workin' for a living

[bunnyjadwiga]

Not long ago, I tried to explain to my kid brother that getting a college degree and working at a computer helpdesk, instead of as a roofer and flooring installer, might not be his best career choice for security and satisfaction, either life or job. I'm not sure he bought it. Marylaine Block in her excellent Neat New this week turns up this great site:

Blue Collar and Proud of it - Opportunities
http://www.bluecollarandproudofit.com/opportunities.htm
It's not true that you have to go to college and spend your work days in a
cubicle to make a decent living. America needs contractors, landscapers,
electricians, mechanics, and more. Find out here about the jobs, training,
and apprenticeship programs.

I'm more and more of the opinion that people are making themselves crazy by thinking that a college/cubicle job will make them successful and happy, because they won't have to work with their hands... but what it gets them is a mindless rat race. W. E. DuBois in The Souls of Black Folk suggested that blacks of his generation had been screwed over by a system that taught them to despise manual labor, and I'm beginning to believe that is true for the modern generation. My friends come home miserable and frustrated and exhausted from jobs that have no meaning and no real rewards or satisfaction, knowing that they could be laid off tomorrow and be years looking for a new job. This isn't a good way to live-- and people want their kids to go to college to be like us?

Comments

[nobodyanymore.livejournal.com]

That's just so true. My grandfather and father are/were electricians, and my brother opted to carry on with the tradition and become an electrician as well, and now at 27 he owns a house on some land (all my family still lives in the little town I grew up in, whereas I've moved to the big city), 2 vehicles, and makes big bucks. I didn't do the four-year degree route (although I do intend to get one someday just to prove I can), but I did go to college and now sort of work in a cubicle-farm type environment (although I'm lucky, I have my own office instead of a cubicle). If I could have, I think I might have tried to go into a trade, but for health reasons can't do work that involves a lot of physical labour.