The only argument that Rowe makes for the desirability of skilled-trade jobs, at least in this piece, is the job security they offer: >> As long as Americans r

The only argument that Rowe makes for the desirability of skilled-trade jobs, at least in this piece, is the job security they offer: >> As long as Americans remain addicted to affordable electricity, smooth roads, indoor plumbing and climate control, the opportunities in the skilled trades will never go away. They’ll never be outsourced. Of course "a whole category of good jobs have been relegated to some sort of 'vocational consolation prize'" - they're good jobs, not the best jobs. They don't pay the best, they don't offer the best working conditions, and they don't signal the highest levels of social prestige. That's simply a function of the other possible career choices that exist. Ambitious people aspire to the best. Parents want their kids to have the best. The biggest problem I see is that society and the increasingly winner-take-all economy make it easy (and often economically rational) to feel like anything but the best is a failure.