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The Public Policy
‘Meaningful Work’
Telling young people that some jobs are “menial” is a huge disservice to them and to the whole society.
“Education” is a word that covers a lot of very different things, from vital, life-saving medical skills to frivolous courses to absolutely counterproductive courses that fill people with a sense of grievance and entitlement, without giving them either the skills to earn a living or a realistic understanding of the world required for a citizen in a free society.
The lack of realism among many highly educated people has been demonstrated in many ways.
When I saw signs in Yellowstone National Park warning visitors not to get too close to a buffalo, I realized that this was a warning that no illiterate farmer of a bygone century would have needed. No one would have had to tell him not to mess with a huge animal that literally weighs a ton, and can charge at you at 30 miles an hour.
No one would have had to tell that illiterate farmer’s daughter not to stand by the side of a highway, trying to hitch a ride with strangers, as too many college girls have done, sometimes with results that ranged all the way up to their death.
The dangers that a lack of realism can bring to many educated people are completely overshadowed by the dangers to a whole society created by the unrealistic views of the world promoted in many educational institutions.
It was painful, for example, to see an internationally renowned scholar say that what low-income young people needed was “meaningful work.” But this is a notion common among educated elites, regardless of how counterproductive its consequences may be for society at large, and for low-income youngsters especially.
What is “meaningful work”?
The underlying notion seems to be that it is work whose performance is satisfying or enjoyable in itself. But if that is the only kind of work that people should have to do, how is garbage to be collected, bed pans emptied in hospitals or jobs with life-threatening dangers to be performed?
Does anyone imagine that firemen enjoy going into burning homes and buildings to rescue people trapped by the flames? That soldiers going into combat think it is fun?
In the real world, many things are done simply because they have to be done, not because doing them brings immediate pleasure to those who do them. Some people take justifiable pride in working to take care of their families, whether or not the work itself is great.
Some of our more Utopian intellectuals lament that many people work “just for the money.” They do not like a society where A produces what B wants, simply in order that B will produce what A wants, with money being an intermediary device facilitating such exchanges.
Some would apparently prefer a society where all-wise elites would decide what each of us “needs” or “deserves.” The actual history of societies formed on that principle — histories often stained, or even drenched, in blood — is of little interest to those who mistake wishful thinking for idealism.
At the very least, many intellectuals do not want the poor or the young to have to take “menial” jobs. But people who are paying their own money, as distinguished from the taxpayers’ money, for someone to do a job are unlikely to part with hard cash unless that job actually needs doing, whether or not that job is called “menial” by others.
People who lack the skills to take on more prestigious jobs can either remain idle and live as parasites on others or take the jobs for which they are currently qualified, and then move up the ladder as they acquire more experience. People who are flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s on New Year’s Day are seldom flipping hamburgers there when Christmas time comes.
Those relatively few statistics that follow actual flesh-and-blood individuals over time show them moving massively from one income bracket to another over time, starting at the bottom and moving up as they acquire skills and experience.
Telling young people that some jobs are “menial” is a huge disservice to them and to the whole society. Subsidizing them in idleness while they wait for “meaningful work” is just asking for trouble, both for them and for all those around them.
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Appleby| 5.30.12 @ 6:56AM
I have had occasion to deal with lots of race car drivers over the last 12 years or so, and one thing I have learned is that this seemingly glamourous job is often no more interesting than my secretarial job. I recall a young driver's almost angry frustration when he found out that a huge part of his days would be taken up with answering the same questions over and over, sucking up to sponsors, greeting fans and signing their various memorabilia, and simply poundnig round and round the same track thousands of times a week to find out the characteristics of several different kinds of tires. And all these things have to be done regardless of how one feels about them, even if the temperature is 100 degrees and there's no air conditioning in the car -- or if it's raining pitchforks and hammer handles and your car has no top.
I also recall the words of a very famous hockey goalie who was known for his temper: "How would YOU like it if every time you made a mistake at your job, somebody turned on a red light behind you and everyone started to boo?"
The first lesson anybody has to learn is that if it was suppposed to be fun, they wouldn't call it "Work."
Moe Blotz| 5.30.12 @ 3:45PM
That young driver you refer to probably did not go very far in his racing career. The professionals know what they must do to perfect the entire "package" so they can go out on race day and compete. Those who find a career in what they love to do never work a day in their lives.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 5:01PM
It is smarm pure n simple. Sowell wouldn't urge his kids (if he has any) to work as a menial.
C'mon.
Appleby| 5.31.12 @ 7:25AM
You are right; he quit before he hit the big time.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 11:00PM
Actually, the joy of my job is that sometimes it is a great deal of fun.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 11:02PM
Well, it interests me that the young driver doesn't realize to become great his skills must be "in the bone." Didn't make it, I'm sure.
I learned how to evaluate properly for suicide when I had two hours sleep in 24 and was sweaty and exhausted, because the technique was practiced over and over again until it was "in the bone."
Von Mises Jr| 5.30.12 @ 8:02AM
Michael Barone pointed out that liberals/socialist are nostalgic about good old union factory jobs where you work from 18-21 to 48-51 and retire with a pension and health benefits for life. Barone grew up in the Detroit area and explained that workers hated repetitive, back-breaking assembly line work.
Moreover, GM went bankrupt since they had something like ten (10) people collecting health benefits for every one current worker. So if the cost of a health care plan is $15K, every workers productivity must support $150K in health care burden.
This is why we bailed out GM, as well as Chrysler where Bond Holders lost seventy cents ($0.70) on every dollar invested.
This is a recipe for disaster for the people. But Dear Leaders will send their regards from Martha's Vineyard, Vale or Hawaii.
Ryan| 5.30.12 @ 8:34AM
One, FINALLY REGISTRATION.
Two, many "menial" jobs provide life skills that are often useful in many different contexts.
Three, I think the other part of this is essentially the downgrading of blue-collar middle-income jobs which may allow someone to succeed. We will ALWAYS need plumbers, electricians, etc, and they are worth their pay. A person with a decent business sense and good work ethic should be able to make a good living doing such "menial" work.
There has been a lot of de-emphasis lately from the right on how college may not be necessary, but we are NOT seeing the emphasis on the alternative - that a good income can be had through hard work and other professional training.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 2:55PM
Dear AMspec:
Should not the new login/registration system prevent advertising ala Allen69 below?
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 11:04PM
Plumbing may be dirty work, but it requires a diagnostic ability and planning abilities. So does doing good electrical work, carpentry, etc.
You know, college can also be very useful if you know what you want to do, or if you don't and are willing to work HARD.
Locklear| 5.30.12 @ 9:14AM
I've never understood the idea that being an idle welfare parasite or letting your children live in squalor is more dignified and preferable to working as a maid or cashier. Yet this idea prevails. I was widowed at 22 and left with two children to support. I worked in fast food restaurants, waited tables, scrubbed toilets, mopped floors, worked as a maid, a factory line worker, and usually held two jobs at a time. Yes, some ignorant individual might have looked down on me, but I built a reputation as a dependable employee, earned good references, got regular raises. More importantly, my kids were never poisoned with an entitlement mentality or learned helplessness. They saw the direct connection between work and money. Today I am a paramedic, my children became respected professionals. None of that would have happened if I had thought myself too good to sweep someone's floor.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.30.12 @ 9:27AM
I hate to sound Andy Rooney-like, but in my professional observation, those who think they are too good to sweep someone else's floor often also think they are too good to sweep their own floor, as well. Consequently, they usually either live in the referenced squalor, or as parasites on someone else's effort (or both).
Louis Jenkins| 5.30.12 @ 10:52AM
What's wrong with flipping burgers for a job particularly when you are starting out? Lots of people have done it. I started out at a menial job at a newspaper, sweeping the floors, doing this and that. It builds character, and makes one realize the value of the dollar he earns. Having money given to you builds nothing. Instead of giving all that fish away Obama why don't you teach them to fish?
Appleby| 5.31.12 @ 7:30AM
Mama made us take out working papers the day we turned 15, so we could spend our summers in factory work and discover for ourselves what life would be like if we quit school. We were expected to save that money earned and use it to pay for our eyeglasses, dental care, school programs, any clothing we might need and all our recreation until the next summer. It was excellent training in What It Costs To Live -- and to learn that it's nice to have a yacht, but it's best to have a friend who has a yacht.
Drunken Sailor| 5.30.12 @ 11:54AM
There should be no shame in doing anyjob if you are doing honest work and making your own money. Unfortunately, in today's society those people are seen as suckers by ther very people that sponge off the backs of hard working citizens.
It's a sad day when someone would rather collect goverment money than stand on their own two feet with hard, honest work. I have taught both my boys that lesson, that I will always be proud of them for doing a honest day's work, regardless of what they make. I know that is one lesson that will stick with them for life.
PolishKnight| 5.30.12 @ 11:55AM
The problem with menial labor in the USA today, and even historically (pardon me Mr Sowell) is that employers don't want to pay a fair market wage and either resort to illegal and sub-legal immigrants, involuntary servitude and outsourcing. It's rather difficult to ask for respect for "a hard day's work" when a big corporation without a second thought will hire a dozen VP's from elite Northeast colleges to sit around at their desks and fiddle with org charts and come up with new layoff numbers while the guys and gals keeping their lights on, literally, and phones answered are cut and customers complain about bad service.
I'll be the devils' advocate here and say simply that if I have the money to spare, I'm sending my kid to summer camp at Harvard to learn new management skills rather than working over the summer mowing lawns or even working as a lifeguard. The former is about them making millions and the latter about being betrayed by the elites of both political parties.
And yes, not cleaning someone's else's floors is no excuse for yours to be a mess either. One trait I see among successful people is their orderliness.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 2:03PM
Employers DO pay a fair market wage, but their employees don't want to work for a fair market wage. They want a lot more than a fair market wage. You use the term vaguely in order to distort reality.
PolishKnight| 5.30.12 @ 5:45PM
Ryan missed my point. I never said lawnmowing is supposed to be a high paying endeavor but rather that some people may not think it's worth it just as they have the right to refuse other low paying jobs.
The reason why wages for so-called entry level jobs are so low is because the government, with a nod and wink from business, look the other way at illegal immigrants and issuing tons of improper H1B's. (Note that these H1B's are not entry level jobs but rather skilled jobs that Americans can do but companies lie about on their H1B applications.) The cost is then passed onto the taxpayers in the form of funding the welfare state. It's about as "free market" as companies bribing government officials to look the other way while they dump PCBs into groundwater.
Finally, JD's claim that I distort reality is hilarious. The VERY DEFINITION of a free market wage is what people are willing to work for. If LEGAL workers don't want to work for below a certain amount and employers are having a hard time filling those positions, then a free market would require them to raise the wages, yes? They could then pass the costs onto consumers who would have the choice as to whether to buy them or not. Quite frankly, if my condo complex decided it was too expensive to pay legal workers to run noisy leaf blowers around in the morning, I wouldn't object!
The Big E| 5.30.12 @ 3:44PM
The market does not set wages in entry level jobs. The government does. It's called the minimum wage, and it's put more teenagers out of work than illegals.
PolishKnight| 5.31.12 @ 10:27AM
I call BS on this. For starters, in most regions, the minimum wage has risen so slowly on par with inflation that even illegals are not paid minimum wage!!! Secondly, let's say for the moment that a business considers cancelling a job because it's "too expensive" over a matter of say $5 an hour over minimum wage. Many employers simply don't wait to justify a job by that margin before eliminating it. If they can avoid hiring a person, whether for minimum wage or not, they'll do it.
The bottom line appears to be that employers are pushing to violate immigration laws and helping to propagate a welfare state to dump the costs of their below-market wages on the taxpayer. When these immigrants vote Democrat and seek to strip these capitalists of their wealth, I and my family may not be around anymore to stand in the way. I hope they enjoy the crony capitalism while it lasts...
Ryan| 5.30.12 @ 4:49PM
Mowing lawns and lifeguarding isn't supposed to be a high-paying endeavor...unless you own your own business and are working hard to succeed.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 10:59PM
I dunno. I do OK and I worked menial jobs as below. One thing it teaches you is to focus on your school in hard subjects to avoid being there forever.
One Mediator 1 Tim. 2:5. | 5.30.12 @ 12:53PM
A job is a job, no matter what job one has. Working builds confidence and that confidence makes you realize that you've got what it takes to sart your own business.
Even if it IS eBay!!
God bless America.
Anyone But Obama| 5.30.12 @ 1:54PM
That's the only kinds of jobs people will have if they reelect Obama. Under Obama, there will not be anymore American Dream. You will NEVER own a home or make good money. You won't have a good job. You'll be struggling your entire life to provide what little you can for your children. When they get older they will go through the same thing.
One thing will be sure though, Obama and his successors and politicians in control will be filthy rich. They will have many homes and take many vacations, while you work your butts off.
This is what Socialism is people. You work and they get rich. When Obama says we have to share, he doesn't mean him or his cronies, he means you.
Look at Fidel and Chavez. They are Socialists. They are rich, their familes are rich and they have many homes. The people are poor and get hardly enough to survive on. Someone is always in charge with Socialism and unless you're related to Obama or a Democrat politician, you will be living a miserable life. Think about it in November.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 2:05PM
Socialists say that their societies are not obsessed with money because they don't understand what money is. They think that divorcing themselves from paper currency means they're not driven by profit. But money isn't paper currency. Money is a store of value; a medium of exchange. Socialists simply change the form of money, but they still deal in it. Their currency is political favors and social obligations, and they trade them as ruthlessly as any capitalist.
Drunken Sailor| 5.30.12 @ 4:17PM
And lets not forget the black market that springs up in socialist countries. Capitalism does not die easily.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 5:40PM
Capitalism is like gravity. It is a force that always exists. People simply choose whether to work with it or against it.
Al Adab| 5.30.12 @ 2:01PM
Work is meaningful in and of itself. Nothing comes without energy, dilegence and labor. Yes, some types are more rewarding (monetarily) than others while some give more transcendant personal satisfaction. Nonetheless, as my 17 year old is discovering, the care and feeding of pick-up trucks require many hours. A fair trade of time and energy for remuneration. One puts in time and labor; one receives dollars in exchange. That is the limit of the contract. Anything beyond is a bonus.
I am reminded of the passage in Dr. Williams recent autobiografy where he once asked his boss for a day off to take a girl to the beach. The boss replied, "Why would you give up a day making money to take a day spending money?" Dr. Williams worked that day.
Petronius| 5.30.12 @ 2:19PM
The thing left out of this column is the condescending attitude and unwritten prohibition of any advancement for those of us who don't have their b.s. degrees because we have no appetite for their excrement. And having to pay them for it is worse. If people want to jump through hoops there are circuses and rackets. Even Pat Buchanan said, "education in this country is a racket." Dr. Sowell. When academia treats students like real people instead of cattle the general attitude towards learning just might change for the better.
Work is a duty and employment a privilege but few believe there is any difference between those concepts and "rights." What Bart Simpson wants when he gets out of high school is the kind of job that now gets performed in the far east: the mindless occupation on the assembly line with a fat union pay check. That leaves driving over the road, roofing, concrete finishing, and hanging dry wall if you can read measurements and cut it correctly. On the other hand, just because somebody does not possess that b.s. piece of paper from an institution of "higher learning" does not mean that person cannot possibly know anything. That fact is, college does not teach much that leads to success except for the hard sciences.
Ryan| 5.30.12 @ 4:52PM
I would replace the "BS" with "BA." Most BS degrees are worth a lot more than BA's. Science is often marketable. Lib arts isn't.
PolishKnight| 5.30.12 @ 5:52PM
For now. Look up "H1B dishonest workers" on google.
Petronius| 5.30.12 @ 7:16PM
I was not referring to a Bachelor of Science.
CJW| 5.30.12 @ 4:08PM
What kind of message do we send by giving two years of unemployment compensation, and then extensions after two years? Does it take over two years to find a job?
Appleby| 5.31.12 @ 7:33AM
Sometimes.
Ruckweiler| 5.30.12 @ 4:31PM
What do we expect? With about 47% of the country not paying Federal income tax, no wonder this free ride mentality exists or this "meaningful work" nonsense is spoken of.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 4:59PM
You say menial labor is fine, but you send your kids and grandkids to universities so they do not have to do manual labor.
JD| 5.30.12 @ 5:42PM
I highly doubt Sowell's descendants have failed to learn hard work firsthand, no matter how much their father has earned.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 6:14PM
But not manual labor- that was my point.
CJW| 5.30.12 @ 9:22PM
Is this you, Allan Brooks?
Drunken Sailor| 5.31.12 @ 8:49AM
Wrong again, I make the do manual work while in high school to earn spending money. My boys have chopped and split wood, demolished old barns by hand, dug ditches and fence post holes by hand, hauled hay, flipped burgers and many other jobs. The lesson they learned by the time they were 17? If your a hard worker, people will throw work your way, you won't have to search for it.
Brooksifier | 5.30.12 @ 6:17PM
...they may do menial work in their spare time, but not for a living.
If Ted Kennedy had done gardening or construction as a hobby, you wouldn't have called Ted an appreciator of menial labor??
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:01PM
I started working at age 16 as a movie usher. I also worked as a Lab tech in medical school, and as a IV safety tester in college for Baxter labs.
Now I'm an MD and doing quite well. To get there, I had to learn how to do prostate exams (that's what we're mostly checking when we do male rectal exams) and manual vaginal exams---and there is NOTHING less erotic than doing gynecological exams.
Much of medicine consists of doing unpleasant work, and my school jobs gave me a bit of a work ethic. Very, very useful.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:10PM
Another point to make is that a lot of high paid jobs take a great degree of intense effort, energy, and intellect, sometimes all three. Being a neurosurgeon, for example.
I make money like a white collar guy, but in my work I have had to take violent people down, and have been stabbed and smashed into walls. Then there are the threats....
A point that we drum into our kids is that any work that is honest and puts food on the table is worthy. Brooksifer, I was a colleague of a very successful surgeon who had his kids bussing tables at a local chain restaurant in a small town to earn his spending money. My son, at age 8, brings the garbage cans back in (I take the heavy cans out, he brings them in) in a Minnesota Winter down a long driveway. My daughter cleans the cat litter boxes at home and feeds and waters the pets at age 9. That's what they do to earn their $5.00/wk allowance. They will be working for their spending money as teenagers, too. I doubt you have a good idea of how successful people get to be successful and stay that way.
I make $350K a year in a rural area.
Occam's Tool| 5.30.12 @ 7:18PM
Actually, Petronius, a solid education in the Classics can be very, very useful. My exposure to Tacitus has greatly helped me in dealing with regulatory agencies that annoy me in my job. And understanding the ancient Greek purpose of audits makes dealing with them much easier.
The problem is not useful Liberal Arts courses that make you read Classic Literature. It is, instead, crap majors like Women's Studies that make you read Maya Angelou that are the problem.
By the way, I got a B.S. Magna Cum Laude from TCU in Biology, and was accepted to two US Med Schools (my MCAT was very, very high). Among my Liberal Arts courses was a multi-disciplinary one on the Holocaust (History/Religion/Science---not frou-frou), a Biblical Literature and Life Course, A Comparative Religions Course, a course on Ancient Art History, and a course on the First Five Roman Emperors. Aced 'em all, of course. Suetonius is a funny, funny guy.
andreashed| 5.31.12 @ 2:00AM
There are no 'menial' jobs. I used to visit my doctors son and always addressed his father as "sir". He eventually asked me why and I said because you have an important job and are a small step below god (LOL). My dad just works in a mill. As he put it, without your dad doing his job, I wouldn't have a house. I need your dad to do his job, all jobs are important. Ask NY what happens when garbage men decide to quit for a while.
A meaningless job might be intellectuals that spew forth babble (n) yet contribute nothing to real knowledge.