In the school my father built in the Quapaw Nation, that was founded on the core values of the Performing Arts, vocational technology was a requirement for every student. I learned to build houses and cabinetry. We had plenty of welders and auto mechanics as well as accountants and people capable of business skills. But the core values that created the discipline for the skills were based in the performing arts and in sports. In high school with 400 students we had 150 students singing in three choirs. Others were in instrumental ensembles and non-musical performing arts. The key word here was the development of performance as an abstract principle. They had theater and debate and they had statewide competitions in all skills to stimulate the desire to excel. Today we have vouchers and they cut the core values of performance in favor of dull speed courses and intensives that destroy the childhood and maturation of adolescents. Today is not a culture that I have much identity with. It seems to work against the Information age and the skills of the young.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Gurstein Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 2:43 PM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] FW: [TriumphOfContent] Dirty Jobs creator on the need for skilled tradespeople in America -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of gary Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 12:44 AM To: Triumph of Content Subject: [TriumphOfContent] Dirty Jobs creator on the need for skilled tradespeople in America Sent to you by gary via Google Reader: Dirty Jobs creator on the need for skilled tradespeople in America <http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/lxT3HbVYevc/dirty-jobs-cr eator-o.html> via Boing Boing <http://www.boingboing.net/> by Cory Doctorow on 5/12/11 Mike Rowe, creator of the TV show "Dirty Jobs," testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the de-skilling of America, and the way in which skilled manual labor has been undervalued and derided in the USA to its detriment: <http://craphound.com/images/mikerowetestifying.jpg> A few months ago in Atlanta I ran into Tom Vilsack, our Secretary of Agriculture. Tom told me about a governor who was unable to move forward on the construction of a power plant. The reason was telling. It wasn't a lack of funds. It wasn't a lack of support. It was a lack of qualified welders. In high schools, the vocational arts have all but vanished. We've elevated the importance of "higher education" to such a lofty perch that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled "alternative." Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as "vocational consolation prizes," best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of "shovel ready" jobs for a society that doesn't encourage people to pick up a shovel. In a hundred different ways, we have slowly marginalized an entire category of critical professions, reshaping our expectations of a "good job" into something that no longer looks like work. A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber -- if you can find one -- is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both. I came here today because guys like my grandfather are no less important to civilized life than they were 50 years ago. Maybe they're in short supply because we don't acknowledge them they way we used to. We leave our check on the kitchen counter, and hope the work gets done. That needs to change. Testimony of Mike Rowe <http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/mike-rowe-senate-testimony.html > (via Reddit <http://reddit.com> ) <http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=e96764c4d3055e02a1a44c59a0287b64&p=1> <http://segment-pixel.invitemedia.com/pixel?code=TechCons&partnerID=167&key= segment> <http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-8bUhLiluj0fAw.gif?labels=pub.28925.rss. 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