Mike Rowe: You've got to make work cool again

[Music] micro is a longtime host of dirty jobs because showing cable somebody's got to do it and many other programs what what people actually do for a living here in America he was in Washington to testify on Capitol Hill about the student loan crisis the skills gap and vocational education in high school short he is the man and he joins us now great to see you Mike good to show you you've sent a series of letters to presidents to this president to the president before and they basically have the same gist and the problems been unresolved what's the core problem well the core problem is nobody really knows how to talk about the skills gap my opinion because there's a there there's a belief and a narrative in the country that says we can cure unemployment by creating more opportunity right and obviously there's some truth to it but the skills gap has nothing to do with unemployment not really the skill gap proves that opportunity alone isn't enough to get people unemployed right right and and really neither is training you can have all the opportunity and all the training in the world but if you don't have an underlying appreciation for the work if you're not talking about jobs that people affirmatively aspire to you're going to be pushing the boulder up the hill we're tilting at the windmill or whatever self-defeating metaphor makes the most sense to you it's a it's a sucker's bet you have to be talking about jobs that are uniformly cared about in order to move the needle so you can have a job available but if anyone can do it the job remains unfilled 5.6 million jobs exist right now as we're talking 5.6 million jobs 75% of which don't require four-year degree when people talk about you know why the skills gap exists it's it's almost how can it not exist we took vote tech out of high school at the same time we told an entire generation of their best hope for success was a four-year degree right so the most expensive path becomes the best path for the most people at the same time all these other jobs which are linked to this very fundamental form of education are completely marginalized because we sent a really powerful message you know you don't just take vocational technical training out of high schools and that'd be the end of it that sets all kinds of dominoes in place and none of them are pretty and they all fall down so I hate to say political but we are in Washington these things don't happen without forces moving them to happen there's a massive Lobby fielded by the four-year education industry do you think there's something to do with it Oh God look okay the skills gap is in a mystery because it's a reflection of what we value the cost of college is in a mystery I I believe for the same reasons you know yeah there's a lobby but it's not just the Washington Lobby it's parents who very rationally want something better for their kids right ahead what does that mean we got to figure it out but their guidance counselor's on the front line who are incentivized to push kids toward college as well so guidance counselor's too often don't talk about the alternative careers which by the way fun word right higher education over here alternative education over here if you're not cut out for this so in a thousand ways we give kids dozens of cues and clues as to what success looks like as a result the jobs we're talking about today on the hill these are important jobs that just haven't been celebrated that's why they're going begging so regarding student loans yeah 1.3 trillion dollars is a lot of money to hold but we made an unlimited pile of money available we told everybody that the best path for the most people was a four-year degree and well of course they borrowed until they borrowed no more and colleges compete with each other so the price goes up faster faster than real estate faster than food faster than energy faster than health care never before in the history of Western civilization has anything so important become so expensive so quickly yeah much faster than inflation what we haven't done is readjusted our expectations based on reality so we have a pretty illustrative graphic here so we have on the one side a letter that you sent to President Obama outlining these problems here's the letter you said the President Trump and you basically scratched out the name of the presidents at the same letter I was literally driving down here yesterday and I found this old letter I did exactly as you said and I wrote a little thing on Facebook just telling my friends where I was going and why I got here it's been shared eighteen thousand times it's reached four million people people want to talk about this but look the truth is that's I don't know what else to do I mean I came here in 2001 testified to the committee of Transportation science of Commerce came back in 2013 testified to the Senate committee of Natural Resources yeah back today talk to education and the workforce what are you gonna do you know like it that's what I mean we're a lot of good people are pushing the boulder up the hill yes but until and unless we change I hate to sound like I'm running for something I'm not but you're talking about hearts and minds of guidance counselors that's right parents so we can do and say all kinds of things on the hill and the Perkins Act is important I hope it gets through this time it looks like it might but regardless the the real wet work happens around the kitchen table and if it's not a if it's not a topic of conversation that five point six billion number is going to be twice as big in five years because five years ago it was two point five exactly so which is math so here's the last question do you think that we value as a society work in the way that we once did maybe that's part of the problem at the risk of being glib I would say if you really want to make America great again you got to make work cool again yes and I know that sounds a little high school II but look that's where the action is we get there's a long list of stuff we can't control but it is completely in our power to decide what the definition of a good job is that's up to us right so if if we disparage and malign an entire category of perfectly reasonable opportunities then it's not the out-of-work worker who's going to pay the ultimate price it's people like you and me who are addicted to smooth roads affordable energy indoor plumbing and all that stuff right I don't there's a glib answer oh I think it's deep it's not bad you know effort it really isn't bad if you want to make the country great again you got to make work cool I think I think it's right the work dignity I mean that's the best part about it I feel like I should look into a camera say that with all the earnestness I can muster if you want to make America great again you've got to make work cool again Micro ladies and gentlemen great to see you always a place where thanks

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Id: u6iU31YgXZU

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 01 2017