Labor Day and the American Dream College isn't for everyone. (response)

Believer
I think this article is very accurate on defining good jobs in America today. The writer is correct in saying the working middle-class jobs are over looked. Statistics and personal experience lead me to believe that he is correct. The numbers do not lie in saying that you can go to college for four year and get a job over the national average of $42,000 a year. But the numbers also don’t lie in saying that out of high school you can make $44,000 being a truck driver as payscale.com says. Using simple calculations a worker a McDonalds making minimum wage at 7.25 an hour working 40 hours a week would make over $15,000 a year. Not saying that one can live a lavish life working at McDonalds but it is just a small look at how the numbers work. In Fayetteville, NC, the city I grew up in, there was a Goodyear tire plant down street school that would start its workers pay rate at $18.50 an hour. And if you ask me $38,000 isn’t too bad for a high school graduate.


Doubter
The writer of this article has a valid argument for the pay of jobs out of high school but that main factor that causes this loss of middle-class working jobs is the job satisfaction. Three main differences between you GED jobs and professional degree jobs are working hours, work conditions, and pride. Payscale.com states that truck drivers with a GED can make up to $44,000 a year, $2,000 over the national average. But what the numbers do not state is that most of those truck drivers drive through the night, early in the morning, or even all day. You may not have had to stay up all night studying Bio-chem test or history 1334 final, but you will have to cram those hours for the rest of your working life. Next the work conditions are really different. Would you rather work in an office or in a truck all day sleeping at random truck stops around the nation? Would you rather have adjustable temperature or work in a hot steel mill in the humid Texas summer? Enough said. Lastly many men and women have too much pride to work these blue collar jobs. I joke around sometimes saying, “Well if college doesn’t work out for you, we always need bus drivers” but no one want to be that bus driver.