American workers not "best in the world." In fact, we're actually kind of bad.

One thing I think our education system, of which I am a part, does to exacerbate this is to so severely compartmentalize learning/subjects. It's very difficult to get even the best students to see how this all fits together. Further, there's a sense that each course/area of instruction is to be taken on independent of all others.

I recall an undergrad who told me that she was struggling in my course because she wasn't "good at math," but that was OK because of her major. "Oh? What's your major?" I asked. "Finance," she replied. YGBFKM.

 

I think the issue of how we deliver math and English instruction in the schools -- from elementary on up -- needs to be explored. Are we finding ways to get kids interested in the subjects at a young age? Are we too worried about sticking to a certain method of instruction rather than encouraging teachers to be creative? Is it teachers refusing to adapt when there just might be a method that could work better? Are the teachers doing their best but failing to get support from administration?

You usually find that you have to start at the bottom of the ladder to figure out what's wrong with the top -- and to remember that, once you address what is at the bottom, it will take some time to see if it resolves issues at the top and not just dwell on those already at the top who didn't get a good start at the bottom.

 

Certain skills can't be outsourced. We're always going to need electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and espresso machine repairmen. (And, yes, I know the trades are suffering because of a decline in building in this slow economy.)

Sure. Lot's of evidence of this. Robots are even cheaper than third world labor. They are more precise and work longer hours. If you're manufacturing for a domestic market, your product doesn't need to be shipped here from Asia.

But, look, if we know this, then it isn't that hard to see where there will be a growth in jobs. While it won't replace all the lost manufacturing jobs, there will be opportunities in designing the manufacturing systems of tomorrow, both the hardware, and the software. There will be jobs building them, installing them, and maintaining them.

And, these will be high paying jobs, since it's technical, and not enough people will have the necessary skills.

We lost bank tellers, and parking lot attendants. But, I see folks repairing automated parking machines every damn day. ATM's need service too.

If we see where the economy is going, it shouldn't be too hard to train a workforce for it.

 

The worst is going out for a meal with co-workers, and when the check comes, more than half of the table announces that they are bad at math, and someone else will have to figure out what the tip should be, and how much everyone owes.

At one job, this was always me. And, the folks who were "bad at math" inevitably had college degrees, and were responsible for budgets at a Fortune 500 company.

 

Someone should build a Meals Tip app. Would save a lot of time and stupidity.

 

As long as it can also divide the total by the number of guests...

 

You don't think you can outsource computer programming? Um, OK.

 

Acknowledged, but that seems to be besides the point, which is that employers rightfully want and will pay for skilled workers for jobs that require skilled workers, and will not pay for unskilled work they can obtain more cheaply.

This has infiltrated sports. Baseball teams can't outsource jobs to Bangladesh. But they outsource high-paid veteran jobs to low-paid rookies who are just as productive. Didn't happen in the past, when guys who batted .270 with 2 home runs a year could hang around forever. Look at the back of a baseball card from the '70s.

 

Dick's omniscience is blinding.

 

Sure, they can, but only if they can find people capable of doing as good a job, at a lower price.

It's still a skill in demand. Most manufacturing jobs don't require a comparable skill level.

And, we've seen, that companies want their programmers nearby, because they need to be responsive, and work collaboratively other in the company. We're specifically granting visas to foreigners with these skills, as opposed to outsourcing many of these jobs.

 

Troll, troll, troll your boat, gently down the stream.

 

Someone just saved us a lot of time, and stupidity -- esp. for "No. of people" ...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handyapps.tipnsplit