Meat+Poultry - August 2019 - 94

FROM THE CORRAL

Trade fade
Recently, I was talking to a doctor
in Texas who was having increasing
problems with teaching medical interns
how to sew up cuts. One reason for this
is that many of the interns never learned
to use scissors or use a needle and
thread when they were children. In my
livestock handling class, the students
are having more and more difficulty
doing my assignment that requires them
to make a scale drawing. Some students
have never learned to use a ruler. They
also question why learning to draw a
scale drawing is important. I tell them
that it is a really useful and practical
skill they can apply in other projects,
including remodeling their homes.

DISAPPEARING SKILLS
I am really concerned that we are
losing skills that are essential. This
is especially apparent in the highly
skilled trades. Today there is a huge
shortage of plumbers, electricians,
mechanics, heating and air conditioning
technicians and welders who can read
technical drawings.
During my talks at autism
conferences, I see many smart, quirky
kids who love to make things, and
nothing is being done to develop their
skills. During a long career, I have

worked with many quirky, brilliant
welders. If they were children today,
they would have been diagnosed with
autism, dyslexia or some other label.
Most of the people I have worked
with are now retired and they are not
getting replaced. The students who
should be replacing them are playing
video games in the basement instead of
building things.
At autism meetings, I am seeing too
many smart kids who hate school and
are going nowhere, because no one
introduced them to tools. To get them
interested, they have to be exposed to
building things. Kids get interested in
things they are exposed to.
For many students, waiting to
introduce a highly skilled trade at a
community college is too late. Kids
need to be introduced to simple hand
tools in elementary school. Many
children do not know how to hold a
hammer. When I was 11, I took wood
shop and loved it.
When I first entered the meat
industry in the 70s and 80s, US
companies built all the specialized
equipment. Today, we have lost this
ability in some sectors. Equipment for
processing pork and poultry is now
being invented and manufactured in
Canada, Holland, Germany and other
parts of Europe. These countries
are leaders because highly skilled
trades are an important part of their
educational system.
When I talk to educators, I tell

them that we need to be developing
the skills of some of the kids that are
different. A major obstacle that holds
many bright, visual-thinking kids back
is that they cannot do algebra. I have
never passed an algebra course. I took
finite math that consisted of statistics,
probability and matrices. Algebra
was too abstract, but statistics and
probability could be visualized. I did
just fine in old-fashioned elementary
school math such as finding the area
of a circle or the volume of a tank.
Old-fashioned arithmetic is essential
for welders who build meat processing
equipment. In some states, passing the
algebra exam is keeping students out of
skilled trades. Food industry managers
need to work with school boards to
take down barriers to skilled trades.
Within the last year, I visited three
new plants. My animal welfare hat
was jumping for joy, but the other hat
I wear - when I talk to parents and
educators - was weeping. The new
equipment was marvelous. When I
am wearing my animal welfare hat, I
strongly recommend it. At the same
time, my other hat is screaming, "We
don't make it anymore!"
We still make the building,
field fabricated concrete and steel
stockyards, boilers and refrigeration.
However, the really clever equipment
with many conveyors and mechanisms
is increasingly not being made in the
US because we have lost the skills.
T E M P L E G R A N D I N | m e a t p o u l t r y @ s o s l a n d .c o m

Food industry managers need to work with school
boards to take down barriers to skilled trades.
Rosalie Winard

94

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Meat+Poultry - August 2019

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