Thoughts on Globalization
We have several hundred years in our society of devaluing hand labor or craft and valuing work where you don't get dirty. It's rampant in our education system - "dumb" kids are shunted into technical or trade schools, "smart" kids are elevated to university. High school is for a lot of students just required babysitting.
And trades languish for apprentices. And corporations, focused on this quarter's profits, don't hire trainees, work their skilled trades to death, and then wonder why there is a "skills shortage".
Why not develop apprenticeship programs, integrated with high schools, where teenagers (say 13 years old and up) can work 15-20 hours a week, learning a trade, and get high school credit also? But - motivate them to complete their high school technical training by requiring graduation to receive their journeyman certificate?
Why not subsidise their wages? The employer bears a cost of training - and has no guarantee the apprentice will stay.
Instead of wasting our money on destruction (500 billion a year defence budget!!??), how about building up useful and constructive work which will improve our country? Like:
Forestry (to tend & improve forest lands)
Agriculture, especially organic
Electricians
Woodworkers
Auto repair
Clothing design and sewing
Spinning and Weaving
Shoemaking
This will only work if we as a society start spending our money on locally-produced, quality goods rather than cheap mass-produced crap.
This will ultimately happen anyway, since petroleum-based cheap transportation will no longer be cheap enough for other than luxury goods (like it was in the days of sail). But this will take a long time. Why not do it now?
A great paradoxical (by our current standards) world is coming - where we are connected virtually to the whole world, but our worlds where we live will be more local. (Actually, most of the world is still there - it's just us in the rich West who are in the grip of the freeway to nowhere).
Death to Freeways! Death, I say!
And trades languish for apprentices. And corporations, focused on this quarter's profits, don't hire trainees, work their skilled trades to death, and then wonder why there is a "skills shortage".
Why not develop apprenticeship programs, integrated with high schools, where teenagers (say 13 years old and up) can work 15-20 hours a week, learning a trade, and get high school credit also? But - motivate them to complete their high school technical training by requiring graduation to receive their journeyman certificate?
Why not subsidise their wages? The employer bears a cost of training - and has no guarantee the apprentice will stay.
Instead of wasting our money on destruction (500 billion a year defence budget!!??), how about building up useful and constructive work which will improve our country? Like:
Forestry (to tend & improve forest lands)
Agriculture, especially organic
Electricians
Woodworkers
Auto repair
Clothing design and sewing
Spinning and Weaving
Shoemaking
This will only work if we as a society start spending our money on locally-produced, quality goods rather than cheap mass-produced crap.
This will ultimately happen anyway, since petroleum-based cheap transportation will no longer be cheap enough for other than luxury goods (like it was in the days of sail). But this will take a long time. Why not do it now?
A great paradoxical (by our current standards) world is coming - where we are connected virtually to the whole world, but our worlds where we live will be more local. (Actually, most of the world is still there - it's just us in the rich West who are in the grip of the freeway to nowhere).
Death to Freeways! Death, I say!
posted by divadab | 06:56
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