(HOST) Storyteller and commentator Willem Lange deplores the status of an essential part of our society that he knows well: manual labor.
(Lange) During my years as a contractor, I really loved getting out with the early risers and watching dawn break over Moose Mountain. Even ice-cold days were invigorating, and there was no danger of gaining weight. Lunchtime was delightful in the company of electricians, plumbers, painters, and other brothers of the pounded thumb. Today I can point to a house and say, "Yep, that’s one of mine," or, "I put the kitchen in that one, and the deck on the back." It’s tremendously satisfying.
National Public Radio reports that many college graduates, surveying the calamitous job scene, are finding nothing in their chosen fields. They’d expected to move lucratively into them and spend their lives climbing the institutional ladder. Finding themselves shut out, they’ve often opted to do nothing: move in with the parents and keep looking for that desk job. They seem to have no idea what they’ll be missing.
For decades our schools have separated students according to academic ability. Those who score highest are fast-tracked in college preparatory courses, and the rest assigned to industrial, domestic, or secretarial arts. When I taught high school English, it was pretty clear to me that the typing, home ec, and shop class schedules were separating students into English classes of clearly different abilities. I found this upsetting, not because I wanted my future mechanic to spout Shakespeare, but because I wanted him to have classes in the humanities with some value-teaching content. But the guidance counselor was pushing them this way or that, depending upon his assessment of their abilities and interests.
As long as vocational classes include other topics – craftsmanship; financial, business, and essential language skills – I have no quibble. What does bother me is the inference by the college-bound that others are following an inferior path. We’ve accepted the notion that a worker in office uniform is a more valued member of society and deserving of greater status.
The apostle Paul pointedly emphasizes the necessity of all members of a body to function interdependently in order to preserve the body. Those who aspire to desk jobs are probably unaware of the satisfaction of working with their hands. A mistaken characterization; the brain of a contractor works far harder all day than that of a claims adjuster. He has to be a creative manager of his resources. And his people skills are invariably reflected in his income.
All our conveniences work because of people who know how to make them work. If your toilet is plugged, you don’t call the university president; you call the plumber. He won’t discuss Kierkegaard with you, but he’ll get your life back on track.
Really good tradespersons are as important in their way as orthopedic surgeons in theirs. They’re nearly as well compensated, too. The sheer tactile pleasure of working with your hands to create, and the joy of physical as opposed to mental exhaustion, are two of the great gifts of life.
This is Willem Lange in East Montpelier, and I gotta get back to work.