I (J) have been involved with a job program in the low-income Watts section of Los Angeles for several years. The program provides job opportunities to young black men and women between the ages of 15 and the 21. The jobs are actually pretty good: truck drivers, warehouse workers, receptionists, etc. Some of the jobs pay up to $15/hour. There are a variety of jobs, many of which offer opportunities for promotion.
The vast majority of the young brothers and sisters I come into contact with never cease to disappoint me. They do not have any role models and have absolutely no job skills. Their attention spans are roughly 25 seconds. They can’t clean; they can’t do customer service; they can’t fix cars; they can’t do electrical work, etc. In essence, many, if not most, of them are virtually unemployable. (The concept of black unemployability is, in my opinion, under-researched.) Many quit their jobs within a few weeks, claiming the jobs are “too hard” or that they “don’t want to take the bus to work.” Others get pregnant or simply disappear.
I often urge the kids to go as far as they can in their educations, including college. But for most of them, college is very unlikely. Some have felony criminal records, and most don’t graduate high school–at least in the year they are supposed to. So I’ve been thinking for a long time that the best thing to do would be to stop acting as if college is “do or die,” and, instead, urge the kids to learn a trade. Plumbing, electrical, construction, truck driving, clothes-making, shoe repair, jewelry repair, etc. Something less glamourous but every bit necessary to society. Something stable–and realistic–that will keep them out of jail, off the streets and attractive as a potential mate and parent. I will be happy if most of them hold down a job, stay off welfare, don’t kill anybody and don’t abandon a child.
TheStateOf . . . Trades. Looking at the state of ghetto black culture, which seems stuck in the past, and neither encourages hard work, family nor academic excellence, I’m of the view that many low-income black children would be better-served by an education that exposes them to trades, rather than the “college or bust” mentality that seems to be pervasive at the moment. This education would continue to make college a priority, but also would insure that the kids possessed some sort of skill that would keep them out of jail and off the streets. It’s that pathetic out here.
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