Should Democrats bring back CETA, Best program ever for unemployed kids.

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by MNBrant, Jul 26, 2016.

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  1. MNBrant

    MNBrant New Member

    This was the best program ever for unemployed high school kids. Basically it gave them summer work at minimum wage, for the asking. For instance I worked in a Zoo and did many of the duties of the zookeeper including the feeding of the tigers. I remember one tiger almost hypnotized me with its stare, I resisted and the tiger looked disappointed and looked away. I wonder if any other the other kids fell for it. It really was one of the joys of my life. The Republicans killed it because they do not like the idea of free work.

    Anyways do you think the Democrats should bring this one back. It really was one if the shining stars of Jimmy Carters presidency.

    I am amazed that there is such a short wiki for a program that touched the lives of literally millions of people.

    Heh, I wonder what it cost?
     
  2. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    My zoo hires seasonal help every year. They also have volunteer opportunities. There is a Burger King in downtown Syracuse that has a permanent "Help Wanted" sign.

    I'm all about meaningful experiences for young people. And I think AmeriCorps provides some interesting opportunities albeit without the minimum wage. But I think today kids don't have nearly as hard of a time finding minimum wage work, if they ever did.

    If the government was going to spend a bunch of money on something like this I'd rather it built skill rather than allowed places like zoos to temporarily bolster their staff. There are surprisingly few schools that seem to have shop and home economics programs these days. Maybe get a bunch of teenagers together to build stuff and learn a few things in the process?
     
  3. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member


    Depends on where you're located apparently.
     
  4. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member



    CETA was started by Tricky Dick.


    Only 760,000 took part in the program during it's CETA phase.


    You sure about how it's funding was cut? There's more information out there, just have to look a little deeper than the first hit on Wikipedia for it.


    CETA Training Programs— Do They Work for Adults? A Joint CBO-NCEP Study
    - https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/50xx/doc5079/doc25-entire.pdf
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2016
  5. MNBrant

    MNBrant New Member

    It was a lot bigger than that, Back in the early 80's you couldn't go anywhere to a place that had government funding without bumping into Teenage CETA workers. While I do agree that there were plenty of fast food jobs for kids in the 80's. However, I would argue that there were not many jobs for teenager back then that did not expose kids to lots of exploitation and teenage drug use. CETA changed that.

    A Republican got me kicked out of the program with a bad reference but the program died soon after that. Before 1982

    The wiki for this huge program is just pathetic.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Employment_and_Training_Act
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2016
  6. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member


    Yes it has been around for a long time, and still is in some form or another.

    Interesting personal anecdote about you getting kicked out of the program. What was the reasoning for the bad reference? How'd you know he was a Republican, was he wearing a hood?

    In the 80's, here are me and my friends jobs; I was a busboy at an upscale restaurant in a hotel. I wore a white shirt, black bow tie and black slacks. Started at $3.00 an hour plus tips. Only spent tips and saved every check in order to buy a Porsche 914. One of my buddies was a janitor at the local Dairy plant. Another friend worked at Radio Shack. The only person kind of close to working in fast food was working as a dishwasher at a place called Waffles N' More.

    Many jobs today in my area will not hire anyone under 18.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2016
  7. MNBrant

    MNBrant New Member

    The second year I was in CEATA I was working for the park board painting ice skating rinks. I was paired with some kind of guy who worked like a maniac and got a lot of panels done, but the work was kind of crappy. Apparently the guy thought he could get the 10 rinks painted with just the 1 guy. So after about an hour or two of work, I stopped for a few minutes to eat my sandwich, at which point, the boss, who was sitting in his car watching us, came over and fired me. I don't know if he was a Republican or Democrat, but he did publically state that he didn't like CEATA in the 3 hours I met him. Like I said, apparently he didn't like free work. This reference severely damaged my reputation and I couldn't find any more work in CEATA which lasted for another year. It did some psychological damage to me too to be summarily fired like that.

    Yeah he was wearing a hood.

    Thanks 330151 for the document. It looks amazing.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2016
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  9. MNBrant

    MNBrant New Member

    I did get a look at what it cost from an earlier post. I would like to do an article on it but, after all this time, it might be hard to find someone to interview. I will try though.
     
  10. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    As Neuhaus alluded to, there are "Help Wanted" signs almost everywhere I go, from McDonald's & Burger King to Walmart & BJ's Wholesale Club. Jobs are out there for young people, they just have to get off X-Box, put down their i-Phones, and want to work.

    My first official job (where I had to fill out a W-2, not mowing lawns or shoveling snow for cash under the table) was driving a forklift in a school supply warehouse the Summer after I graduated high school for a little above minimum wage (I think $3.75 per hour). It was hard, dirty work, and I'd come home each day covered in dust and dog-tired. But, I'll never forget the feeling of accomplishment when I got my first real paycheck.

    Far too many kids think that they're above stocking shelves or flipping burgers, and they're enabled by their parents who give them whatever they want for nothing in return. My kids do work around the house whenever they want or need money; if they need it right away (an impromptu outing with friends), I'll front it, but they work it off later. Hopefully, I'm instilling in them a work ethic and the pride of actually earning what you spend.
     
  11. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member


    He sounds like a dick. I skimmed through that PDF I posted, it's very informative and explains the history of the program, expected outcomes, known outcomes, and future of the programs. I'm sure if you dug through that in detail you could find any answer to questions regarding the program.
     
  12. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's interesting that you admit you don't know what party he was, because before that you said that it was a Republican who got you kicked out and that it's Republicans who don't like free work. I'm no Republican, but it sounds like you're just making assumptions about them based on your pre-existing biases.
     
  13. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member


    That's why I asked if he was wearing a hood. Not like the hood Democrat Robert Byrd wore or one that David Duke wore when he was a Democrat, but a hood like the one that Trump wears.
     
  14. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    My first W-2 job was working at McDonalds. There were times when I absolutely made a jerk out of myself for whining and complaining about something. But when you learn that nobody actually cares and quitting only deprives you of money (compared to depriving McDonalds of your awesomeness) then slowly those rough edges get worn down. I even came to McDonalds more refined that many of my contemporaries after I spent a few summers picking beans for $2/hr in the sweltering heat. When you're in high school and get a paycheck in your hands the fact that you're covered in (fry) grease and sweat makes it all worth it. And it's an opportunity to learn to set aside many of those childish notions about what "work" is or should be. It's a time for growing up.

    When we get interns who come in with the same sort of attitude I remember from when I was 16 at McDonalds I see the perils of saving your first work experience for post-college. For starters they genuinely feel like they have even more to offer despite a lack of skills and experience. After all, they are college graduates. But also because they get their first check and get all pissed off as they see that their take home is less than the hourly rate x the number of hours worked. They have student loans to pay and often an auto loan. Even if they don't they were counting on bringing home $400 for drinking money for the week instead of $285. In high school going from having zero dollars to anything more than zero dollars is an amazing experience. My car was a gas guzzler. Took a quarter tank to get from school to home. So I had to fill up every day (about a buck a gallon). Even still I had a very bucks left over to get some tacos with my friends, spend some cash at the church bazaar and buy my class ring. I cringe to think how quickly I would have been fired, and how badly I would have embarrassed my dad, if I had gone straight into my job as a substance abuse counselor without that "refining" job.

    But my school eliminated shop. I asked about some sort of vocational or skills based training (like woodworking) and was told "97% of our graduates go on to a four year university. You go there, graduate, get a good job and pay people to do those things for you." I learned a lot from weekend workshops at Lowes and Home Depot when I bought my first house. YouTube and trial and error made up a lot of the gaps. But I'm still pretty inept when it comes to vehicle maintenance. So it must indeed be a matter of where you are if those programs are available. A friend from high school still thinks that defrosting Tyson chicken fingers constitutes "cooking."

    So I'm all about programs that will position young people to be better skilled. But basic work ethic is something you can acquire by getting a job. Personally, I'd love it if there was a month-long boot camp for young adults (voluntary) where you learn how to cook a meal, sew on a button, iron clothes, fix a flat tire, patch drywall, operate a lawnmower, install a ceiling fan/light fixture, use a hammer/screwdriver/circular saw and learn how to read a measuring tape. When you run into people in their 30's and 40's putting up all of the artwork in their apartment with those 3M sticky squares, calling AAA to put the spare from their trunk on the car and thinking they have to pay a professional painter to slap a fresh coat of paint on their kid's room it just makes us, as a society, look pathetic.
     
  15. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member



    "My kids do work around the house whenever they want or need money; if they need it right away (an impromptu outing with friends), I'll front it, but they work it off later. Hopefully, I'm instilling in them a work ethic and the pride of actually earning what you spend."

    More parents should teach their kids that way. Good job! :)
     
  16. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    It seems Canada still promotes such skills. Skills Canada

    I watch a lot of those HGTV shows, and many of the skilled tradespeople people like Mike Holmes, the Property Brothers, Love it or List it, are graduates from Canadian programs.

    Most of the US stars seemed to have gotten their skills because they were fortunate enough to have parents that were in the trades and learned from a young age.
     
  17. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member


    97% went to a 4-year? Good grief, at my high school our graduation rate was in the low 60%. I guess with certain segments of the population there's a need for more shop/technical/job training programs than for elite schools like that.
     
  18. MNBrant

    MNBrant New Member

    I started work when I was 15 too working for A & W. Being 15 I could only work a couple hours a day. The owner used to give me a free Sunday for working an extra half hour under the table. (it was unpaid.) I guess I was wrong to call it exploitation but frying burgers is hardly pleasant work. I got horrible acne all over my body from being covered in spattering grease from working my 2-3 hour shift. But, on the other hand, I could afford to take my friend to the movie once a week so its all good. However,I guess the Zoo thing, plus painting the woman's shelter gave me experiences beyond what the job market can offer for teens.

    On the other hand, the Republican guy fired me on the spot for eating a sandwich and drinking a coke, which scarred me for life and would never happen in a real job, because, in a real job, your boss does not spend the day sitting in a car for hours watching two minimum wage workers, (which are not even on your payroll) so he can have a chance to fire them if they take a 5 minute break doing manual labor in the hot sun. The total lack of support from my govt worker didn't help either. On the other hand I did make enough money to take my GF on a hayride once.

    How do I know the guy was a Republican? I know Republicans, I remember as a teen working for a land owning Republican who lived like a laird on top of a hill surveying his domain. He paid me and another teen to carry a bunch of logs down the a hill to get rid of them. He was extremely upset that we were not at all injured doing this and shorted us each a half hour from our minimum wage pay doing grueling work for him. I am pretty sure we were 15 too. Yeah Pretty easy to tell the Republican.

    Too be fair, I got a friend that's a Republican, he used to be a fair guy. From what I heard he went downhill since I knew him, but hey, I could probably still have a conversation with him.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 27, 2016
  19. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Dude, you have issues.

    Do you see the bogeyman Republican hiding around every corner?
     
  20. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Today's Republican Party horrifies me to no end. However, fair is fair: some of the most decent folks I had a privilege to meet were Republicans.
     

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