GET A JOB THAT AN OFFSHORE WORKER CANNOT PERFORM:

I propose we bring back vocational schools in a serious way. If I had my druthers we would do it spontaneously through a total school choice voucher method, but that is not necessary. We pretty much know by the beginning of middle school who is going to perform well and at what. We can with fair reliability identify those students who will most benefit by a college preparation curriculum, and those who will not. Let’s stop discriminating against those who will not and help set their feet on a path best suited for them.

(The Happy Carpenter, via Joanne Jacobs.)

And quite right he is, echoes of the tracking system notwithstanding.

Those who denigrate the skills of the blue collar man have mostly never done the work, at least not beyond a summer as a lowest-rung laborer. I’m a carpenter, and a general contractor, and I can tell you that those jobs are not undemanding. They deserve a lot more respect than they get. If employers could find young people who did not need to be trained to weld, to assemble, to do the thousands of jobs we need done, they would hire them. Most of my friends are small businessmen, and one of the biggest challenges we face is finding qualified workers.

He's right about the lack of respect, too. Note to the academic classes: the lack of respect goes both ways. I have plenty of fine colleagues who could never carry my airbrush, let alone my soldering torch.