I happened to catch John Ratzenberger on the Neil Cavuto show yesterday as he unveiled the "10x20" program. Ratzenberger, if you don't remember, was Cliff Clavin on the TV Show "Cheers." Before he became an actor, he was a carpenter. Similar to the Discover Channel's Mike Rowe, Ratzenberger points out that America, for a long, long time, has been pushing kids away from skilled labor into a one-track-fits-all white-collar world of college. So much so that the Bureau of Statistics reports that by the year 2030, there will be 10 million or more vacant job positions for carpenters, welders, machinists, electricians, plumbers, etc. The impact of no one filling those jobs as we baby boomers retire is huge, not only will it be costly and slow to get anything built or repaired, but the 10 million people who might have fit those jobs had the schools maintained their vocational programs might instead become frustrated square pegs in round career holes, or worse, be unable to find a job at all.
Ratzenberger was promoting the idea of current skilled laborers taking on the missing vocational training the public school system has ignored or eliminated for a generation or more.
And did you know Ratzenberger has been in every, single Pixar movie?
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