Gen Alpha thinks College = Good Jobs WOW!

00:01 - Speaker 1

Welcome back to the blue collar BS with Brad and Steve. I am Brad and Steve, you are Steve, steve and Doyle, the acting millennial for the show Stop, stop, stop, oh my gosh. So prior to us getting on this call and onto this recording, you showed me a bunch of little. I love you, thank you. Notes which I'm like.

00:32

Oh, steve got those from his church kids for doing some stuff over there. And then you said, no, I didn't get those, I got them from a bunch of sixth graders. I'm like, why are you talking to sixth graders? So, mr Doyle, why are you talking to sixth graders?

00:46 - Speaker 2

So my daughter asked me she's like Dad, my teacher's having some, you know, would like to have parents come in to talk to them about what you do. And I would like to know what you do because you are working a lot of different places and I really don't know what you do. So can you come in? Can you talk to my teacher about coming in? I said Okay. So I got with the teacher and she's like so, mr Doyle, what is it you might? Your daughter said to you.

01:13 - Speaker 1

Yeah, I'm gonna move the bobs. So, steve, what is it that you do here?

01:17 - Speaker 2

Yeah. So what I do here is a little unique from what you're used to seeing, with parents come in and tell kids why they need to go to college and all about the job that they get after they go to school. And so I said Would you like a different perspective on what it might look like knowing from somebody that's been in the white collar space and his transition to the blue collar space? Would you like to, you know, have a different perspective for your students to let them know why college might not be the answer for those?

01:50 - Speaker 1

for them and they still let you in the school.

01:52 - Speaker 2

Absolutely they did. They were. It was like open arms. It's like please come in. We need different opinions of that, because the school system where we're at here in Clarkston is very much open to having a diversity of thought with whether you go to college, they actually have trade programs in the high school where there's a construction tech class. They work with the Oakland technical schools in the Oakland County for that. So they're like yes, please come in, we need to talk about that. So I was like Cool. So we got in to have the talk. Nothing's pre prepared. We didn't have anything prepared. No, I didn't mind. Weird.

02:37 - Speaker 1

So weird that you didn't have something prepared all scripted outward by word lots of powerpoint slides, data flip charts.

02:44 - Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean we could if I was in you know white collar space and love doing that shit. But that's not how we roll at all anymore, just roll up and talk. So it was, it was a lot of fun, it was very interesting. So the first thing I asked kids it was a very first question I asked them was what's that? I did not ask that because I forgot, clearly, that one. Clearly I forgot that one. But I asked them. I was like how many believe you have to go to college to get a good job? 100% of them raised their hands and said we have to go to college to get a good job. 100% of sixth graders that I talked to that day there was 31 of them raised their hand and said I have been told I have to go to college to get a good job.

03:38 - Speaker 1

Wow, wow and did so. I'm going to ask a question Did you give it? Did you give them? The follow up question is to tell me what a good job is I did.

03:47 - Speaker 2

And they told me to be an engineer, to be a teacher I want to, I want to be a nurse, I want to be a doctor. Because they came in and talked to us knows all sounded cool. I was like, okay, awesome, what if I were to tell you there is another way and you don't have to go to school? And they're like, well, how does that happen? So then I shared my journey of when I started at 16, when I was 16, working in construction, how much I was making. So it was just I wrote on the board what my salary was at 16 and how I progressed up and what it looked like after when I went to school and the different jobs that I had, and then what the different rates were and how much people made annually. And I said, after we got to the decision point where I left, I said this is how much I was making, which was mid six figures, and said, yep, I turned that in and started my own company and I work with book, how I businesses.

04:59 - Speaker 1

So the summer of: 2016

05:04 - Speaker 2

It did for both of us. The beatings will continue until you improve, that's what I remember.

05:13 - Speaker 1

Prove, no matter how hard it is.

05:17 - Speaker 2

Yeah, I still remember you picking me up after those training sessions.

05:25 - Speaker 1

So this show, steve Doyle on this show the outgoing gregarious kind of guy he couldn't ask a fucking question to save his life, to dig into something, to be curious at all. It was hilarious.

05:39 - Speaker 2

It was funny. It was fucking funny, yeah, yeah, I still had my facial expression burned on the inside of my eyes what I love, and how time flies it does, how it's completely 180 right now. So it's all good. So that was. It was really enlightening to share with them kind of one one of the journey that I took, but it was more enlightening for them to ask questions Once we got in, talking about rates and wages.

06:11

If you were to work in the blue collar space plus not have the debt from college and so you're earning more right out the gate, you're able to provide differently for your family, with a greater sense of purpose, potentially for those that want to work with their hands and do things, and that if they chose to own their business and grow that, that there was an even greater earning potential and you still didn't need to go to college to do that. So for 50 minutes we had this conversation and the kids were actually engaging in asking questions to learn about how they could actually do something different than go to college, and they were like their parents. Other teachers have told them you need to do this to get. So it really begs the question what are our parents telling their kids about how bad blue color work actually is.

07:08 - Speaker 1

Oh right, that's part of the problem, you know. But everybody tries to attack. But the opportunity that exists to get parents to come to that open house or to come to those things is almost next to nothing Correct. They have no interest in it because they're not exposed to it or they haven't been exposed to it and it's just flat out wrong, right, absolutely. We'll go see the brand new building that was put up and some of it. I'm going to blame that on the manufacturers and on the owners of those businesses of not willing to open up. You know, when I was at Pusaris, when we had our 100, what was it? 125th anniversary open house that we had. It was the 125th anniversary of the house of the business and we striped the entire facility, called it the green mile because it was a green line.

08:03

And it was well over a mile long that walking through the facility and seeing everything. And my father-in-law, restis Oll, he enjoyed that tour so much because he remembers all of those things and back in the day what industry used to be and all those types of things and put my kids. They saw that stuff and they go, oh, you and this massive, you know 300,000 pounds of people sitting in different structures and going, oh that, oh, wow, the stuff that you'll ever see from a mining industry perspective anywhere in your lifetime. Most likely for most people it was spectacular.

08:44

You know, my wife and I were just down on a vacation in Greece recently and we were on one of our excursions in one of the islands. We went and saw probably the world's largest burlite, burlite, burlite, burtonite, some mineral mine. It's an open surface mine, right, but it was compared to the things I've seen right from the coal side of it and copper side of it, it was super small. But for my wife to see the benches and the things and the little trucks right, the big trucks that were on our cars driving past this truck in this mine which is also very weird that we were able to get on an operating mine site inside Greece, without any safety videos, any training, nothing. But you see these, I'm like, and you just see them down there, I'm like, yeah, this isn't it's big but it's not. But she saw it and was a little having appreciation for that. And kids don't get that opportunity anymore and it's not good.

09:46 - Speaker 2

Right. I still remember when my grandfather and my uncle were working at Flint Metal Fath and they had like a family day where the family could come in, walk the line and see where everything was. It was in the 80s. I remember going there and just being in awe at the large manufacturing line watching how everybody has to work in unison to actually build a vehicle.

10:09 - Speaker 1

It was just amazing, or what line was that? What were they making? Trucks.

10:15 - Speaker 2

It's the truck plant. Flint Metal Fath is one of their largest truck plants.

10:21 - Speaker 1

So yes, we're stamping out side Side vendors and front vendors and the big-ass hoods back then, and yeah, and and assembly too.

10:30 - Speaker 2

So they this is their final assembly plan. So it was just amazing. Yeah, the Buick City was still there and that was still operating. But I don't remember going there. I just remember going into the Metal fab area for family day. It was just amazing. I've not seen one sense.

10:47 - Speaker 1

And that's why the you know the how it's made, shows and things like that that used to be on discovery and now I don't even know if that's even running anymore.

10:58

That's why the show is so important to be able to get that exposure. Oh, somebody has to do that and make those things, and Mike row, who you know. Mike row, if you happen to be listening to the show, if you happen to be one of our Listeners out here, we'd love to have you as a guest, we on this show, to talk about your dirty jobs, promotions and things like that. But that show was spectacular for people to get exposure to it and you made it aware and understood how people involved in Sanitation, in all those things that nobody wants to do or I should say nobody wants to do, the things that aren't sexy, aren't appealing, but are some for our society. Mike row, shout out tap, tip of the cap to you, brother that we yeah, oh, by the way, you are a targeted dream guest for this show you to some teller and mr Michigan, we'd love to have the show as well.

11:54

Yep, put it out in the universe, see what happens. Gotta manifest it, we're good. So so the six-year-olds which are the tail end of Gen Z and the beginning of Gen Alpha. So we have an entire tail end of a group of people who believe college has is the solution, without anything else. So, as you gave them their story, what were some of the most inquisitive questions, or what are the questions that you enjoyed that popped up that you're going? Huh, that's a really great question. Never thought about that.

12:23 - Speaker 2

These kids are smart, believe it's smart, and the questions they asked were they were curious on the financial side, like, hey, how much could I make in this role if I chose to do it, for you know, if I was in this role for 10 years, how much would I make, you know? And so I, you give them a range. And then the more important question that I would ask back is what do you like doing? Well, interest you in this space? Why does it interest you? And some. And then then we started to have different conversations. Well, I don't. I'm really starting to think college might not be for me and it's, and I'm like that's cool and it's totally fine to have those thoughts and opinions. See, because that's what we're not willing as a society to have those conversations. We're just so pounded and ingrained to say, no, you have to go to college, and you have to go to college, and you have to go to college. You know, I need to have those conversations. We're just so pounded and ingrained to say, no, you have to go to college to get a good job. Why? Because good jobs exist out there. There are great people making great money, helping people with everyday life.

13:30

So let's talk plumbers, for example, and I gave this example to the kids. I said so how many of you guys you know your parents had to call a plumber, you know, in the last year it's and I would say 15 of them raised their hands, said, okay, that's great, how hard do you? Did you ever hear your parents talking about how hard it was to find one? And one kid piped up? And they're like, yeah, it took them three months to find a plumber that would actually come out to the house, like, yeah, people in the trades are now because they're so short-handed, they're picking and choosing who they can work, who they want to work with, and they're setting their own rates to say, okay, great, you need me to come in here because you have a blown line, like a blown plumbing line somewhere, and you need me in there to fix it right now. Right, okay, great, a plumbing line that technically probably costs less than $50 to repair in materials is going to cost you north of $500 to get it fixed. Why? Because our plumbers know their worth. And then you know you need it done now. You know you need it done now and you're not going to make that money.

14:42

If you're an owner of a plumbing company and you're the one doing the job and you don't have a large for it. You know your worth. If you don't have a problem, you need to fix it ASAP. It costs money to do that. Correct Right, and it's like that everywhere. When people are so taught, there's only one avenue for you don't do trades go to college. And now we're here, left with $500 bills for you know an hour's worth of work because I know where to fix the problem. I know how to fix the problem. That's what you're paying for. You're paying for that experience, right.

15:21 - Speaker 1

And there's and this is a topic for a different show, probably but there's that opportunity that we still need to figure out how to transfer knowledge and wisdom and show where the one thing, where the right thing is to go to look at that plumbing system, at that septic system, at that leech bed system, at whatever it is, to make sure that the next person knows how to take care of it.

15:47

So that's a different topic for a different show. So Mr Doyle has done his good deed for the month, which is great. So thank you for going out and promoting and supporting and getting in front of some Gen Alphas and bringing forward some information that's like frickin' scary. Actually, we have a generation and a half potentially, that think that they have to go to college, which and colleges shit the bed during COVID for how they were handling things, and this is going to be a very interesting next three to five years for sure, absolutely Hi, mr Doyle, thank you for doing your good deed today, for this for the blue collar world and letting people know there are good jobs out there for good people that want to do something and can think about it differently, so that Gen Alpha you're helping support us, move that generation forward.

16:43

So, mr Doyle, kudos to you. And Mike, when you're ready, just let us know and we'll have a set of yeah, let us know, all right, we'll see you later.

16:52 - Speaker 2

We'll see you later then. Thanks again.