4 ms·

Sitting (or, trendily, standing) before a desk all day working in a computer is not for everyone. These guys do hard, dangerous work in the mines in an environm

Sitting (or, trendily, standing) before a desk all day working in a computer is not for everyone. These guys do hard, dangerous work in the mines in an environment that is very different from office work. They probably would have a very difficult time adjusting, not only to the office environment but also to the social rules in place in such environments (I write this with some experience of the difference between white collar and life-on-the-line work). It is no wonder that there is little interest in retraining into a field which is so different. I find myself more surprised that the article ignored such basic points as these. Not that I am absolutely correct in my assessment, but that these kinds of points weren't addressed. Almost as if they didn't even occur to the author. The focus was on empty classrooms and money unspent and, perhaps, stubborn coal miners, while being wilfully ignorant that the jobs on offer are probably completely uninteresting to the communities affected. It probably seems better to them to hold out hope that coal will come back than to sit around driving trucks or coding.

SomeStupidPoint 9y ago
Your theory doesn't explain why they don't retrain in welding, plumbing, electrical work, construction, vehicle maintenance, etc which are all more similar to mining (particularly within certain parts of each field) than they are office work. At least in my state, many of the (re)training programs are for those and consist of a couple weeks of lecture followed by a few months of apprenticeship -- I suspect that they're simply sticking with the familiar while there's hope. People do that. The empty classrooms is probably referring to the fact that every program begins with a little domain specific knowledge, so the people observing the intake look at that part of the funnel that every program goes through -- and then make comments about it from their perspective. The article is a little deaf in saying "100 programs from coding to nursing". I'm guessing the fields are actually widely broader than that in the kind of work, since he found a program in coal mining among those 100, and I don't consider that between coding and nursing in any sense. (I think that left you with the impression they only train office or service work, for instance.)
ryanmarsh 9y ago
They probably would have a very difficult time adjusting, not only to the office environment but also to the social rules in place in such environments Some would, some wouldn’t (I have exp. here too). It’s a problem but it’s not THE problem. The problem is politicians in coal states (including POTUS) keep peddling this bullshit story that coal will come back. The effects of this are terrible. It’s hurting communities.

SomeStupidPoint 9y ago

Your theory doesn't explain why they don't retrain in welding, plumbing, electrical work, construction, vehicle maintenance, etc which are all more similar to mining (particularly within certain parts of each field) than they are office work. At least in my state, many of the (re)training programs are for those and consist of a couple weeks of lecture followed by a few months of apprenticeship -- I suspect that they're simply sticking with the familiar while there's hope. People do that. The empty classrooms is probably referring to the fact that every program begins with a little domain specific knowledge, so the people observing the intake look at that part of the funnel that every program goes through -- and then make comments about it from their perspective. The article is a little deaf in saying "100 programs from coding to nursing". I'm guessing the fields are actually widely broader than that in the kind of work, since he found a program in coal mining among those 100, and I don't consider that between coding and nursing in any sense. (I think that left you with the impression they only train office or service work, for instance.)

ryanmarsh 9y ago

They probably would have a very difficult time adjusting, not only to the office environment but also to the social rules in place in such environments Some would, some wouldn’t (I have exp. here too). It’s a problem but it’s not THE problem. The problem is politicians in coal states (including POTUS) keep peddling this bullshit story that coal will come back. The effects of this are terrible. It’s hurting communities.