Never Stop Driving #94: Eclipsed
Last Monday, two friends and I headed south from Ann Arbor to intersect with the solar eclipse path of totality, which cut across northwest Ohio. This was a last-minute trip so once we freed ourselves from work commitments, we only had about two hours to make the 70-mile trek. That’d be easy on a normal day, but the major highways were already clogged. Time for the backroads.
Southern Michigan is so flat that the rural roads, many of which are gravel, are laid out in a grid. I figured they would be lightly traveled so we headed south on the first unpaved road we encountered. When it ended, we jogged west until we hit another dirt road going south. We rolled down the windows to enjoy the warm air and aromas from the surrounding farm fields, which had that early-spring green sheen. Delightful. Our haphazard route was slow, but we didn’t worry about missing the total eclipse; the point was our spontaneous journey, not the destination. (Better to be moving than stuck in traffic, says the bloke who writes a column called “Never Stop Driving.”) We’d get as far south as possible, see what we could see, and just enjoy this mini adventure during a workday. It was like playing hooky (if you’re too young to know what that means, look it up).
With just minutes to spare, we joined some 30 other cars in a dirt parking lot in Liberty Center, Ohio (population: 1100). The glow of the full eclipse was moving as was the partial darkness that traveled like a wave over the countryside. The thing that really caught my eye, however, was a vintage military truck parked nearby with a roof-mounted generator and 20-foot antenna.
The owner explained that his green M109 truck and its two generators could run on cooking oil, diesel, used motor oil, and—I think he said—kerosene. The huge antenna was driven skyward via air pressure supplied by an onboard compressor he installed along with many other DIY modifications. The thing had A/C, a fridge, a stove, a bed, and 10 wheels mounted on three axles. He’d set up in the lot that morning, because the local police and emergency responders, who were worried that the crowds uploading eclipse photos and videos would clog cellular signals, deployed a network of radio operators like him to ensure communication.
Impressive, right? I joked that if the proverbial s&^% hit the fan, I would come groveling. That dude knew how to do things, to build things. Which reminded me of our ongoing shortage of folks like him.
I’ve written many times about the gap between the need for skilled tradespeople and the supply, a situation brought into focus by my ongoing effort to bring a $25,000 Ferrari back to life. I’ve struggled to find experienced and willing craftspeople to do things like paint and interior work. The tide, however, may be turning.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that vocational school enrollment is surging. One 20-something interviewed for the article trained to be a welder instead of going to college, saying that he didn’t want to follow the lives of his parents, who stare at screens all day. More and more teenagers, the WSJ reporter observed, see burgeoning AI, mass corporate layoffs, and student debt as signs that a physical skill could be a recession-proof job.
The WSJ article follows an earlier one that described how a Maine lobster town fought to bring shop classes back to the local high school. I am emphatically in favor of this. Even if students don’t find a career in shop class, they’ll gain useful, lifetime skills. Don’t we all need to know how to do things? When are we, as a society, going to chuck the whole white collar/blue collar distinctions and career paths?
This is personal, and not just because I want to get my old Ferrari back on the road. I was steered away from high-school shop classes simply because I had good grades, even though I had a small business repairing lawnmowers. I loved cars and mechanical things, so I went to an engineering college only to learn that engineering had morphed into a desk job. I hated it, but we’ve all been told, “you have to have a degree” so I stuck it out and spent the first decade of my adult life paying off the loans.
You might be thinking, doesn’t this guy Webster have a dream gig typing about cars in front of a screen? Admittedly, America’s imperfect educational and vocational training systems did just fine by me in the long term. Since I work on my own cars, however, I long ago learned that what I enjoy as a hobby is actually hard work, which makes me respect the folks who do it for a living all the more. I also spent a sweltering summer mixing cement in Newark, New Jersey, so I know the risk of unduly romanticizing physical labor. We do, however, need to get rid of the stigma that the trades are a consolation path for those who don’t go to a four-year college.
Thanks for reading!
Larry
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I would like to add I that if you gain some decent understanding and knowledge it not only lets you save money by doing much of your own work on your car but also prevents you from getting ripped off by people that may think you are not aware of their scam.
My wife loves it that I have made many a repair and taken care of things that would have been much more expensive. Between my doing the work and a good discount on parts I get it saves money,
Great column. Much like you, I was dissuaded from “shop” classes by parents and guidance counselors. Get a degree and use your head not your hands, I was told. Well, I got the technical degree and settled into an automotive related business.
My car passion never subsided but my shade tree mechanical skills are limited. Much like you, I have a project vehicle that requires a healthy dose of TLC. The Love is there, the T and C, not so much.
Couldn’t agree with you more. My granddaughter is taking welding in high school. We are really excited to know she will be recession proof.
Similar situation in the UK. The government (can’t recall which one) cut university funding, burdening kids and their parents with massive debt. £50,000 is a common figure, but the issues are many. The courses offered are useless with little prospect of a relevant job at the end of it, the students demand good grades at the end so Universities hand out a lot of first class degrees so the whole system is devaluated. There’s an increasing reliance on overseas students as they pay more but one I know, over here with his wife and infant son didn’t have enough English to tell me the name of his year long course after he’d been doing it for 3 weeks. This isn’t a universal problem in the uk but I can see lots of smaller universities going to the wall. Woodwork, metalwork and ‘domestic science’ classes all went by the board years ago which is why we’re now on a second generation of kids who can’t cook and the streets are full of deiveroo and über eats riders.
Compare and contrast with my efforts to get a 23sqM extension built – tradesmen charge eye-watering rates. I told one electrician who tried to rip me off £800 for 90 minutes work that he wasn’t a premier league footballer and he would only be getting half of it. Then the fight started.
Amongst all the science qualifications I did, my ‘O’ level in metalwork I obtained at 16 has saved me a ton of money over the years. May the restitution of shop classes gather pace.
As a retired tech Ed teacher, I agree that there are many great occupational opportunities out there that don’t require a college degree that could lead great careers. Keep spreading the word?
As a retired tech Ed teacher, I agree that there are many great occupational opportunities out there that don’t require a college degree that could lead great careers. Keep spreading the word!
Larry – A very insightful column and something that I’ve been pondering for a while now. In fact, none other than Mike Rowe seems to be in your corner. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mike-rowe-blasts-4-degrees-100700106.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00 I can think of at least one instance where someone I know is unemployed after a couple of IT layoffs, but he has tremendous natural mechanical aptitude and spent one summer between classes assembling motorcycles. Seems to me he might just have missed his calling.
Wish I knew you were there, at Liberty Center, at the athletic field just north of town. I was parked about 3 vehicles over from that 10 wheeled monster rig. Like your group, we drove down from A2 via back roads to avoid those clogged xways. Via Tecumseh, Adrian, then due south to Liberty Center. Upon full eclipse, we started the applause and the crowd followed. Then across from the athletic field, at a private residence, some yahoo lit off an M80 or something perhaps a tad more powerful that got everyones attention. Sheeze.
The backroads were a delightful alternative to the highways for sure. A friend of mine took I75 and got home around 11pm that night. Ug.
Mike Rowe sounded the alarm long ago Re: the increasing lack of tradesmen. He never gave up the fight to get that message out. His work is now finally paying off. God bless him.
So many people want more money but they are not willing to get the skills or trying needed.
They have a base job and just want to hold their hand out.
I have recently been working with Generative AI and these base jobs I expect to vanish.
The program I was working on was giving comments and coaching on how to do a sales call better and this was done with minimal programming. It is scary how well it performed.
It’s important to separate “Education” from “Training”. Despite undertaking a very specific course of study in college, the experience taught me less about my chosen field than it did about the world in general; about alternative points of view; and more importantly, about how to respect and engage constructively with those whose viewpoints differed from mine.
I don’t care if I had never worked a single day in my chosen field, I wouldn’t trade my college experience for anything.
That being said, someone needs to put an end to the lunacy of the Educational Industrial Complex and this county’s obsessive pursuit of “increasing shareholder value” at all costs in every single endeavor we undertake.
Larry, as always, I enjoy your driving first thought provoking stories. I can relate to the need for trade schools and legitimate options for kids coming out of high school. It isn’t about me, it’s about my oldest son.
He got the car bug from me. After 12 years of private schools, and half a year of college, he announced to us that he wanted to go to a technical college and become a Technician (mechanic to dad’s ears).
I was very confused and disappointed. A doctor, lawyer, accountant and I have advice. A technician, not so much. I took a day off work to visit my well established independent BMW shop who I knew well. He said he worked his way through college at a shop, and went full time after graduation. I then visited the largest Lexus dealership in the country and asked for the service manager. She (yes she) told me she has Techs making $50k, and Techs making over $100k. It’s a matter of who really wants to work or not.
He went to a 2 year program that placed the students in dealerships while attending school. He was working or going to school 7 days a week for 2 years. I saw the commitment.
Fast forward 12 years, he’s leading a team at a dealership he’s been at for 12 years. At just over 30 years old he’s made over $100k for 4 years, and 150k the past 2 years. With great benefits (it’s an Autonation Toyota store) and great training- he’s got all the ASC’s and is a Master ASC and has many Toyota Master certifications.
I learned Dad’s don’t know everything. He followed his passion. He loves his job, owns his house and has his race car that is constantly broke and being fixed and getting faster.
College isn’t for everyone. He’s got great friends, a secure job he loves and has been off my payroll for many years.
And I don’t regret the 12 years of private school. My wife and I believe it set the tone for success in whatever he pursued.
Hey Ben, thanks for sharing. That’s a great success as he’s on his way. I think that intelligent and hard-working folks always rise to the top.
Some very interesting and pertinent insights to adult education.
Thanks Larry.
When I was in junior high school, that term, in and of itself, should indicate how old I am… Anyways, the “mod”, a modular building that had a slot where a trailer would slide in every semester with a new “manual arts” teacher and equipment. Small engine, welding, wood working, metal shop, graphic arts are the ones I remember attending. Onto high school and the same was available, however you had to take drafting before you could get into wood shop, metal shop and welding. Took them all, but auto shop was available and there I went…
First class in auto shop was Troubleshooting. There were “half” cars in the shop and two students were assigned a car. Each class, the TAs would mess with the car and we’d have to get it sussed out and running. You had to get at least a “C” in Troubleshooting to continue taking auto shop. The top students then became TAs. We did do our own mid engine V8 corvair conversion and built a hovercraft as our projects.
Anyhoo, I knew I wasn’t cut out nor had a desire to be an mechanical engineer, so I went to a polytechnic college to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. Yeah, I still had to take physics, descriptive geometry, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, statics, dynamics, strength of materials, etc. Oh well… But, we also had a full machine shop, welding shop, foundry, wood shop and were required to take classes in those areas as well. But, ran out of desire midway through my junior year and bailed. I did get my associates tho…
First job was a drafter, then continued to be a mechanical designer. I can’t tell you how many “discussions” I had with engineers about what they “engineered” and how it couldn’t be built or serviced. That’s from all the shop classes starting in junior high…
Then moved into computer software and hardware as a QA analyst and then project manager. All the experience and skills I learned in shop from junior high and on served me well throughout my life.
So, as my parents said “not everyone is book smart, but find something you want to be smart about and learn it”. The point is not having the option to learn these basic skills during the “wonder years”.
In closing, my opinion of college degrees is a bit jaded. Having worked with degreed engineers my whole life, there are some good ones and some bad ones regardless of where they got their degree. Bad as not well rounded in their discipline, in my opinion of course. I’ve always said/wondered if a degree only meant that the person had a goal and completed it. Let’s not get into how long it may have taken…
Larry – you mention doing concrete work in Newark NJ one summer. Did you do your undergrad studies there as well? Depending on your age, we may have been classmates:-)