"By the time they got to Woodstock..."

[alfreda89]

"Ontario workers are well-trained."

A friend sent this to me, commenting that the Southeast apparently has chosen to remain in the 19th century in more than one way--and this employer's decision reflects the situation.

And note the remark about health care...

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html

Comments

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

The said part is that it would take more than a generation to fix this problem, and only if we started now.

I wonder if this story will get any play here in the States...?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this story will get any play here in the States...?

I was wondering the same thing--irate parents screaming about schools, senators asking for more money--but I don't know anymore if there is a climate encouraging learning in the southeast. Don't get me wrong--there are great universities in the south, William & Mary, excellent state universities, etc. But stats show that people in the south aren't as educated, get married sooner, get divorced more often, and earn less. (If we'd only known...Lincoln should have let them secede.)

Without a change in that climate, I'm not sure money will help.

[vincam.livejournal.com]

apparently has chosen to remain in the 19th century in more than one way

Well, if you're going to build a plant in a rural area, you're going to get illiterate or semi-illiterate workers. "Choosing" isn't the case. The plant is going in near...CAMBRIDGE? I daresay there are few spots in the country that can compete with that, education-wise, let alone areas where there is little money to run schools. Furthermore, if you want to talk about a bad school system, go to California. In general the American public school systems suck, compared to the rest of the world. We like to think we've got the best of everything, but it's a dream. The American dream that never was.

And the article goes on to mention that our profit-oriented health care system is largely to blame for the unfavorable comparison between American and Canadian workers. I'm glad employers are complaining about the high cost of the insurance racket. Then maybe something will be done about it.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

And the article goes on to mention that our profit-oriented health care system is largely to blame for the unfavorable comparison between American and Canadian workers. I'm glad employers are complaining about the high cost of the insurance racket. Then maybe something will be done about it.

I am, too. Medical is about to break me this year. I know several desperate, good teachers who are being forced to "teach to tests" even when it's not what a child needs, and will do nothing to give him/her building blocks for the next grade--for learning to think. Way too many teachers are on prozac, while parents expect the teachers to do everything the parents can't or won't do in raising the kids. It's not all parents--but a small percentage are destroying the system and driving away good teachers.

Americans got off easy for decades, because until the early 60s they paid teachers NOTHING--it was the only job women with certain talents could get in our society. It's one reason the retirement was decent, even if you had to stay forever to get it--it was what unmarried women did, and they needed that retirement. (I remember how shocked I was to read the Delaney Sisters' story--how the DENTIST gave up her practice to take care of Mom, while the teacher kept teaching--because she had a pension coming, when she finished her years.)

Suddenly, the workforce opened up. We aren't paid what men are, but we're there--and suddenly, few of the best and the brightest women are teaching. Before, we had top 10% for $10,000 a year. Now, colleges actively discourage talented women from teaching, except on a college level. (There was one of those last page columns in Time written by a young woman from, I think Dartmouth, who was told not to teach.)

Good schools are going to cost us. We need more money to do schools and medical, and the current administration has other priorities, I believe.