would guess that he isn't a strong believer. But then, I have not seen that as always waking people up either.
Grace and peace.
Gorges,
ReplyDeleteTell me about it. Some of the best teachers I have known have been let go because they didn't have the right piece of paper. I keep telling people about my paper qualification to teach high school micro-biology but I would not go near it because I would not have a clue.
All of this licensing is mainly a way for either elites, unions or government to keep control of us little people.
Grace and peace.