I had an enjoyable discussion with one of my fellow employees this afternoon. It dealt with working, the differences between small and large companies, the advantages and disadvantages of both, and the recent dearth of qualified candidates for a number open positions within our company.
Without going into a lot of detail to protect the identity of my co-worker (and my job), let's just say we've been running into a couple of problems in regards to some candidates, the two biggest being that too many of them are well credentialed but not necessarily well educated, and lack of experience in the areas we really need. Apparently this is not a problem unique to our company.
While there are plenty of jobs open begging for people to fill them, there aren't enough people applying for them because they feel the jobs are beneath them ("I didn't spend all that money for a degree in Transgendered Native American Studies just to take a job working in a factory!"), or those applying for them have neither the experience or the capability of doing the job.
I caught a piece on Fox News this evening covering this particular issue. (No, I'm not going to link to it because I don't feel the need to do so.) A number of the companies they talked to said pretty much the same thing my co-worker and I had during our discussion. One manufacturer said they'll hire someone qualified even if they don't need them at the time because someone like that has been hard to come by.
As the WP Dad said about that report, "Is this because our incompetent education system hasn't been teaching our children what they need to know to make it in the world? What good is all that self-esteem they've been ramming down their throats the past 20 years if they can't get a job because they have neither the knowledge or ability to do it?"
Indeed.
My son goes to Gilford and I've spent a lot of time with him outside the classroom giving him the real deal in regards to history, and not by just telling him. I pointed out a number of books he could get at the town library and let him find out on his own. He was amazed at how much of the history he was taught in school was either a very watered down version of what really happened or seen purely through the lens of politically correct 21st century 'sensibilities'.
At least his economics course during his junior year was pretty much dead on (maybe the text was written by Sowell?) and included a lot of real world problems and simulations to get a feel for how the economy works, including the problems with overregulation and 'unintended consequences'.
I've asked four co-workers at my factory job who are in their teens or twenties the following question: Which U.S. president is famous for saying "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
None of them had a clue. They come from the following high schools: Gilford, Newfound, Winnisquam, and Kennett.
On the other hand the homeschooling girl from a family of ten children knew the answer after only a brief hesitation.
The public education system is a joke. So why do I send my children there? Daycare I guess.