Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame has testified in front of Congress about this. Less and less kids are choosing manufacturing jobs, seeing them as beneath them or thinking they have less status. And who of us hasn’t heard a parent wish their kid would grow up to be a doctor or other white collar professional?
But the fact is, the reason plumbers, electricians and machinists are actually making more money these days is because there are fewer of them, and nobody to fill the shoes of the people who retire.
So what’s in it for a kid just out of high school?
An aspiring machinist — a popular factory job — can start training at 18 and then do a one- or two-year manufacturing apprenticeship. In five years, he or she could be making more than $50,000. In 10 years, that could double to $100,000.
Not a bad salary for a 28-year-old.
“If you’re really good at your work, you could remain employed for a very long time, because there are so few of us,” said Sedlak.
Sedlak’s top worker makes $30 an hour. And annual pay at his company ranges between $70,000 and $80,000 with overtime. In 31 years, only three workers have retired from his factory.
The average household income in the US is in the mid-40′s These kids could be making twice that before they’re 30.
There are an estimated 600,000 manufacturing vacancies nationwide. Plenty of jobs to be had. But we’ve cut finding from schools to the point that they can’t possibly teach manufacturing.
What we need is a multi-prong approach. Start with vets who have lost jobs or income because of their service. Create programs to get them trained up. Next should be the long-term unemployed. Get them the jobs they need. Then start with the kids. Get them trained. Fill those positions.
Note – this isn’t saying that they shouldn’t go to higher education beyond high school. These programs should be available at local community colleges and junior colleges that work with local businesses to develop apprenticeship programs. Kids, vets, anyone should be able to go to these classes and simultaneously learn on the job with manufacturers who need skilled workers. They can earn credit for their work, and the manufacturers can subsidize the programs. When someone gets through the program, manufacturers have a pool of qualified candidates to fill their positions. And with the schools and employers working together, they can make sure the enrollment matches local needs, to ensure jobs are filled without creating a glut of local workers.
We complain about jobs going overseas. But we have jobs here that aren’t being filled. We need to do our part to solve that problem.
Last week, teachers in some Clark County, NV schools had to have a talk with their fifth grade classes. It wasn’t about academics, no reading, writing or ‘rithmetic. No, the talk was about…
Sexting.
Yes, fifth graders, 10- and 11-year-olds had to be admonished on the topic of sexting and its dangers. Why? Because some had been caught sexting each other.
Again, these are 10- and 11-year-olds. Look I’m not naïve. I know kids learn about sex at a younger age. I know they are surrounded by the marketing of sex, bombarded with sexual images on a daily basis. But there’s a whole other problem here, isn’t there?
First, why do these kids have cell phones to text with? They’re 5th graders. What could they possibly need to have a cellphone for? If you need to get hold of them, you call the school. If they need to get hold of you, the school can call.
So the only reason I can see is that for some reason, the parents feel they need to have a cellphone before and after school. In other words, these kids aren’t necessarily going home.
Now I understand that child care is expensive. During the school year, I spend around 10% of my take home pay on childcare alone during the school year, so I understand the cost. And I understand that many, many families need two incomes to make it. So I understand parents not being able to pick kids up after school or be home when they are. But I was one of those kids. I came home every day, and I had to be there to answer the phone when my mom called. Took about 45 minutes to walk home, so I had to hustle.
It’s not like I didn’t get to play with friends, go to the pool, ride my bike around the neighborhood. No, I got to do all those things. But I came home first.
So like I said, I’m understanding of the situation. But I think a lot of folks are allowing things like cellphones take the place of responsibility for their kids. And I hear teachers complain about it as well.
Since the ill-conceived No Child Left Behind Act, teachers have been spending way too much time teaching to tests, meaning the more advanced kids get to twiddle their thumbs while the others work on scoring well on the test. Last week, the school district in Washington, D.C. Let go about 200 teachers for under-performing. The problem? 50% of their evaluation came from a single test score. I’m all for holding teachers accountable. It’s necessary. But I don’t think a single standardized test is going to do it.
But what does it have to do with parents? Well, a big problem with why schools are failing has to do with parents. Parents hold sway over school administrators, complaining whenever their kids get an unsatisfactory grade.
When I was a kid, if you got a bad grade, you didn’t want to go home. But more and more, I’m hearing of situations where the kid gets a bad grade, and the parent comes in to blame it on the teacher. They move the kid to a different class, ask for extensions on home work beyond the deadlines, ask for accommodations of every sort. And they get them, leaving teachers wondering what excatly they’re supposed to do. They are supposed to get these kids taught and have them pass standardized tests, but the kids get excused by their parents for their failure to work.
Remember when you actually worried about not passing to the next grade? Not anymore. No, apparently kids are no longer held back. It might hurt their self-esteem.
Did you catch that? It might hurt their self-esteem. Because it doesn’t hurt your self esteem more when the other kids are brighter than you are or can spell and read and you can’t. But they don’t get held back anymore. I’ll give you a guess where the whole self-esteem thing comes from.
Parents.
These are the same parents that have removed scoring from little league games, or soccer games. “They’re ALL winners”. No. No they’re not. Some kids are not going to be the next Landon Donovan. They don’t have the coordination. And that’s ok. But there are winners and losers in life. They’ll be good at something else, I promise. It’s not fair to them to give them a false sense of their abilities. It’s also not fair to the kids who are good to not be able to celebrate it. And how do you teach sportsmanship and being a good winner – if you don’t even have the chance to win. Or to be a good loser. Most importantly, the kids KNOW who won or lost. Do we really think we’re fooling them?
But of course, this came from parents. I’m sure it was well-meaning. No one wants their kid to feel bad. But it’s the wrong extreme. And so it is with not keeping kids back when it is warranted. If they’re held back, it’s for one of two reasons – they either are having learning problems, and need some additional help and time to catch up, or they have behavioral problems that are causing them to miss work or not pay attention.
Are there mitigating circumstances? Sure. Kids diagnosed with some type of problem such as dyslexia or ADHD can get accommodations and put into plans that will help them get to where they need to be scholastically. So it’s not like there isn’t a way to help those who really need it. But the kid who goofs off in class, refuses to do homework, and lies to their parent about it? That’s not something that needs accommodation. It’s something the parent needs to deal with. Instead, many of these parents are putting the blame on the teacher and are shocked to find out their student has been lying to them. And even when they do find out, they try to mitigate the consequences for the kid.
What exactly is this teaching the kid? If you complain enough, you can slack off and not have to do what’s expected? That the rules don’t apply? Just wait, these parents will be shocked -SHOCKED – when these kids have issues with authority in high school. They already know how the game is played, and they’ll work it.
So the issue comes down to parents. Look, I’m not a perfect dad. I try. Maybe it was my upbringing. Maybe I’m old fashioned about some things. But these kids are getting away with stuff we never would have dreamed of. And the parents are acting as enablers. Maybe it takes too much of their time. Maybe they’re overwhelmed. But either way, they’re doing their kids a disservice by letting them off the hook. And the teachers get to deal with it.
The sexting comes from a gap in supervision. Kids see this stuff, but we as parents can have a strong influence on where they take it. Kids might learn about it, but with good supervision – asking questions and being involved with their kids, we reduce the chance that they make bad choices.
What do you think? Should kids have cell phones? What age? Do you think parents are the problem? Leave us a note in the comments – we’d like to hear what you think.
