CAN'T CARRY WATER FOR A PATTERNMAKER. Last night's post raised an objection to an anonymous academic fretful about college students leaving for an entry level job at "double the minimum wage." Two sources post further thinking about the value of a degree and the respectability of a trade. Don at Cafe Hayek summarizes manufacturing's image problem.

Like most folks, I understand why most people aspire to such jobs rather than to jobs in a shipyard or in an assembly plant. (From 1975 through 1981, I worked each summer in a shipyard. It's unpleasant, difficult, dirty, and dangerous work that doesn't pay particularly well by modern American standards.) Perhaps those parents (such as mine) who would prefer that their children become physicians or lawyers or accountants or even college professors (rather than become manual laborers) are crass, shallow, and ungrateful materialists. But I venture to suggest that such parents outnumber those who would prefer that their children work in an assembly plant rather than become white-collar professionals.

Sean at The American Mind finds a news story that suggests manufacturing is thinking about it, against the background of a shortage of welders. (Hey, there are plenty of MFAs that are handy with a blowtorch, but I digress.)

Building contractors are recruiting welders from factories, which does not help the overall shortage. Construction projects including power plants, refineries, oil and natural gas pipelines also rely heavily on welders and other skilled trades workers.

But the shortage of welders would not be as acute now if, three years ago, more people had been trained in the career field, said Peter Thillman, dean of workforce and economic development at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wis.

"We needed a more proactive approach, rather than a reactive one," Thillman said.

Manufacturers also should polish their image in order to recruit younger workers, participants in a conference workshop said.

Factories need shop-floor employees with hybrid skills - from handling a wrench to running computer software.

"Young people, parents and educators have an outdated image of manufacturing . . . that of a medieval shop floor that's grimy and grungy," said Jerry Eyler, dean of manufacturing at Fox Valley Technical College.

"There's nothing wrong with working in a factory. We need to take that stereotype away," said Bob Kraemer, a production supervisor at Great Northern Corp. in Appleton.

Good money, good working conditions, predictable hours, no heavy lifting ... you mean all that stuff about incentives mattering matters?

Read between the lines carefully. Note that a trade isn't something that just anybody can do. The person who bumbles through the library or has trouble understanding simple instructions on a course outline is a potential hazard to everybody near heavy machinery.