A few days ago a column in the Charleston Gazette by Froma Harrop caught my eye. Her thesis is blunt. “The United States has shed two million factory jobs since 2007, yet many American companies can’t find qualified workers to fill their available openings. That’s a shocking problem, given the numbers looking for work.”

Harrop contends that U.S. factories still make “lots of stuff,” but with highly sophisticated assembly lines.  Workers in these factory jobs need technical skills such as in computer, welding, machining. 

The old saying, “a strong back and a weak mind” doesn’t cut it anymore. Machines replace the strong back. And education is now essential to replace the weak mind. The good news is that community colleges and workforce programs (such as our own Snowshoe Career Center) can help motivated people to achieve desirable career paths. A key word here, of course, is “motivated people.”   A self-motivated person will make the personal short-term sacrifices for the long-term gain, and that means acquiring quality education, developing  good work habits, and building experience.

Harrop writes about a pharmaceutics manufacturer in a Cleveland suburb that had 100 openings for jobs paying about $15 per hour.  3600 people applied for the jobs, but only 47 were hired.  One of the qualifiers was that the company required applicants to read and do math at a ninth-grade level. Apparently most applicants failed meeting this standard.

Newspapers in general read at about a fifth grade level. It is important to note that just because someone has completed ninth grade does not mean that he or she has ninth grade reading and math skills. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 39% of eighth graders in West Virginia scored below basic proficiency in math. That’s about two out of five kids who cannot perform basic math functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with whole numbers and fractions and decimals. Reading is in similar straits.

I do not blame the schools.  They can only do so much. Any teacher will say that the greatest influence on a child’s educational success is his or her family and home life. Children pick up attitudes.  In my library post, I watch parents bring their kids to the library, check out books for their children, and talk to our staff about the books their children are reading this summer. Then there are other children in our communities who will not open the cover of a book all summer. Guess which children will be more apt to succeed in life?

There are solutions. Motivated adults can take classes toward a GED diploma, enroll in community college and technical skills courses and take advantage of on-the-job training skills development. Motivated adults can develop quality resumes and references in their present jobs by being dependable, cooperative and hardworking.

Motivated parents can set parameters for their children conducive to creative, disciplined and ultimately enjoyable learning.  Parenting styles can vary and be successful. Our own children did not have a television in their rooms (perish the thought!) but they did have books, games, puzzles and interactive toys. Our family computer was available for them to do their work, not to play fantasy games. Rather, their fantasy games were played out with Lego sets, tree forts in the woods and developing creative skills in art and music. They read books, we read books to them and we read books ourselves, our home  a culture of books.

Other parents do things well, yet quite differently. A common key is that they are shaping and motivating their children 
toward their futures.  And those futures include developing strong abilities in reading, writing, math and reasoning.