“We don’t need American Idols,” he
said. “We need American icons. Icons of work. The country needs a parapateia [turning point, or as Rowe
put it “a reversal of fortune or a sudden change in circumstances”]. We
need to tell better stories of men and women who master a trade. We have to
stop telling kids to blindly follow their passion and show them the
opportunities that exist. That was the big, overarching message of ‘Dirty
Jobs.’ The message that the headlines that ultimately caught up to: There is
dignity in all work and opportunity is alive and well.”
Rowe talks about
finding people who were willing to show up early and stay late and
learn a skill that was actually in demand. The business of recruitment was a
difficult thing. Everywhere I went on the road was ‘Help wanted’ signs. The
least I could do was to shine a light on some opportunities that typically go
ignored.
The statistics back Rowe up. There
are currently 1.5 trillion dollars of student loans on the books, and seven
million jobs available, 75 percent of which don’t require a 4 year degree. But
they do require training. Rowe wanted to provide such training as a way to
begin to bridge the gap between goals and completion, college and a job, and
failure and dignity.
Help wanted. In demand. Opportunities. The Tea Party is
all about free markets, and Rowe is doing a lot to bring them back in focus. The rest of the report at The Federalist is here; Rowe's speech is linked at the top of the page, including the video.
# # #
