// halle.tc

Matthew B. Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work had a great excerpt in the Times recently.  Crawford is a writer, and a PhD Graduate from the University of Chicago, who has chose to open a motorcycle repair shop to work as a mechanic.  He praises manual trades, and argues that society unfairly discredits their merits while molding our generations into “knowledge workers”.

And he’s absolutely right.  In high school, a portion of the students took vocational classes (mechanics, child-care, beauty school).  These programs were given little honor and usually reserved for those with lower grades.  I can imagine the reaction of a PTA mom when her son tells her he’s forgoing college to learn how to fix bikes.

Just as college is viewed as a ticket to an open future; vocational trades were seen as a closed one.  But is that fair?

My father made his living using his hands.  He is a self-taught engineer and college drop-out.  He found his place in manufacturing; and with luck and hard work opened his own shop in the 70s.  In his spare time, he fixes cars.  The same patience and get-your-hands-dirty attitude are a complement to both his career and hobbies.  To be honest, I can’t imagine my father in school.  He hates reading. He hates listening. But he can tinker in the garage for hours.

It is a rare person, male or female, who is naturally inclined to sit still for 17 years in school, and then indefinitely at work.  – Matthew Crawford

In the article, Crawford describes our modern decline in the need to fix things: “What ordinary people once made, they buy; and what they once fixed for themselves, they replace entirely…”  This couldn’t be more true.  I have yet to meet someone in my generation that can fix things the way my Dad can.  I doubt my boyfriend even owns a toolbox (although he’s not half bad at following Ikea instructions).

It seems that our generation has shied away from the crafty, adroit lifestyle that was once common.  We have been programmed as consumers to treat our things as expendable and temporary.  We are pushed away from hands-on jobs, and channeled to careers that don’t get our suits dirty.

Crawford goes on to quote the Princeton economist Alan Blinder, who argues that the crucial distinction in the emerging labor market is not between those with more or less education, but between those whose services can be delivered over a wire and those who must do their work in person or on site. The latter will find their livelihoods more secure against outsourcing to distant countries. As Blinder puts it, “You can’t hammer a nail over the Internet.”