IPFS News Link • Education: Government Schools
Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe on the High Cost of College (Full Interview)
• YouTube.Com
"There
is a real disconnect in the way that we educate vis-a-vis the
opportunities that are available. You have - right now - about 3 million
jobs that can't be filled," he says, talking about openings in
traditional trades ranging from construction to welding to plumbing.
"Jobs that typically parents' don't sit down with their kids and say,
'Look, if all goes well, this is what you are going to do.'"
Rowe,
who once sang for the Baltimore Opera and worked as an on-air pitchman
for QVC, worries that traditional K-12 education demonizes blue-collar
fields that pay well and are begging for workers while insisting that
everyone get a college degree. He stesses that he's "got nothing against
college" but believes it's a huge mistake to push everyone in the same
direction regardless of interest or ability. Between Mike Rowe
Foundation and Profoundly Disconnected, a venture between Rowe and the
heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Rowe is hoping both to help
people find new careers and publicize what he calls "the diploma
dilemma."
Rowe recently sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to discuss his bad experience with a high school guidance counselor (3:20), why he provides scholarships based on work ethic (6:57), the problem with taxpayer-supported college loans (8:40), why America demonizes dirty jobs (11:32), the happiest day of his life (13:14), why following your passion is terrible advice (17:05), why it's so hard to hire good people (21:04), the hidden cost of regulatory compliance (23:16), the problem with Obama's promise to create shovel ready jobs (33:05), efficiency versus effectiveness (34:17), and life after Dirty Jobs (38:24).
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