[dsrtrcr01]

Originally Posted by Hublar

I am not a college graduate, but I do not consider myself stupid either. I am from Birmingham, Alabama and currently live in south Alabama. I work at a nuclear plant there. I am a licensed nuclear plant operator which is a program administered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It is an 18 month course which flunks out both the people who came up through the ranks and many more engineers than people that came up through the ranks like me. Coming from an industrial back ground in the deep south, I have a different view entirely. I believe it has nothing to do with your education level, but rather the fact theat there are many young people that were not raised on a farm or ever put a wrench to a car. We have a hard time finding people who know what basic tools are. I'm talking wrenches, pipe wrenches, phillips head screwdrivers and so on. Farm kids had to work on tractors and all sorts of farm implements and usually do well in our training programs. People who worked on their own cars and took shop type classes do well in our programs. People who may be very bright but have never touched a tool do not do well. We had one trainee who didn't know the difference between a pump and a motor. So I put it to you that it may not be a lack of education, but rather a lack of hands on experience. The college bound kids do not want to even think about doing something as disgusting as manual labor. The people that are not college bound just don't have the experience with tools and such. Too many video games.

Just my 2 cents.

Hub

Then I guess I am the best of both worlds. I am a college grad and I can do whatever it takes and run any tool I get my hands on. I build desert trucks (Welding and fab), do body work, do engine work, house work and still look PRETTY for the office work. I would rather do it myself then pay somebody to do it. But I see where you are coming from. Many in the office have degrees and could not pick a screwdriver out of a line up. I actually had one guy have me look at his car because it was driving funny and making a clicking noise. It was a 1/2 inch bolt stuck in his FLAT tire. He could not even figure out he had a flat.