Commenting on comments: jobs

Like I wrote yesterday, the open thread was not much of a success. I really do appreciate the two who did comment. I sympathize with both viewpoints even if more so for the first.

I have known people who expressed these views - some even expressing both views. From what I have seen, I am a bit surprised that anyone under 47 is making these kind of comments nowadays. I remember hearing it a long time ago. Usually from people who had a long history with General Motors or with my high school class - great plans to join General Motors.

Too bad the first commentator did give more of his background. See, I think the second commentator's argument fails because he fails to understand the investment that one makes in their work history can become a burden and even a liability. In my profession, there exists a bias against age. I do think anyone under the age of 40 who has not sought job skills or education has asked for quite a bit of disappointment because you have grown up in what really was a post-GM (or Ford or Chrysler) Indiana. Whether the politicians recognized this change remains an open question.

I do wish the second commentator had given us more information about they had stayed ahead of the job market. Particularly their age. I find these comments to fall in two groups: those under 40 and those over 40 who never held a blue collar job.

Folks, education is the key. And that statement obscures some hard facts like paying for education on a declining wage and picking out the skills needed for a new career and how unlikely that new career will have the same wage and benefits as the old one.

For anyone still in school who thinks their education is unimportant needs a serious attitude adjustment. Parents who do not ride their children hard about their education need an even more serious attitude adjustment. Too bad the majority do not put the energy into getting their children educated as they do in worrying over their school clothes.

Politicians need to admit that jobs will not come without an educated workforce. They need to use their bully pulpits to make the point that education matters.