I agree.
We need tradesmen. I recently invested in a friends welding business and am encouraging one of my sons to pursue the trades.
It’s hard, dirty and vitally important work and I appreciate Mike Rowe for championing it.
I work in an office for a company that manufactures products used in home repair and construction. It sickens me how inept even many of my co-workers are when it comes to actually doing something with your hands. Too many are afraid to even try.
When I was looking for a house, my realtor told me he observed a major item missing in almost every home he shows with owners under 40. A workbench.
2 work-benches and a desk/office in my garage.....
One is made of a stack of those old 2” high, 3’ wide, 2’ deep steel drawers for giant blueprints/schematics. Put a table top on it whala..... 1 drawer for sockets, 1 for wrenches, total 12, sweet find.
...we recently had the first icy roads here in 20 years and my neighbor put on tire chains to drive aroundd. Three people asked what those things were and if he made them...no joke...
An interesting, and scary, observation. I'm not too surprised, however. Perhaps it's just a byproduct of our computer-age, but it does seem fewer young adults want to do anything involving manual labor; woodworking, plumbing, bike repair, you name it. I've personally always gotten great joy from fixing things or proving to myself I could do something "real".
A job done in the real-world grades you with the dispassionate physics of "it works" -or- "it doesn't work". No amount of political connections, shmoozing, or whining will make a light switch work. It's all very objective, and I think that builds character and independence.
This is typical of the younger generation. I have built a workbench at each of the three houses I have owned. I am 50. However, the last two houses were owned by men in their 60’s & 70’s. Some guys just do not enjoy doing that type of work. They would rather play golf.
I took woodshop and metal shop in high school. Many high schools do not even offer those courses anymore, most likely due to liability.
Some guys/women are just not handy. Most of the time it is because nobody ever taught them. My dad was a master diesel mechanic and an owner operator truck driver. He and my mom grew up on dairy farms. They learned how to fix things. They taught me. A lot of the generation X grew up in single parent homes. Dad may not have been around.
We always pick on this guy named Eric in our office. Eric is not a handy guy. However, he is a 6 handicap golfer. When Eric bought his first house he borrowed Bill's(Bill is handy guy like me)cordless drill to hang some window treatments for the new Mrs. Eric.
He called Bill to ask him why it would not drill a hole.
Bill told him: “You have it in reverse.”
The next day he called Bill again to ask him another question: “who do you call to fill up your well?” Bill said:
“go around to the back of the house and hook up the hose to the spigot on the back, take the cover off the well head , put the hose in and turn it on.” THESE ARE BOTH TRUE STORIES.