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Quote of the Day: Mike Rowe and the “Sweat Pledge”
Personally I’m in the midst right now of doing what I do every year which is trying to give away work ethic scholarships which gets harder every year . . . we’ve given away $5 million over the last five years. And yes, every year it gets increasingly difficult to affirmatively reward work ethic. There are some things my scholarship requires you to do that other scholarships don’t: you have to write essays and make videos and sign a ‘sweat pledge.’ And when people are often confronted with these hoops through which I ask them to leap, they take what you call umbrage at that and I find it fascinating. . .
. . . the S.W.E.A.T. pledge must be signed by ALL applicants. S.W.E.A.T stands for, “Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo.” Basically, you’re signing a solemn oath not to become a lazy, self-entitled drone who blames others for their troubles and expects to be taken care of. Fair warning: this Pledge is not for everyone; so if you’re offended or threatened by its content, it’s probably best to seek out a different pile of free money.
I think Mike Rowe, who’s quoted above, is a great example of persistence and a strong work ethic; he demonstrates his values every time he takes on a new challenge on his show, Dirty Jobs. And I’m not surprised at his difficulty in finding applicants for his scholarships.
How far we’ve fallen.
Published in Culture
I love Mike Rowe. But I don’t ever want to meet him in person – I’m afraid I’d find out he’s not as awesome as his public image. (and even if he really is usually that awesome, I might catch him on a bad day – everybody has them).
Or, how much you’ve grown.
College enrollment has gone from under 6 million in 1965 to over 21 million at its peak in 2010.
In 1965, students had to compete for spots. Today, schools compete for students. Virtually regardless of one’s aptitudes, one can always find a college in the United States willing to accept you as a student.
In such a paradigm, it shouldn’t be unexpected that students would gravitate to the schools, programs, and funding options that demand the least from them.
If you want to improve the average quality of the schools, it means closing the lower-quality schools and saying to the students at the low end, “sorry, you’re just not college material.”
That won’t happen for as long as there’s so many loan programs and student aid available to students at the low end. Rowe’s scholarship is competing with all those other programs that don’t ask nearly as much of the applicants. He has to compete to give away money.
I had no idea he has difficulty finding applicants. That there might not be an overabundance of them, I could see. But that he has trouble finding them? Wow. :(
As for Rowe himself, I love the fact that he’s not afraid to tell you what he thinks and doesn’t back down from what he says or does.
Rowe himself went to college, but only because his mother insisted. He’s a big proponent of trade schools and the like. And he may be asking “too much,” but I suspect that’s fine with him. Suck it up, all you buttercups out there!
I’ve met Bob Uecker twice. Both times he was kind of a dink.
I thought of Rowe recently after helping a friend dig 120ft of trench in hard Texas clay. We encountered tree roots, unmapped pipes, and had to dig a 10ft stretch only an inch at a time because the gas company failed to mark the gas line. We worked in 95-degree heat and swamp humidity, drinking about 2 gallons each without ever needing to pee. We dug for 3 hours during a thunderstorm.
It was his choice to remain during the storm. I stayed because he stayed. The experience prompted me to wonder if it might be vaguely similar to the brotherhood of soldiers. You can do things for others you might not do for yourself.
Manual labor is hard. But I always liked the informality of it, the flexible scheduling, and working with friends. It is great being free of corporate culture and legalisms too. Not all manual labor is free of such things, of course.
Maybe.
Or, maybe not.
@aaronmiller, your story reminds me of the time we put in our sprinkler system in Parker, CO! (We did that kind of nasty work back then.) The earth was similar to yours, and we saw tornadoes north of us heading our way. Fortunately my husband couldn’t bribe me into staying outside to finish it. I must say we enjoyed our projects together. All though it was much easier to work in the yard, we enjoyed our beautiful backyard in San Clemente, pulling weeds, trimming bushes, sitting in the Korean clump grass. and admiring the jacaranda tree in summer with it’s gorgeous purples flowers. We worked for a couple of hours every Sunday, and the surrounding plants made it worth it. Mike Rowe would probably call me a wimp!
You were a good friend–although a crazy one!
Oh, man, this is so cool!!! Thanks, @percival! I’m sure @miffedwhitemale will be impressed, too.
My # 2 son runs his own HVAC company. His greatest challenge in hiring employees is getting ones that can pass a drug test.
This is something that confuses me though: In the USA, trade schools don’t count as “college”?
In Ontario, we have “universities” and we have “colleges”. Our colleges are often compared to American “community college”, but depending on one’s program they can be more like trade schools.
It used to be that the difference between a college and a university was that the latter offered graduate degrees. I’m not sure of that anymore, though.
Junior colleges were meant to be two-year feeders for four-year colleges and universities, now they’re just remedial post-high-schools.
All the trade schools I know went private or turned into community colleges for money. Lots and lots of money, especially since they can most all issue bonds. And they’re a mixed bag, offering everything from nursing to truck driving.
@dnewlander, have the junior colleges (called community colleges in some areas) changed that much? My husband went to Saddleback in Orange County, CA before entering UCI, and it was known as a good school then. Of course, that was over 40 years ago.
He’s the real deal, @miffedwhitemale. He was inducted at an honorary life member of the Barbershop Harmony Society at BHS’s 2017 International Convention. He became a devotee of our musical form as a high school student, by an, well, unorthodox music teacher, Fred King. He attributes his success to our beloved Freddie King. The story is incredible. You’ll cry:
http://mikerowe.com/2011/09/podcast-5-fred-king/
I didn’t meet Mike personally, but I did get to attend a sort of interview, where he talked about his history and life, and how he came to appreciate hard work. He had spent the previous night in hotel stairwells, singing “tags” with whomever came along. (A tag is basically a coda. If you’re a barbershopper, you get it. If you aren’t, you’re the poorer for it.) Mike has a huge bass voice to die for. Here he joins 2016 International champion quartet Forefront, singing his favorite barbershop song:
http://www.barbershop.org/mike-rowe/
I’m not sure if there is a formal / legal difference in the US. But from experience the distinction seems to be that a college is a department within a university, or else somewhere offering a Bachelor’s degree. A junior / community college offers only an Associate’s and / or trade skills and posssibly remedial education for people not interested in accreditation.
The essential problem is the corruption of American values regarding equality (for which I suspect Democrats are only partly to blame). Equal opoortunity vs equal results, for example. Equality under the law vs a society without even informal castes, for example.
Degrees (and increasingly types of degrees), like diplomas once upon a time, are status symbols. However vital manual labor remains, other careers will always carry more status. Parents and employers must lead the movement to downplay the standard of accreditation and respect physical and even menial trades.
Some say tort lawyers make it difficult foremploywrs to sidestep degrees.
@quietpi, that was wonderful! So much fun! Everyone loved the song and hearing Mike sing. There is an authenticity to him that is so sweet. Thank you.
I saw an article not too long ago that said some colleges (or universities) were now counseling students about degrees, i.e. encouraging them to pick practical majors which will likely lead to a job, or at least tell them that they might have a tough time getting a job with certain degrees. Finally.
Dual Income No Kids?
Maybe @sonofspengler has met him.
Curses! Foiled again!
The link to the podcast doesn’t work. Here’s one to the PDF of the article Mike Rowe wrote for the Harmonizer, BHS’s magazine:
http://harmonizer.s3.amazonaws.com/Best_Of_The%20Harmonizer.pdf
BTW, @sonofspengler, were you there?
My roofer has been in business for 45 years and has a great reputation. He drug tests his workers in the morning and after lunch. He thinks this is why he has never had a workman’s comp claim. Probably part of it, but also probably good luck.
Anyway…..Irma hit us on Sept. 11th and the roofer just started on our house roof today at 7:00 am. A long wait, but he is the best roofer in the area.
You went 9 months without a roof?
No. The roofer put tar on the hangar roof that was leaking. The house roof wasn’t leaking, but it had over 25% damage. Florida law requires a new roof in that case.
It was a long wait, but he is the best roofer in the area. Also, as you might imagine, a lot of fly-by-nights come out of the woodwork after a hurricane. A neighbor of mine picked one because he was cheaper. Half-way through the job, the guy disappeared.
My son just graduated from a small charter high school. Of the 14 graduates, 4 already had their own business.
This fact made me very happy. There are enterprising young people out there. Let’s applaud them and support them instead of wasting energy complaining about the free loaders.
I think we need to recognize both groups. It’s terrific that there are entrepreneurial kids out there and I love the chance to celebrate them. How about writing an OP, @livingthehighlife?
Community colleges were invented, or quickly adapted, to be a means for the lower middle class to avoid the draft. One community college opened every 11 days during the 1960’s.
I’ve never heard that purpose. They were started in the early 20th century and I can’t find that purpose noted. Could you provide a source?
I don’t have the exact source but I know federal funding for the community college concept was part of LBJ’s Great Society programs, along with the Job Corps and other such programs. Due to the timing it blurred into a way for less affluent students to enjoy the deferment provisions that had been exclusive to the upper class during the 1950’s.