Being in the auto body business, I have to agree that we, as a country, are entering into a throw away society. If it can be delivered on a truck, there is no need to repair it, or so it seems. Of all the auto body shops that I know, there is only one person working there that can really fix anything, the rest are parts changers The local school has dropped "auto body 101" because nobody wants their child to be a body man, "he must go to college".
I teach auto tech, auto body, small engines/ motorcycle and transportation systems at Sealy High School in Sealy Texas. In Texas, schools are closing many "vocational" programs. the trend for years now is to pretend to teach students this stuff by placing them in front of a computer. In the 23 years I have taught at three different schools I have seen a machine shop class closed and turned into a dance studio, (feel free to place you comment here) At another school the paint and body lab was closed "because you can't make a living doing that anymore"( feel free to place comment here). I now work at a school that has expanded from just Auto Tech, to motorcycle repair, and a body lab. We are bucking the trend right now. Classes like mine are under attack nation wide. In Texas voters elect the school boards. Voters need to push this issue across the nation. I will get off my stump now.
Where I used to live they closed the vo-ag shop department and traded the equiptment to a contractor for a awning from the building to a parking lot for teachers.They then spent thousands of $ and converted the shop to a fiberoptics,media room. No-one to this day has ever been able to tell me why they needed this media room.
Principal reason the skilled trades are dying off is because the paper shufflers and computer dicks look down on people who make a living working with their hands, and expect them to work for ten bucks an hour. Mechanics, welders, machinists, carpenters - all used to be respectable trades. Now we're the underclass in a country that is literally falling apart around us.
several yeard ago they closed the entire auto program at santa monica c.c . they had some great teachers that worked in that dept. thats where i learned to weld and most of my automotive knowledge. learned my bodywork skills there too. really sad!! i went to a vocational school and became a machinist, of course most is learned on the job. but without the schools to help guide we are def headed in the wrond direction
true, but when it does all fall apart around "them"..it will be people like us that will be able to fix shit, thus we will be the ones ahead, and able to fix things,and bring back to life expensive equipment that their throw away mantality wont know what to do with , where as those types will eventually need our skills. There is going to be a ton of work for the skilled...if this country ever picks its ass up off the tit
I saw that earlier and promptly plastered it all over the facebooks. I have this dickhead college professor for a neighbor. Thank God the guy on the other side is a welder. Anyway, one day a couple summers back, I heard him ranting to his old lady about how "The goddamn blue collar people think they run the world." Guess what asshole, they do. Tell the mechanic that fixes your little cutsey-poo BMW how you feel. Tell the plumber that saves your ass when your pipes explode how you feel. Tell the electrician in the bucket truck in the middle of a thunderstorm how you feel. Tell the fireman that saves your home how you feel. Tell the policeman that saves your life how you feel. Tell the military guy that protects your country how you feel. Fucking asshole. Got me all wound up now.
Mike Rowe speaks for those of us who have to wash their hands before they un zip their pants, and we are the ones that don't need a sign to remind us to wash before going back to work. Don't pee on your hands, simple enough.
I've always enjoyed watching Mike Rowe, but now I have a new found respect for him! I found what he said about vocational training being looked upon as a second choice, or alternative for those will less ability to go on to higher education quite refreshing! Even back in 1968 when I was getting ready to graduate from high school I can remember the reaction of my guidance counselor when I told him I was going to go to work for the local Cadillac dealer and attend GM training school. His exact words were, "Why would you waste such a bright mind being a grease monkey?" Seems to many that this is still a second class job, as are any that involve physical exertion, and getting your hands dirty. I told my sons to do whatever made them happy, but be sure to pay attention and learn to fix things with your own hands.
Many of the vocational classes in the school districts in the Houston area have been and shops are closed down, sitting there empty with equipment, working stock, waiting for a day that will likely never come, re-opening day.
Great address by Mike. I've been a big Mike Rowe fan after seeing this talk he did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-udsIV4Hmc If you haven't watched it before, its a good one too.
And somewhere I've read: "A society that holds their philosophers in highest esteem while holding their plumbers in low esteem will have neither wise philsophy nor working plumbing."
I'm 27. Took the autobody auto shop and metal shop classes in high school. They were the only damn classes I could get my head around and keep my attention. Been a machinist for 10 years now. It's been rough. Finding a good paying machinist job in this economy with so many shops closing has been difficult and just finally 5 months ago a good enough paying job to quit my part time. I have 3 kids at home and I want my wife to stay home and raise them so I have always had a second job.. I wish this trade would come back to its former glory. It's amazing what can be built right in your own town and not shipped from Korea. Sorry for rambling on. Ken
Canada, is no different. Skilled labor is in short supply. Where I work, we are active in replacing those of us that are close to the finish line. We are Tradesmen at the Naval Dockyard.We often have tours of young people coming through the yard. An Apprenticeship at our facility is a coveted prize . Slowly society is realizing that dirt under your nails looks like money in your wallet.
Im an electrician and 95% of the people I work for think your some white trash cause you get dirty and have to work hard to earn your money. The thing they dont understand is that it took 20 years of on the job training and 4 years of trade school to do what I do. I didnt learn it in 4 years sitting in a classroom. When people question the price or time it took the best response is, Im here because you cant do it or you didnt want to do it. Thanks Mike Rowe!
Some of the wisest people I know are tradesmen . It is nice to know that a few people get we are all about . I agree ,thanks Mike Rowe .
I have a bachelors & masters degree. I wear a tie to work EVERY day. I'd trade the years spent seeking those degrees for equal time experience in a good body shop if I could. Mike Rowe is a hero. JH
I teach my students to be proud of what we do. I tell them to wear the dirty jeans and shoes as a badge. It shows folks that you really do something that is constructive and means something. Being a gearhead is a special club that most cannot join. I walk the halls at school with my dirty jeans and black tee shirts for all to see. I am a proud member of the dirty blue jean club. I teach the students to weld, fit steel, understand electron theory, fluid dynamics, mechanical forces and other physics related stuff. I teach them to hold their head high and charge rates like any professional. I get the same old lip service every year. "more kids need to learn what you teach...just not my kids, my kids are all going to be successful." I have met folks who tell me that if you don't go to work and have an office you are not successful........Call a pencil pusher when you need help. ..see what happens. Try shipping my job to the other side of the world.
Thats all right Dude, we will be the ones laughing in the the end, we can get by, fix things, make things, and live happily with what we got. Those that are "better" than us, well, they gonna be hungry when the fit hits the shan.
And It will ,Im a general contractor ,Weder .Bodyman and have 2 customers Id tell the hell off because of there demanding attitude and there behind in payments.....I can make something out of nothing .Just with my hands like many of you guys out there ,So the hell with them,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have been a blue collar tradesman all my life. I took a look at all the trades and chose Welding. Started out at the tender age of 17 and took Welding in a couple of different vocational high schools one in Saskatchewan (AE peacock Technical High in Moose Jaw Sask) and finished at Victoria Compisite High in Edmonton. After that I went through the Alberta apprenticeship program and got a Journeyman ticket, then went on to pressure piping with stick and Tig. Took many metallurgy and inspection courses and finally after a long career in the oil and gas as well as power and other industries I have been teaching the younger trades apprentices full time now for the past 13 years. In Alberta we have the support of the government for full blown trades programs with funding for a large number of certified trades. They recognize the value of the skilled trades to the province and economy. That being said, we too have experience some closing of our technical high schools and the encouragement from high school guidance councellors to push kids towards academic careers. We have been fighting that telling everyone we can that there are kids who will just do better as tradesmen and will prefer to work with their hands. We need that in society, we need people to build infrastructure and maintain it, to provide us with a lot of what we take for granted in daily life. Over tha last few days I took part in a provincial competition -trades show demonstration called Skills Canada. All the training institutes set up displays and have what we call Try-a trade. We bring kids (or adults) into screened off areas (around 15 or so) and suit them up for welding. Then with some basic instruction and guidance they get to weld their initials on a small piece of metal with a mig machine. Then we cool it off and they can take it home with them. They (kids, male and female and adults) loved it and during one day we had 760 people through the booths. The trades are alive and well in Alberta and with looming skilled trades shortages we can only hope we influenced some of the youngsters to take up the torch. I sit here as I write this and my voice is shot I can hardly talk anymore from the combination of helping the huge numbers at the Try-a Trade as well as teaching my regular classes. But it was worth every minute of it. Already can't wait till next year.
That has hit home here... I'm glad Mike has stood up and told it like it was for us that wear the "collar". Now a days,it's" I" specialize(bla bla bla) I can fix you front end allignment,or I can paint your car.....What the hell else do you know?C'mon! ( I take nothing away from you). I'm the last of a dying breed.... I have to know how to make sure that fire engine shows up full pedal at your house and actually pumps water,That police car gets to you lickety split and catches the bad guys,That tractor repairs that broken pipe in front of your house with the sewer spewing out,all the things that make all the pretty places you see nice(IE) parks be kept up...everything from hydraulics,to the less desireable "honey wagon" that flushes sewer pipes. Now a days,things are a changin'. Think about what he said......I come home with stained hands..... But, If I didn't,I don't think I would enjoy "our hobby" and wouldn't get to play or be here. Support the trades and the younger set. Encourage them,for without,we'll just go to shit sooner than later. Rant over!
Upcoming auction http://www.auctionzip.com/Listings/1093630.html Another school closing out the shop class. I have been on both sides of this coin.. office and tech. Been put down for being able to "work with my hands" by my former supervisor and a co-worker.... but who did he come to when his car needed fixed and he couldn't afford a mechanic. It is a shame to see trades being treated as a second class job. Manage a food service that hires teenage kids and you will quickly learn they do not know how to properly use a broom, peel carrots, and mop a floor. Let alone weld or use a hammer. There is no App to fix the toilet spewing crap back at you or leaking at 2 a.m. Do not know if it still exists today but in the 1980s the local area community college had something called "College for Kids". You could sign up for Welding, Metal Work, and various other type classes during the summer and get a taste of what was out there in a controlled and safe environment. Ask people if they even know how to change a tire and watch the look you get as if changing a tire is beneath them.... that's for the roadside service to do. Hats off to Mike for trying to bring this to the forefront and get people to see differently. I bet that in 10 years there will be a new rally and billions spent to bring back skills to the classroom but not till after we have made two generations of children completely incapable of even knowing how to make the most basic repair. Home improvement and auto part stores should be the ones championing this as well. Without "DIY" Lowe's, menards, Home Depot, Napa, Advanced Auto Parts, and other similar stores will be without customers. I just pray that we don't become like the movie Wall-E where in the future everything is magically done for you.
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