Mike Rowe Philosophy

[caseyc]

Is Mike's Dirty Jobs TV show still airing nowadays??

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Hmm..i guess it is important to not the difference between low wage, unskilled labor like retail and skilled labor like mechanics and eelders, which i think is more what he is promoting. As some mentioned, these skills can actually be liberating once you get the time and effort in.

I was really happy to learn that my nephew is in a school with very good vocational program, he learned welding in middle school and is a program now that will land him a paid internship at toyota upon graduation making 20k while he studies at college, which they help pay for.

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Dirty jobs only airs as reruns. He hosts a show on cnn which is similar but not as dirty. He road trips across country meeting interesting people and exploring what they do. He said the show was actually the precurser to dirty jobs, when he pitched to discovery they wanted to only focus on the disgusting ones. He takes fan suggestions right off his facebook, and also goes back to people he met for dirty jobs but weren't 'dirty enough' to make the cut on discovery.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Mockturtle, don't know if you aware of this, but the same people who used to run AIG and who got a total of 170 billion in bailouts and loans and who were getting enormous bonuses and and other remunerations from the company are now sueing the government (as in you and me, the taxpayers) for another 40 billion bucks because they feel the terms for their subsequent behavior were too strict - even tho the ONLY alternative to the government monet was bankruptcy and their debt position was caused bt their own reckless behavior.

if any judge in the country awards them anything, I am personally thinking about establishing a Paypal account to pay for that judge's psychiatric care.

 

[akrvbob]

This thread is breaking down into those staying on subject and those heading toward politics.

The politics will get the thread closed which would be a real shame. Please don't do that.

Rather than allow that I'll start deleting your posts.
Bob

 

[akrvbob]

In America we make the faulty assumption that everybody should go to college which is simply wrong. Some people don't do well in classrooms. It has nothing to do with intelligence, just aptitude. It's just not what they are good at.

By assuming everybody should go to college we doom those not going to college with untrained minimum wage jobs. Very sad.

It's my understanding that in Europe they assume some will go to college and some will not. Rather than simply ignore and fail a large part of the population, they create a second track to trade schools where they get the training for skilled blue-collar job that will allow them to thrive without a college degree.

That seems like a much, much better system than ours!
Bob

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

That used to be our system too bob. At some point they started a huge pr campaign for higher education...which at the time was good. We needed people to do that as well. But like everything they took it too far. Then it became go to uni or if you are too dumb or lazy well you can settle for the vocational route. Or 'alternative education'...as if the one is choice 1 and other is failure. You'll never be successful but hey its better than nothing.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Well, I see it as more complicated than just college or not college. It's a simple fact that, in a worldwide economy, most of unskilled jobs that paid a halfway decent wage are going away. They aren't coming back. The decent jobs of the future are going to require additional training, but it's not all going to be in college.

When my son was in his electrician apprenticship, he was in classes that gave him an intellectual understanding of his trade as well as the hands on training he got on the job. Same with my 2nd cousin in his plumbing apprenticeship - it was a heavy dose of hydraulics theory and hands on experience on the job.

It's going to be about added training in or out of college if you want a decent living. Truck driving school, mechanics programs, chef school, whatever. The days of being able to just graduate high school -or even drop out- and enter the job market with the expectation of ever having anything like a middleclass life are over.

People are not one dimensional. If someone initially starts on one path, he doesn't have to identify with that choice for life. If he switches, there is nothing suspicious about that. People are multi dimensional and can have many interests. We can change our minds.

 

[LeeRevell]

I have seen the academic thing change where I worked. I and my Data Center manager attended high school together, neither of us went to college. We both ended up in the same IT department years later. He began right out of HS in the mail room, and worked up through the ranks into management.
I began as a lowly Operator 1, as an Op 2 I trained three Op 3s and then became one myself. I changed positions so fast I was on probation about four times longer than I should have been. Then I got into programming. I never wanted to go into management - I despise wasting time in meetings. I am a 'hands on' tech.
So we both retired about the same time. He had over thirty years, I had 24 - but I had ten years military time too.
Nowadays, a degree in something applicable to IT is required, as is a certain amount of experience. Times change.
Nobody wants to start on the bottom and work up anymore.

 

[decodancer]

I spent almost 35 years as a lowly dog groomer. I never wanted for anything and could get a job in any town I wanted. I started as an apprentice and trained half a dozen others who are now making good livings. We love(d) our jobs and look forward to going to work. There are never enough people to fill all the positions advertised. No degree required. Nurses are always in high demand and many hospitals will even pay for your schooling. Same with school bus drivers. You work with them for a certain period of time and can walk away with a CDL that you can always get a job with. I'm sure there are many other fields like these. I hate seeing parents or the kids themselves paying a fortune for a degree and end up working as a cashier because there are no opening in their field.

 

[PeterG]

I remember when I was a kid, maybe 2nd or 3rd grade, and the teacher was asking everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up. Being a kid, I didn't really understand my father's job. He ran a company that did metal fabrication and build storage tanks, but he had taken me to the shop once on a weekend and let me weld. It was really fun and cool to a kid, wearing the heavy leather gloves and the hood, smelling the ozone and flux burning as the rod left a glowing (and very crooked) weld bead on the metal. So when my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, "A Welder! That's what my dad does!"

She looked askance at me. She didn't say anything, but I could feel that I had not given the right answer. Sort of a patronizing look adults give kids when they say something naive. I remember that to this day, though I can't even remember the teacher's name.

 

[highdesertranger]

well the problem nowadays at least around here(so cal). the younger generations really don't want to do any job that requires manual labor were they might break a sweat. they all want to be president of ford motor co for their first job or a hip hop artist or a rapper. they really don't want to work. I have had several say they want to go prospecting with me but as soon as they find out that you just don't pick nuggets up off the ground they loose interest. give them a shovel and they don't even know what end to use. highdesertranger

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

lol I dont know why, but this just seems wrong

(https://www.yahoo.com/tech/what-its-really-like-to-work-at-a-tech-startup-99541748994.html)

 

[mconlonx]

the younger generations really don't want to do any job that requires manual labor were they might break a sweat.

I met plenty of kids a year or two out of HS in the welding course I took at a local vocational community college who did not fit this generalization.

This particular intro course was necessary for those in HVAC, automotive, machining, plumbing, and of course welding programs. So there was a lot of crossover, lots of kids planning to do trades -- the class was difficult to get into because all the trades programs are near to full.

And most of these kids were a lot more serious about what they were doing than their contemporaries at a state university, when I was in school *ahem* back in the late 80s.

Unfortunately, because of the kind of propaganda Mike Rowe is fighting against, the welding program at this school was recently cancelled. Why? Because there were not enough graduates -- too many kids were getting the basics and were then headhunted into a paying job, rather than complete the program. I.e. it was too successful... so of course it needed to be dropped.

Same thing at the state level -- unpopular, whacked out far-Right governor advocated to fund an advance machining program at statewide community colleges in partnership with businesses, but between his off-putting personality fostering extreme partisanship and the common misconception that throwing money at trades training is money down the tubes, it failed at the ballot.

Sad state of affairs that even though there are kids who might want to get into a trade, the powers that be are making it difficult and actively discouraging it.

In my neck of the woods, the local schools no longer do shop classes. There is a trade school a few towns over you can get into in your Junior year of HS, but few are those who are motivated enough to leave their HS buddies and attend.

 

[LeeRevell]

That is too bad. I took two classes at the local VoTech school. The second helped me get my IT career going.
In high school I took an Aircraft Mechanics course, and spent my entire senior year there. I had finished all my required classes except for a night class in Algebra so twelfth grade was basically for fun. It did kinda/sorta result in my being an Avionics Tech in the Airforce. I had worked on the same type aircraft in tech school as I ended up on in the USAF.
Amazing how things work out.

 

[jeanontheroad]

My first degree, a 2-yr degree in Manufacturing Technology, included machining, welding (stick and (TIG), drafting, quality control, drafting, and metallurgy as well as the usual math, science and Humanities. It got me a much better paycheck for nearly 20 years in Expediting, Production Scheduling, and Sales Liason than my much later 4-yr accounting degree did. It was also a lot more fun and included contact with a much more interesting combination of people. The trick is to know that the job market shifts with time and location, to be able to recognize what your likely opportunities will be, and to be willing to put out the effort to get the training you need. You gotta give to get.

 

[offroad]

Look at the market statistics predictions folks. It's been put out that there will only be 25% of jobs requiring a collage degree. Yet we are trying to send 70% to college. That's really dumb. Mike Rowe might be on the correct track.

Also read that there is a large need for truckers soon as many retire. Why spend $100,000 on a college education when you can just go to truck school and get a great job.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

well trucking is a pretty demanding job, a lot of people probably arent siuted for it.
i fall asleep on a 3 hour drive...cant imagine all day driving something so deadly

 

[offroad]

Dazar - me too on sleep driving.

 

[LeeRevell]

Truck driving ain't what it used to be, and I know a few truckers who have switched to Security Guard. A pretty good gig if you get with the right company. Will go that route myself when I feel the need for a job. Have the gear, just need to get my license renewed.