By Jim White
Dean, Industrial and Engineering Technology
Central Carolina Technical College

The attached article, reprinted with permission, is a speech given by Jim White at the recent graduation of Electro-mechanical and Industrial Maintenance Technicians at Central Carolina Technical College.  It encompasses the spirit of revitalizing interest and prestige in skilled craft labor including welding and other trades. 

Thank you to the graduates for your dedication and hard work.  You have earned your success tonight.  I have seen you in class.  I have shared some classroom time with you.  I know it was difficult to be here 4 ½ hours after working a long shift, or before going into a long shift – but tonight it should seem all worthwhile.

I want to emphasize something I have stated formally before:

Historically the backbone of every advanced economy has been industry.  While our service sector grows every decade it is crucial to realize that without manufacturing to create products, there ultimately is nothing to service and no funds or need for services provided.  Therefore manufacturing industries are at the HEART of our economy and our prosperity as a community, and skilled trades people are the life’s blood flowing through this economic heart.

 Tonight we have two different classes graduating:  Electro-mechanical Workforce and Industrial Maintenance Workforce.  These are people who are at the CENTER of Economic Development.  You may find this title surprising, but you shouldn’t because without them, the industries represented here tonight would not operate, and without these industries our community would not prosper.

The vitality and health of our country is so firmly rooted in the daily excellence of those who practice skilled labor, that I think it fair to say that the creation and continuous, rigorous training and retraining of our workforce is an issue of utmost importance to our national security.  For example, again speaking historically and in reference to national security: The courage and determination of our armed forces in World War II would have not been as effective if the industry of the United States had not vastly out produced the combined manufacturing efforts of our adversaries.  Our army operated on beans and bullets as well as discipline, training, and courage.  One of the primary icons of the 1940s was not only Uncle Sam, but also Rosie the Riveter.  -- Occasions like this tonight are important opportunities to recognize those who make this type of crucial production possible:  craftspeople.

I want to share something with you that bothers me: The identity of the Craftsman or the CraftsPERSON.  In the past 20 years our world and our collective economies have experienced a technological and information revolution as significant and far reaching as the agricultural and the industrial revolutions before them.  During this time the image and prestige of craftspeople has diminished in the eyes of many. AND (sic) I think it is an issue of fashion.  Quite simply it appears that it’s not as fashionable to be proficient at skills that require manual as well as mental dexterity.  

It is time for the renaissance of the American Craftsman.  We must renew our interest in the careers that result in the building of bridges, the construction of buildings, the design and maintenance of electrical and electronic systems that make our modern lives possible.  Most people simply do not understand the infrastructure of modern technology that surrounds us.  They don’t comprehend the thought process of troubleshooting complex machines and systems.  They don’t understand how much skill, experience, and intelligence this requires.

It is the ubiquitous nature of technology lends itself to being taken for granted.  It‘s just so prevalent.  Somehow as a society we have forgotten the importance of the people who make these technologies possible:  Engineers, maintenance technicians, electricians, welders and hundreds of others.

At Central Carolina Technical College we are embarking on a comprehensive, aggressive, and sustained effort to publicize the vital role of our Industrial and Engineering Technology Division, the importance of our graduates in our economy, and the value of our partnerships with industry.  We will be celebrating the worth of the individual CraftsPERSON over the next year, and you will be seeing our messages as you drive to work, listen to the radio, and watch television.  Our message will be focused on the pride, rights to craftsmanship, and career potential for those who make the infrastructure of industry function.  This is a necessary and NOBLE cause.

It is NOBLE because in thinking globally and acting locally by providing a skilled workforce, we strengthen our economy.  By strengthening our local economy, we bolster the health of our state.  In turn a vibrant State of South Carolina lends its ardent support to a great nation.  A nation, as you all know, currently under the stress of enemies domestic and abroad who seek to limit or destroy our way of life.

Let us not forget our national role in the daily life of our own town.  In our individual ways, each day, we contribute to the health and well being of our country by being involved in the support of industry and economic development.  Therefore CRAFTSPEOPLE / GRADUATES – you are on the frontlines of our national economic defense.

I want to share with you a part of a speech delivered over twenty years ago:

Ronald Reagan delivers his First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1981.

“…If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.  Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth.

It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.  We have every right to dream heroic dreams.  Those who say that we're in the right place at the right time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.  You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates.  Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond.

They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art and education.  Their patriotism is quiet but deep.  Their values sustain our national life.

Now, I have used these words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes.  I could say "you" and "your," because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land.  Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes and the goals of this administration, so help me God...

It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden.  And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.

No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.  It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.  It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.  Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.”

Isn’t it odd how relevant President’s Reagan’s words are today?

Congratulations again to the graduates.   AND (sic) thank you to the families and other support people in the lives of the graduates who enabled them to persist through these programs.