I am still here. My life didn't end. I cleaned up all right. The compensation was fair and when I worked most of those jobs they were steady for the work that I provided. They built character. I was released from the fear of what blood and shit mixed together would look like when slung by a cows tail into my face while giving birth. If someone asked me to do something I may have complained but I learned that my place in life at that time was to get my butt in the pit, chase out the mice and scoop out the rotten corn/soybean mix.
What Mike is talking about is the steady erosion of America's willingness to get dirty. In school when a student starts talking about working on cars, or taking over their Father's successful lawn service, I am struck by how well meaning teachers and administrators will often argue with the child to aspire for more. Not everyone wants to be a suit. When are we going to understand that some of our best engineers, start as line workers. High school or college jobs running mills and lathes or the veterinarian who shovels kennels while saving the money to get to expensive vet or vet tech schools.
Everyone will eventually get higher education of some kind. It just doesn't have to be at a four year college immediately after school. My opinion has changed about this over the years. I used to be ashamed at working in the oil pit. I would walk into a college social establishment while going to the community college and hide the fact that I worked at Jiffy Lube. If they asked what I did I stated, "retail management" (Assistant manager of Jiffy Lube meant I had to do the crap jobs when an employee failed to show.) No self respecting college girl getting her Elementary Education degree would even talk to me if I said I changed oil. I was wrong.
Grandpa Sare always used to say "The richest man in the county is the guy who owns the dump. People pay him to dump their trash, he recycles and resells that junk. He may smell to high hell but he laughs as he takes check after check to the bank." He is right. A recent dishwasher installer from Sears was at the house putting in my new dishwasher. It took him about 45 minutes. I asked him what his hours, training, and pay scale looked like. He asked me what a teacher with a bachelors and a masters makes. He started laughing. He apprenticed under a plumber for 2-3 years, he works an 8-10 hour day usually six days a week, and his take home was more than double my take home. Over $120,000 to install dishwashers. My eyes widened. "Its hard work and long hours. I get paid by the install, the more I install the more I make." he said "Best thing that ever happened to me was deciding not to go to college."
On some levels he is right. I have an interest in intellectual pursuits, I enjoy learning and exploring new ideas and concepts, repetitive jobs like installing fifty dishwashers a week would drive me crazy. I also have the loan debt that goes with intellectual pursuits. Worse I am in a profession that currently values a factory mentality, keeping our students moving and schools running. If I had stayed on the farm or picked a different path in High School my life might have looked very different. The plumber works hard, the trash man works hard but they have the money to enjoy life outside of work. I haven't been to Hawaii, taken a cruise or any of a hundred fun pursuits.
I am not complaining about my life choices. I made them and have found success. I have carved a niche out for myself that gets me away from the drudge work. However, as I listen to Mike and I talk to students I realize that maybe all of us well meaning people may need to take a step back. Provide opportunities and shut the hell up about hard work. Once you have learned the cardinal rule of keeping your mouth shut in a cattle pen so you don't eat something warm and gritty you may find that you have learned the secret to choosing something you enjoy doing the rest of your life.