Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 

Mike Rowe: “So what exactly is the job, climate, clean it? Come down. You guys all work for the county, I guess, or the city, or . . .”
Tradesman: “No, we’re from North Carolina.”
Mike Rowe: “What are you doing here?”
Tradesman: “They’re the ones that got us to do it.”
Mike Rowe: “You do this all over the country? I see. So you guys are the team that goes around the country cleaning these things, right?”

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TV Host: “Well, that was Mike Row, the Emmy award-winning host and creator of the hit TV show Dirty Jobs. And over the years, Mike has highlighted hundreds of workers in these essential industries.

And his foundation has awarded over $6 million in scholarships for students from 48 states to go to trade schools. And he is passionately committed to reinvigorating these skilled trade jobs.

And he is here with us today, and I’m so happy you’re here with us on our network-wide series on education, The American Classroom.

Um, you have no idea, Mike, how close to home this hits for me. My brother went to trade school, became a journeyman plumber, owns his own business, and has a beautiful life.

So when I hear you say society is making a terrible mistake by only promoting this college educations as a number one goal, I understand what you’re saying.

Mike Row: I’m glad you do, and if it’s any consolation, I probably hear the same thing from two or 3 hundred people a week.

This is a giant issue, and it’s not a question of college being bad or really anything like that; it’s really a question of cookie cutter advice and what happens to a country when we tell millions of kids that the best path for most people is the most expensive path, and that they’re going to have a terrible time being happy and living a well-balanced life if they don’t get this all-important degree.

It’s the root cause, I’m afraid, of a lot of unintended consequences, including $1.7 trillion in student loans and 11 million open jobs today, most of which don’t require a 4-year degree.

We just need to do a better job of making a more persuasive case for the opportunities that actually exist.

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News Anchor: “Well, on that persuasion, Mike, why do you think that some of these skilled trades, so-called blue collar jobs, are looked down on, and how would you work to change that?”

Look, I mean, the honest answer is a 400 page book I can’t get around to finishing. But it has a lot to do with the perfectly normal instinct of wanting our kids to have something better than what we did.

Problem is, we don’t really know what better means. And when you talk about a lot of these jobs, you’re talking about jobs that are out of sight and oftentimes out of mind.

But more importantly, you’re talking about jobs that have giant stigmas and stereotypes and myths and misperceptions all around them.

My foundation has helped train nearly 1,800 people. Many of them are welders, and many, many of them are making over six figures. We see this again and again, day after day. Plumbing, steam fitting, pipe fitting, heating, air conditioning, electric . . .

Those basic trades are not being outsourced. They’re not going the way of AI. They’re not going the way of robots. They need real people. We need real people to do this work.

And at the moment, our workforce is wildly out of balance. For every five tradesmen who retire this year, two will replace them. It’s been like that for nearly 20 years. It’s troubling math, as they say.

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News Anchor: “Certainly. And we’re talking about such important jobs here. I mean, anyone watching knows that they’ve had to call a plumber, an electrician, or a mechanic before. So why do you think that kids aren’t going for these jobs anymore?”

I think part of it has to do with the fact that, for reasons I still don’t quite understand, we took shop class out of high school about 35 or 40 years ago. And when we did that, we removed from view all optical representation of entire categories of work.

We turned these jobs into vocational consolation prizes, and we really put our thumb on the scale in a way that not only elevated a 4-year degree, but elevated it at the expense of all other forms of education.

And so we’ve just seen a reckoning, and we’re seeing it right now. You mentioned plumbers — it’s a really good point, because today I’m happy to say the conversation is not just between labor and management or companies who are looking to hire people who want to do this kind of work.

The conversation is finally starting to involve people like you and me and millions of others who share our addiction to smooth roads and affordable energy and reliable electricity and indoor plumbing. We’ve all got skin in this game, right?

And so the question really is becoming more and more not, “Wow, can you really make six figures as a plumber?” All day long. The question is, “How long do you want to wait for one?”

News Anchor: “Right. Right. Everyone go out and hug their plumber today.

Mr. Rowe, thank you so much for joining us. I so appreciate your time and your message. Truly, thank you.”

“Mike Row: Thank you.”

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Questions

 

Welder. In the beginning of the report, was Mike Rowe having a discussion with corporate CEOs and board of directors?

Machinist. Is Mike Rowe a (full-time, career) tradesman?

Plumber. Mike Rowe has utter contempt and disdain for men and women with bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and PhD’s, and have white-collar careers. Is this entirely true, largely true, in the middle, in between, yes and no, partly true, mostly false, or totally false?

HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning). Is the brother of the TV host an actor or TV personality? Does she consider him “successful”?

Mason. “It’s really a question of cookie cutter advice.” What does Mike Rowe mean by this?

Electrician. Has this (over) emphasis on university education had minor inconvenient or very serious consequences? Has this narrative been a serious mistake? What have been the consequences?

Electronics Technician. Do the trades have traditionally seen a prestigious career? What are some stereotypes of the trades?

Carpenter. Are jobs like plumbing, electricity, welding, mechanics in danger of being outsourced or replaced by AI, robotics, automation? Are these low wage jobs?
 
 
 
Heavy Equipment Operator. What is the educational and career route for young people in your town, city, region, nation?

Pipe Fitter. Has this narrative changed over the years, decades and generations?

Roofer. Do (“all”) young people aspire to attend university and become a professional, white collar worker, or business person?

House Painter. Are the trades and blue-collar work looked down up?

Iron Worker. What might happen in the future?

Auto Mechanic. What could or should young people, parents, teachers, councilors, governments, the media do?