I recently submitted this article under Montebello MUSD that we blogged about some months ago, but for the benefits of new readers, resubmitted it here just in case it got lost under the old blog and threads.
OPINON PIECE IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, found on YAHOO:
" If Alan Blinder, former vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, is correct, the only jobs that will be secure in the next decade will those that cannot be sent abroad electronically. That means plumbers, electricians, and auto mechanics, for example, will be working steadily while many of their degreed classmates will be collecting unemployment checks."
and
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..."The Wall Street Journal reported last month that some unionized craft workers already earn more than the average college graduate – and do so without carrying the heavy burden of student debt. The demand for this skilled labor is expected to intensify in the coming years as more workers retire and the economy revives.".....
I know we blogged on this subject for over a month some 6 months ago, but I just came across this article in defence of vocational skills for young American students in the future, and had to post it here. Happy and good thought prokoving reading to you all.
College is Not a MUST
Without a doubt, one can earn a very good living being an electrician, pipefitter, construction worker, and the like. You can also go to college and widen your horizons, and still go and get training for the trades, and make the big bucks. By having the degree, you're going to have a lot more opportunities open to you -- it'll be easier to be promoted into management, or to rise into trade organizations, or enter the union staff and leadership ranks.
While the rich and stupid might see the appeal of a fully outsourced economy, it is a fundamentally unbalanced economy. It's only a matter of time before the brainiacs all leave the country, or they organize and seize power. What is more likely to happen is, the smarties find themselves in the trades and service jobs, and then enter the union leadership -- creating a situation that the government probably wouldn't like.
For a long time, capitalist entities snapped up the mental talent. This will probably continue for a while, but if this economic crisis turns into a Depression, there will be a lot of unemployed intellectuals. It'll be salad days for communist and socialist organizing. If the times get any tougher, Obama will seem like a Republican compared to the candidates that come later.