Stand Up Jobs

Photo From Here - NSFW

That looks safe!

Found this quote by way of Rural Revolution:

How much better could this $1.7 billion (BILLION!) be spent in sending young people to trade schools? In these places, people could learn critical skills like "Stop texting on the job" or "Show up to work on time" or "Pull your pants up" or "Your are not entitled to a CEO's salary and a corner office at age 22."

I also received an e-mail from Wood magazine containing this:

As more U.S. schools sacrifice vocational programs and shop classes in favor of a pure college-prep focus, it falls to woodworking enthusiasts like us to bring about the next generation of woodworkers.

Seems like everyone with a little bit of common sense sees the importance of vocational education and the harm that will occur if programs are ended.. STEM (click here for a little STEM propaganda, oops, I mean definition) seems to be the main focus of career education these days, and while I'm certainly not opposed to anyone wanting to pursue a career as an engineer or a scientist, the students I most often had in class definitely had no interest in those fields. What they wanted to do was build things. Not so much design or invent, but make things while standing up - never really thought about that before but when you think about it, it's a pretty good way to define the difference in types of careers. Plumbers, carpenters, roofers, welders, chefs, machinists, game wardens - stand up jobs. Engineers, scientists, mathematicians, accountants - sit down jobs. Obviously, this is a rather simplistic way to choose a career path but sometimes simpler is better. Guidance counselors could just ask the kid if he/she wants to work standing up or sitting down. If you want to work standing up choose a career from this list. If you want to work sitting down, pick one from this other list. 

Got a little off track there on what I had originally intended to say but I like it. Stand up versus sit down. Might be on to something here.

Sorta related to my original thought is the Lincoln Electric program for educational facilities. A school can order welding rods for as low as a $1/lb, get deep discounts on other hardgoods, and have access to educational videos. If you know of any school that is teaching welding that is not already affiliated with this program, please pass the info along. Likewise if you wanted to start or expand a program, this could really help. If you're trying to run a welding program, this is BIG. Shop Teacher Bob says well done and thank you to Lincoln Electric.

Been getting a little painting done on the house, working on the bike, doing the lab tech job, and teaching welding. All stand up kind of jobs. Must make me a stand up type of guy, don't you think? The more I think about it, the more I like the stand up job description. Nice alternative to "hands on". Maybe I should quick get a copyright. At least it would prove that I do have the occasional original thought. 

Enough of this silliness. There's painting to be done.