I am not really a smart man, just hopeful of our future. The younger generation who got blasted pretty well on this thread need to be understood, and sometimes even parented by their supervisors, in regards to learning work ethics, and job related performance issues.
I lost my dad at 14, left home and hitch-hiked around awhile at 16, always worked for a living...and learned how to work, and work hard from my employers/bosses/supervisors. I was always fortunate enough to have great supervisors, tough, honest, and hardworking. Got fired a few times, sobered me up and only made me a better worker.
This new generation has it all, they just need good coaches out there who will try to understand them, and the guidance they need, and the qualities they have to offer.
I admit sometimes they seem lazy, but I think more than that they seem confused. They were never told they needed to earn their keep, or that the reason they work for a particular company is to make that company money.
With very little guidance most of the "kids" I know today respond well, and will give you their all. Not only that, but they learn quickly, know how to get more information quicker, and are very willing to bust their butts to get ahead of the game. Sometimes they just need to know, what they don't know. Shown what they need to learn, they usually will respond by learning it and quicker than most of us old timers did.
Most of the time they enter the "trades" because they want to take a short-cut to success, and bypass the educational process. That can be hard to deal with, but once they know the trades, especially our trade requires extensive hands on education, most of the ones I have seen are willing to go for it with amazing drive.
Point is do not expect the younger generation of white kids to be like you, but don't expect them to be much different either. We all grew up in different circumstances, different experiences, and different times. This gives us an amazing diversity in what we have to offer, but also givesd us an amazing challenge in gleaning the best from our diversity.
Young imigrants already know the value of work, having come from a society that pushes labor and earning every dollar, so they appear to be the better work force. (I mean this next statement to no one's offense) Yet their drive for education, and achievement seems to be limited. They are great for the off-the-street physical labor, but to learn the intricacies and physics of the craft they seem less motivated. Maybe because they are less greedy, or maybe because they are satisfied with less. (A generality true, but so is this entire thread).
