No wonder the Russians are so talented

Leo in all fairness New York City ain't exactly cheap place to live. When my BiL was going to school at GIA his little studio apartment cost over two grand a month.

I spent $25,000 to get my Graduate Gemologist degree at GIA, and take a few extra jewery courses, in Santa Monica. I was there 8 1/2 months and tuition was just under $6,000.
Here in Spokane, $75,000/yr is a fine income...unfortunately there are too few that get that. We have just raised minimum wage to about $9.50/hr. Wish I made that as a small business owner. LOL

it's by "design", not an accident-- it's known as "the dumbing down of america". proof ? just turn on your tv, it's right there to make you stupid. as a moderator, i apologize for responding in such fashion,

monk said:

it's by "design", not an accident-- it's known as "the dumbing down of america". proof ? just turn on your tv, it's right there to make you stupid. as a moderator, i apologize for responding in such fashion,

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Monk, I agree with you

Very simple solution to that Monk. Leave the *@%$ thing turned off. I've seldom bothered to turn the tv on for the past several years. It's handy to watch a dvd/blue ray now and then but that's about it. Saves on the electric bill. And yes, I have a big lcd screen digital, but only hooked up to antenna so I save on cable/satellite bills as well. IF the networks ever bother to program anything worth watching I'll be happy to oblige, but until then.
My own personal little boycott, gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Cliff

The other sad part of no vocational training is no exposure to something you may turn out to love. When I was very young I followed around my grandfather all the time (we lived next door to my grandparents). He taught me how to use tools and about painting, paper hanging, plumbing, etc. I was exposed to all types of tools and would play in the garage or basement with hammers and screwdrivers and coping saws. I just loved it. When I was older I went to college and then on to a good career in computer programming and even had a high stress job on Wall St., but.... I didn't love it. Now, I'm back using my hands engraving and it makes me happy and is a better fit for what I like. Today, the kids are not exposed to anything if their parents (or grandparents) don't go out of their way to show them. This generation may do well at college, but some may like a technical job better and they won't even get a chance to know that. At least when we were kids we had shop classes, etc. to try things out.

Southtexas said:

Very simple solution to that Monk. Leave the *@%$ thing turned off. I've seldom bothered to turn the tv on for the past several years. It's handy to watch a dvd/blue ray now and then but that's about it. Saves on the electric bill. And yes, I have a big lcd screen digital, but only hooked up to antenna so I save on cable/satellite bills as well. IF the networks ever bother to program anything worth watching I'll be happy to oblige, but until then.
My own personal little boycott, gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Cliff

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I'm with you, rarely do you see something positive that will make your life better most of it is violence and crap the only time I watch TV is to watch Disney movies with my kids that's probably it.

Carlos De La O III

DKanger said:

I'm sure every young person in America looks forward to paying for a vocational education so he can enter the high paying career of furniture repairman. Don't they offer such a career path on the inside of matchbook covers?

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I think your missing the point being made. Its not just being able to "fix" a piece of furniture. Its about using your mind and working with your hands as one. Not everyone can have a career making big bucks by telling some one else how to make big bucks, or working on an assembly line. Even Doctors and Lawyers can not do everything. You would not be driving a car, if there was no one skilled enough to fix it, and would not be doing any engraving, if some one did not invent and create the tooling you work with. I worked 35 years in Management, made great money, and did little manual labor myself at work, but I still wanted to learn the skills of those who worked for me, and anyone else I saw that did something I was interested in. So I worked every day as a Manager/Director, learned what I could there, and went home and taught myself to do other things I wanted to do. Today, I am a couple of days away from retirement, and will do what I want to do with what I have learned. I mainly restore high end Antique Lighting, and have a cliental already, with about a years backlog of repairs and restorations to do. One person here may engrave a 10,000 dollar gun, and I may restore a 10,000 dollar Handel Lamp. Not "Shabby" or on a matchbook cover, as a career, but still in the "repairman" category. I also work in hot glass, cold glass, paint, carve decorative wildfowl, airbrush scenes, cast metals, weld, do some machining, copper wheel glass engraving, and work with copper and tin, and much more. I have to turn work away because I can not do it all, and my time is not cheap. There are worse things than being a "Repairman" and there are more folks out of work that are not repairmen, then there are repairmen, or "Craftsmen."

A recent poll on education rankings showed the US way, way, down the list, so we are not doing something right. Its pretty sad when we have to import people to fill the jobs that are open high skilled positions. If this trend keeps going, the "Matchbook Cover Careers" won't matter anyway, because or youngsters will not even be able to qualify for them either.

I agree with Monk & Boris. In the Old Country, youth are started off in apprenticeships at an earlier age than here. In Britain, it's at 14. Our over bloated, overpaid, and approaching uselessness educational system is eliminating the trades, and stressing college that'll feed indebtedness, and likely won't bring about a satisfying profession. I recently held some handmade Russian knives which were recently sent here, and the craftsmanship is excellent, considering the lack of shop equipment. This is even more evident if you Google in, "Faberge' eggs". . .prepared to be awed. Us old timers are going to have to train our youth, and they do want to learn, even if it's to satisfy curiousity or do their own repairs. Foreigners aren't necessarily smarter than we are. . .emphasis was on education, or more properly, they weren't 'dumbing down' their youth. Somewhat recently, only a handful of our American companies have set up training programs or apprenticeships. When I taught three decades ago, I saw this coming with the beginning of factories utterly destroyed, or moved overseas. It's up to us to recapture our thirsty-for-knowledge, develop then as we can, and then turn them loose.

Your youth are worth saving and guiding them into a trade,anything but flipping burger's at Wendys. J.J.

JJ
I agree to disagree. For those of you who don't Know. Im a Instructor at a local College. Have been for 20 years. The whole system is a train wreck.
Parents ,Teachers, administrators.
Parents have told their children . Go to school get a good education so you can do better than me. Schools are happy to take their money.
I see so many kids that are just wasting money and falling deeper in debt.
Now not every high school grad is college material and shouldn't be sent to university a Tech school maybe. Should have been in a Vo ed program.
Now back to this Wendy's burger flipper. Somebody has to do it. Why do we belittle service jobs? Its all service work Dr. ,Lawyer, Accountant, somebody is paying for service or goods. Some pay more than others.
Not one person is any different than the other. Doing a service to get paid. Train the youth some will get it and others wont. They will find their way. But until then if flipping burgers keeps them employed so be it. Somebody wants their lunch.