<thread drift> Check how your local schools are "graded", today's kids are streamlined to go to college, graduate from college, get a corner office at a job making $100k a year with 30 days paid vacation. The "trades" are dead in the public school system.
For those that don't know me, I'm a service writer at a Ford dealership. There are no kids coming out of auto/metal/wood shop these days because those courses aren't offered. The educational "system" is not geared towards anyone having a "blue collar job". I hear it from virtually every segment of the service industry. In the auto industry we get a trickle of young blood from WyoTech, and a couple of other mechanically based trade schools. I'd guess that the average age for the line techs at my dealership is in the mid 30's with no improvement on the horizon. In my area we can find plenty of Hispanics with the mechanical skills or at least the desire to learn, but all of our technical papers are in English, limiting them to be "heavy line techs" (engine/transmission remove replace, timing belt/chain/cover reseals, routine maintenance, etc). Diagnosing an electrical fault, computer/module reprogramming/diagnostics etc are usually out of their wheel house due to the language barrier.
For those that don't know me, I'm a service writer at a Ford dealership. There are no kids coming out of auto/metal/wood shop these days because those courses aren't offered. The educational "system" is not geared towards anyone having a "blue collar job". I hear it from virtually every segment of the service industry. In the auto industry we get a trickle of young blood from WyoTech, and a couple of other mechanically based trade schools. I'd guess that the average age for the line techs at my dealership is in the mid 30's with no improvement on the horizon. In my area we can find plenty of Hispanics with the mechanical skills or at least the desire to learn, but all of our technical papers are in English, limiting them to be "heavy line techs" (engine/transmission remove replace, timing belt/chain/cover reseals, routine maintenance, etc). Diagnosing an electrical fault, computer/module reprogramming/diagnostics etc are usually out of their wheel house due to the language barrier.
Blairsville PA, I think they only have one site left
