Editor:
I read with mixed thoughts, the commentary, “The jobs are there, the education is not” (Sept. 27, 2012 issue). Yes, education and learning is important, if for no other reason but to keep the mind from becoming stale and one-sided. But education should not be a criteria for not getting a job.
What is wrong with on-the-job training? Our daddy shared many stories of how he started on the railroad as a trackman and worked his way up to foreman, by the older men taking him under their wing and teaching and training him.
In my own experiences, I remember starting in the steno pool at a major corporation, and working up to benefits/cash advance officer because the older workers trained and taught me.
Why can’t/won’t employers hire and train workers — because our society has become de-humanized. We have lost sight of feeling, compassion and concern for others. Sensitivity and the idea that every life is important and has a purpose has all but disappeared.
Our society seems content watching certain individuals wander around aimlessly, wasting their time and minds.
By hiring and training the so-called, under-educated individual, you just may be surprised what type of quality worker you have found.
As long as employers and society overall have a comfort level of ignoring and writing off the lives of minorities, the poorer class, the elderly, those deemed unfit and unworthy, we are defeating ourselves.
For the most part, the majority of people want to work and be productive, so why not give them a chance.
No one knows who has the brightest minds or where they will come from.
On-the-job training, instructing, teaching and guiding should rank right up there with education.
Janet L. Martin
Pittsburgh, Pa.
My husband is a hard worker. He’s learned to build cabinets & do plumbing work by apprenticing. Sadly both those skills are in low demand at this time. He has no computer skills and he has a learning disability that makes reading difficult for him. I can read to him and he can use the information but there’s a disconnect between reading and understanding for him. He’s virtually unemployable in this economy as a result. There are so many well educated individuals that need any kind of work he’s the left behind. He’s a hard worker, honest and ethical. There is a place for schools and there is a place for apprentice opportunities. There are good people out there that would be an asset to someone wiling to teach them.