Though media fact-checkers are unimpressed with Sen. Marco Rubio’s, R-Fla., claim this week that the world needs more welders and fewer philosophers, CNN’s Mike Rowe thinks the 2016 presidential candidate has a point.
“I’m glad Rubio said what he said,” the host of “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” said Thursday in a Facebook post.
Rubio said during the fourth televised debate Tuesday evening that the best way to raise wages is to make America “the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business.”
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The senator also called for more tax and regulatory reform, saying that this is the surest way to “reinvigorate manufacturing … and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training.”
He then said, “For the life of me, I don’t know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.”
Fact-checkers in the press soon pounced, with many claiming that philosophy professors actually make more than welders. Rowe noted that it’s not wrong to point out the median incomes of philosophy professors, adding also that one would be mistaken to suggest that people shouldn’t pursue careers in this field.
But the former “Dirty Jobs” host also joined with several others in explaining that an emphasis on median incomes misses Rubio’s point entirely.
“Interestingly, no one has pointed out that last year, philosophers earned a combined total 1.6 billion dollars, whereas welders earned a combined total of $34 billion,” the former host of Dirty Jobs. “Nor have I heard anyone explore the differences between mean wage versus median wage, and the vastly different number such a calculation would yield, given the disparate size of each group, and the impact of high-earning outliers, particularly among the philosopher cohort.”
“I suppose I could do all that here, but really, what’s the point? Numbers can always be twisted and turned to make whatever case the speaker wishes to drive home,” he added.
He continued, arguing that there’s indeed something to be said for encouraging more vocational training.
“Personally, I’m convinced that more and greater opportunity exits in welding than philosophy. But I would not encourage one at the expense of another,” he said. “That’s precisely how we’ve wound up with a workforce that’s both over-educated and under-trained. Never mind obscenely indebted. Also — it’s dangerous to conclude that one profession is superior to another simply because it pays more. Those kind of generalizations are fun but meaningless.”
And that’s why he’s “glad” Rubio said what he said.
“I know for a fact that employers are clamoring for welders. And I also know with certainty that a talented welder who is willing to go where the work is has an excellent chance to earn a six-figure salary. I have no idea if the same is true for a philosophy major, but I can assure you of this: an excellent welding program will cost a lot less than a philosophy degree from an excellent university,” Rowe wrote.
“I can also tell you that the classified section of today’s paper is conspicuously void of openings for ‘Experienced Philosophers.’ ‘Experienced Welders’ on the other hand, appear to be in high demand everywhere,” he added.
The bottom line, he wrote, is that America needs to find a middle ground. Higher education and vocational training can exist together in equal importance, and one doesn’t have to subordinate to the other.
“I don’t think we need fewer philosophers — I think we need more philosophers who can weld. Or better yet, more welders who can philosophize. Welding and Philosophy are not opposites — they’re two sides of the same coin. Likewise blue and white collar. Labor and capitol. Employer and employee,” Rowe said.
He concluded, “There’s nothing magical about learning a skill or earning a degree. What matters most is the same stuff that’s always mattered. A willingness to work hard, to master a skill that’s in demand, and to go where the demand is. Work is not about the color of collars, or the relative size of the paycheck. It’s about pursuing opportunities where they exist, and creating them where they don’t.”
