The Intelligence We Ignore: The Work that Made America Great Is Losing Value

“The skills gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work.” —Mike Rowe

The testimony Mike Rowe (the creator and host of Dirty Jobs) provided to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation brings to light one of the reasons, that College isn't the only option for all students. 

Here is an excerpt. 

Working is part of our genetic make-up in the United States. One of my personal goals producing for this program is to present the many forms of grittier intelligence that exist in the world — reminding myself and our audiences of the intellectual integrity and the nose-to-the-grindstone beauty of people in this land I call home.

The value of work and how we work and how we become civic beings is embedded in this concept of everyday living. I ask myself, “Why did so many people love the story about the oldest living man from Montana who just recently died?” I don’t think that it was just about longevity, but that he was a railroad man who had practical advice and obvious wisdom. He distilled the complexity of life into practical advice that I believe he formed by working the lines and the farms. I think all of us long to know more about people like that, the quiescent majority.

 Here's the video.



Thanks to Trent Gilliss, senior editor of  Being Blog for sharing this testimony and video. You can visit Being Blog here to read the speech in its entirety; it’s well worth the time.