Who Will Teach the Children?

[AlphaFrog]

As someone who works in the construction industry, I see the trend through all of the races. I think I have yet to see an African American who is a professional licenced plumber. The trades are dying out. It's moving toward educated fields and away from hands-on, sweat and get dirty work. There is a shortage of plumbers, electricians, masons, etc, and it does not look promising for the future.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

As someone who works in the construction industry, I see the trend through all of the races. I think I have yet to see an African American who is a professional licenced plumber. The trades are dying out. It's moving toward educated fields and away from hands-on, sweat and get dirty work. There is a shortage of plumbers, electricians, masons, etc, and it does not look promising for the future.

The trend you're noticing isn't just about people being taught, though. Many blue collar people come from blue collar families. Either they learn the trade in the family, in trade schools, or elsewhere. If there is indeed an overall change that you're observing, that's probably more about economic shifts. Just like what happened with de-industrialization and the shift to a service economy.

Other than that there will always be enough people to fill the roles of plumbers and electricians. With disproportionate poverty and inequality in education, there really isn't a shift to the field of education and away from blue collar jobs for most people in the lower middle to lower classes and minorities. If you're not seeing these people in these positions, that's mostly about discrimination in the labor market that keeps these jobs from being "stolen by the affirmative action crowd."