Mike Rowe and PBS star expose how American public schools damage boys



“This Old House,” an American institution, has been going strong for 45 years. The series' third host, former commercial banker Kevin O’Connor, is passionate about highlighting the work of professionals in the trades. That shared goal brought him and Mike Rowe together last year for an episode of Rowe’s podcast, “The Way I Heard It,” last year.

Rowe and O’Connor traded stories about hosting and the experiences their "B-level" stardom has afforded them, including appearances on another PBS staple, "Sesame Street." They also discussed their respective charitable foundations: Generation Next, which helps form apprentices and gives them small roles on "This Old House," and Mike Rowe Works.

We need to end the DEI-driven bias against boys and young men that permeates every level of public education.

O’Connor recounted a deep history of “This Old House.” It is a must-listen for any fan of the show, especially his recollection of a 1979 helicopter shot involving Bob Villa.

342: Apple Juice and Saltines with Kevin O'Connor

342: Apple Juice and Saltines with Kevin O'Connor open.spotify.com

The most profound part of the interview came when the conversation shifted to the lack of shop classes in 21st-century high schools, leading to a discussion about how the modern education system is failing young men.

O’Connor believes the lack of male role models plays a significant role in why boys and young men are being left behind. “If you look at the evolution of schooling in America, there used to be a lot of male teachers,” he said. “I think in the ’70s, half or more than half of high school teachers were men. Today, 75% of teachers are women.”

He went on to explain why this is a concern: “That’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but if young men are looking for role models, it’s different when they get guidance from an older man who’s successful and can talk about things that are more masculine.”

At this point in the conversation, Rowe jumped in and asked O’Connor, “As someone with a show on PBS, and you’re still allowed to say all of this? That’s awesome.”

O’Connor joked, “No one listens to your podcast though, Mike, right? This isn’t going anywhere, is it?” He then quickly and powerfully listed what he sees as the consequences of the current status quo.

[Boys] have been put aside, downgraded. They have been damaged in terms of their reputation. And then if you look at the health of young men, I’d say it’s not great. You know, they struggle more than women. They graduate in lower numbers; they go on to college in lower numbers. They're the victims of depression and suicide and incarceration in higher numbers.

And, to me, it's like there’s gotta be some sort of a connection between those things when we’ve said traditional masculine jobs, careers are secondary, they’re no good. And then we’re surprised when young men come out of high school or college lost and confused and then we suffer the ill effects of those things. And I think shop class is just one of those things.

On these points, O’Connor is absolutely right. As a society, we are failing young men. Starting in elementary school, they are labeled as disruptive, toxic, and responsible for society’s problems, essentially made to feel worthless. Prevailing educational theories claim no difference exists between males and females, leaving young men of all races behind.

O’Connor is also right about the suicide rate among young men. The rate for those aged 15-24 jumped by more than 50% from 2001 to 2021. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, "In 2022, men died by suicide 3.85 times more than women.”

The labor force participation rate among prime working-age men (25-54) continues to decline rapidly. A Bipartisan Policy Center-Artemis survey conducted earlier this year found that 57% of men who have stopped looking for work cite physical and mental health issues as the reason.

Studies also support O’Connor’s assertion that young men graduate high school at lower rates than young women. A Brookings Institution study of the 2017-2018 rates confirmed that this holds true in every state.

What needs to be done to address this? First, we need to end the DEI-driven bias against boys and young men that permeates every level of public education. Second, we need to train teachers, who are predominantly female, on how to effectively engage with boys and young men.

O’Connor emphasized this point with a story about his son’s experience at school. He shared how a female teacher sent every boy in his son’s class to the principal’s office because she couldn’t manage them.

O’Connor later met up with the principal and said, “Listen, you got a boy problem. You know, when the solution by a teacher is just send all the boys away, then you've got somebody who doesn’t understand boys because they’re a pain in the butt, but they are who they are, and the solution can't be stick ’em in a corner or detain them or move them away.”

The future of the nation relies on strong men. It’s far past time that we demand our public education system develops them.

Mike Rowe: Parents didn’t get an 'honest chance' to consider college alternatives




— (@)

Once an affordable investment in the future, the cost of attendance at universities has soared to all-time highs. And it’s only getting worse. Some families are paying upward of $90,000 a school year at some private universities, and graduates face sky-high payments on their student loans.

While some conservatives have argued that it’s time to abandon the four-year university and to invest in the trades, others think college is still beneficial for some. And some even want young conservatives to attend elite universities in hopes of reclaiming America’s institutions.

On "Zero Hour," Mike Rowe, Emmy Award-winning TV host, producer, author, and CEO of the MikeroweWORKS Foundation, sat down with James Poulos to discuss the state of higher education in America.

Even though more young Americans are attending college at unprecedented rates, Rowe thinks Americans are “overeducated but I also think conversely, or maybe perversely ... underinformed.”

“I feel like we know a lot of things that we don't necessarily do anything with. And the things we ought to know we don't have at our ready disposal,” said Rowe. “No one talks about the fact that 41% of people who start don't graduate. Like 85% of people who do graduate wind up not working in their chosen field.”

Rowe believes that college is not the best option for many young Americans. However, the idea of going to college has been ingrained into the minds of almost all Americans by society, so many families do not know what the other options are. “There are just so many things about the primacy of a 4-year transaction that don't get laid out honestly and so parents and kids unfortunately have never, at least in my lifetime I think, had an honest chance to look at all the options,” argued Rowe.

To hear more of what Mike Rowe had to say about education, the future workforce, hands-on tech, and more, watch the full episode of "Zero Hour" with James Poulos.

America was convinced tech would complete our mastery of the world. Instead, we got catastrophe — constant crises from politics and the economy down to the spiritual fiber of our being. Time’s up for the era we grew up in. How do we pick ourselves up and begin again? To find out, visionary author and media theorist James Poulos cracks open the minds — and hearts — of today’s top figures in politics, tech, ideas, and culture on "Zero Hour" on BlazeTV.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Mike Rowe raises important question about Ivy League schools as 'thugs and bullies' protest Israel: 'Truly lost its mind'



Mike Rowe has no patience for the anti-Semitic craziness taking place at Ivy League schools.

Columbia University became ground zero for anti-Semitism last week when students set up the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment." Anti-Israel protests, which are threatening the safety of Jewish students, have since spilled over to other Ivy League schools and universities across the country.

According to Rowe, this latest example of far-left behavior should persuade Americans to stop supporting the Ivy League and instead support trade schools.

"Why? Because the Ivy League has truly lost its mind," Rowe said in a statement.

Rowe took specific issue with Columbia University president Minouche Shafik, who instituted remote learning for the rest of the semester. The "How America Works" host said that students should be "livid" that Shafik made the change to appease a "noisy rabble of thugs and bullies calling for the eradication of Israel."

"It’s simply mind-boggling that the president of this university would rather consign her students to another crucible of remote learning, than permanently expel the protesters," he said.

Rowe then raised an important question that underscores the phenomenon that far-left ideology has captured American universities.

"I mean, seriously, what does it take to get expelled from Columbia?" he asked.

"These creeps are on camera, literally screaming into the faces of Jewish students," he continued. "That’s what you get for $68,000 a year at Columbia — an administration who cowers in the face of thugs and bullies, and a university president who would rather make your kids try to learn off campus, than take a truly hard line with those students calling for the murder of Jews.

"For the love of God, expel them," Rowe pleaded. "Calling for murder is not protected speech."

— (@)

Pressure is mounting on Shafik to resign.

Whereas at first, the anti-Israel protesters were angry that she allowed police officers to arrest demonstrators, now, the other side is upset that her administration is, in many ways, accommodating the protesters by negotiating with them.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) visited Columbia on Wednesday, where he called on Shafik to resign.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also spoken up about the protests.

"What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific," he said. "It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally. But that’s not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful."

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Mike Rowe from ‘Dirty Jobs’ talks victimhood and the value of hard work



After testing shark suits, cleaning out sewers, and wrangling venomous snakes, Mike Rowe from “Dirty Jobs” knows firsthand what a hard day’s work looks like.

And he’s grateful for it.

“‘Dirty Jobs,’ in so many ways, reconnected me to some things that I kind of lost sight of in my life — things I'd become disconnected from ... like where my food comes from and where my energy comes from,” he tells Stu Burguiere.

However, the show also taught him about “job satisfaction” and “the dignity of work.”

After a few seasons of the show, Mike began asking himself questions like, “What do [dirty jobs workers] know that I don't? And how come they're having so much fun covered in other people's crap? And why is my idea of success being turned inside out?”

The answer he found was that these “dirty jobbers” just “didn’t [have] a lot of self pity.” Rather, they had “an awareness” of the reality of their jobs, which were “often out of sight ... out of mind and seen by many as nonglamorous.”

“But rather than accept all of those stigmas and stereotypes as victims,” there was a camaraderie among them and a sense of pride in their respective vocations.

They knew what would “happen if [they] all [called] in sick for a week,” says Mike.

This mentality of finding dignity in your work, however, seems to be dying in modern society, as victimhood has become the new "it" label.

“It's not only that people claim victimization all the time,” says Stu. “It's like the pinnacle of our society if you can paint yourself into a victim.”

To hear more of Mike’s take on the value of hard work, the victim mentality, and what he calls “infatuation with innovation vs. imitation,” watch the clip below.


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Mike Rowe from ‘Dirty Jobs’ reveals the only job he WON’T do: 'You can’t wash that stink off'



After eight seasons of “Dirty Jobs,” TV host Mark Rowe has seen it all — well, almost.

He’s wrangled venomous snakes, cleaned up roadkill, tested shark suits, inspected sewers, embalmed corpses, and inseminated horses, among other atrocious gigs, but there’s one job he just won’t do.

Many of the dirty jobs Mike has experienced are no doubt “disgusting, vile, putrid, soul-deadening, [and] horrific,” but they don’t compare to the dirtiest job of them all — being a politician.

“Why didn't you ever go and do the dirtiest job, which is being a politician?” asks Alex Stein.

After inspecting a sewer, for example, “You can go home and take a shower, and you’re all shiny and new,” Mike explains. “And then there’s politics.”

“You can’t wash that stink off,” laughs Alex.

“That gets on the inside,” Mike says.

To hear more of the conversation (and learn what soap Mike says gets “anything off your body”), watch the clip below.


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'Dirty Jobs' host Mike Rowe sounds the alarm on the government's blatant attack on freelancers



As more and more Americans find ways to work for themselves, the government is doing everything in its power to make that nearly impossible.

Under the Corporate Transparency Act, small-business owners with fewer than 20 employees and less than $5 million in revenue will be forced to register with FinCEN — or face fines and potential jail time.

In addition to the new act, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued a final rule that will force companies to treat some workers as employees rather than less expensive independent contractors.

The rule is expected to increase labor costs, which would put more than 70 million American freelancers' work in serious jeopardy.

“It’s a big country, and there’s exceptions to every rule, but the number of people who were adversely affected prior to this versus the number of people who have now lost the freedom to work the way they want is mind boggling,” Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" tells Glenn Beck.

“You want to set your own schedule? Forget it. You want to eat what you kill? Forget it,” he adds.

Glenn is infuriated.

“There’s no opportunity, none, to actually become something because the government has you so pigeonholed, and people just accept it,” Glenn says, adding, “I don’t want to live in that kind of country.”

To hear more, watch the clip below.


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Democrats’ PRO Act Would Boost Union Bosses And Sabotage Independent Workers

We must prevent the PRO Act from causing irreversible damage to businesses and 70 million hard-working freelancers.

Only Spiritual Brotherhood Can Save Men In The Job Crisis

America’s young men are in crisis, and the answer to this problem is spiritual, not economic or political.

Mike Rowe decries the Biden admin's federal student loan debt cancellation policy, calling it 'the biggest pre-Labor Day slap in the face to working people I've ever seen'



Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame issued a scathing rebuke of the Biden administration's plan to cancel massive amounts of federal student loan debt.

The move would offer $10,000 of federal student loan debt cancellation to individuals earning under $125,000 per year, while people who received Pell Grants could get $20,000 of debt wiped out — married couples would be eligible for the debt cancellation if they earn less than $250,000 yearly.

The policy provides no benefit to individuals who have already paid off their federal student loans and no benefit for people who never took out any student loans.

\u201cIn keeping with my campaign promise, my Administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle class families breathing room as they prepare to resume federal student loan payments in January 2023.\n\nI'll have more details this afternoon.\u201d
— President Biden (@President Biden) 1661355129

Rowe expressed his "disdain" for the policy.

"This decision is without question, the biggest pre-Labor Day slap in the face to working people I've ever seen," he declared in a Facebook post.

"I work hard on this page, (not as hard as I could, perhaps, but pretty hard), to avoid the politics of the moment, and comment only on topics that impact the foundation I'm proud to run – a foundation that awards work-ethic scholarships to individuals who choose to forego an expensive, four-year education in favor of a skilled trade. When I do weigh in, I try to acknowledge both sides of the argument, and make my points with as much respect as I can muster. Today, however, I can see only one side. Today, I can find nothing to respect in the President's decision to transfer billions of dollars in outstanding student loans onto the backs of those people my foundation tries to assist - the same people I've spent the last twenty years profiling on Dirty Jobs," he wrote.

Rowe posted the text of a piece written by National Review's Charles C. W. Cooke, noting that Cooke "writes better than I do, and shares my disdain for what just happened."

In the piece titled "Biden’s Student-Debt Bonfire Is a Classist Message to the Uncredentialed: Screw 'Em," Cooke contended that Democrats view those who attend college as superior to those who do not.

"Why does Biden not want to do the same thing for loans on trucks owned by plumbers? Why not for mortgages ... Why not for credit cards or auto payments or mom-and-pop credit lines?" Cooke wrote, according to Rowe's post. "The answer, I’m afraid to say, is disgustingly classist: Because Joe Biden and his party believe that college students are better than everyone else. Because Joe Biden and his party believe that college students are of a finer cut. Because Joe Biden and his party prefer college students to you, and they think that those students ought to be rewarded for that by being handed enormous gobs of your money."

Mike Rowe: America will take 'another pie to the face' if Biden's Inflation Reduction Act doesn't reduce inflation



Former "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe criticized the rhetoric used by Democrats to describe their multi-billion dollar climate spending and tax bill, dubbed the "Inflation Reduction Act," saying Americans will see past the bill title and judge it based on whether it improves the economy.

"Can we have bills that actually do what they say in their title?" Rowe asked on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning.

He continued, "Now, if the Inflation Reduction Act truly reduces inflation, then we can start with a conversation about the nuts and bolts of the bill. But we've come to the point where nothing actually means what it says. And that gets us into an emperor's new clothes kind of mentality, where it's not one kid in the crowd going, 'Hey, that guy's naked.' It's the whole country going, 'Wait. Again with this? Again with the name of a thing that doesn't seem to reflect the thing?' And so we got to peel back the layers and we have to look at it. And then we have to have the conversation: How does this impact the middle class?

"What the heck do I know? If it lives up to its name, it'll impact them in a positive way. If it doesn't, it's another pie in the face," Rowe said.

The Inflation Reduction Act has been lauded by Democrats as a historic investment in green energy to save the climate and in policies that will force the wealthy to "pay their fair share" in taxes and reduce the deficit to fight inflation. The bill imposes a 15% minimum tax on corporations with profits over $1 billion, spends about $80 billion to ramp up Internal Revenue Service enforcement, and spends more than $360 billion on tax credits and subsidies to boost the green energy industry.

However, some economists have warned that the Inflation Reduction Act will have a negligible impact on inflation. Analysis from the Tax Foundation estimates the bill will reduce long-run economic output by about 0.2% and eliminate 29,000 full-time jobs in the United States.

Fox News co-host Peter Doocy pointed out that while unemployment is at historically low levels, fewer Americans are participating in the economy now compared to before the pandemic, and people are still feeling squeezed by inflation.

"It's almost impossible to have a rational conversation about this because it just flies past people," Rowe lamented.

"Years ago, when I started Mike Rowe Works, the skills gap consisted of 2.3 million jobs. But the headlines every day were the number of people who were unemployed. That's what we were fixated on, 10 million people out of work. So it became impossible to talk about a few million open jobs. Today, you have 7.5 million open jobs and super-low unemployment," he said.

"And we still can't get it into our heads that the existence of all of that opportunity must mean something. It must say something about who we are as a people and what we're elevating in terms of work. And I'm afraid what it says is not really good."

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