To the Editor:
Well, where have the days gone when all those young college and wannabes came for the summer to work and play on Martha’s Vineyard? I am beginning to believe that as the more affluent the U.S. became, the more, many of our (read OUR) children lost sight of what it is to work what are thought of as menial and/or regular jobs. Sad to say, growing up in the ’50s and ’60s there was a learning curve, with shoveling other people’s sidewalks and driveways, without a snow blower, for the ridiculous sum of 50 cents or a dollar. Or mowing lawns with a nonpowered mower for $1. If we were really on our game, we would do our grandparents or similar for free. There was always the paper route. OK, enough reminiscing.
So when I got to the Island, yes by God I’m a wash-ashore, I too arrived with a degree and a willingness to work. Many times it was two and three jobs to make ends meet. Carpentry, cooking, lawn care. I slept at night from being exhausted. First thing in the morning I was up to hear the silence of the morning. This story, as many of you know, is just part of the climb.
So here I am thinking, What is it with this H-2B and J-1 visas? When we have had the, what I like to call, the foreign summer invasion, the summer workforce, the other, I was always struck with their great work ethics. (We all know the few who didn’t have them.) So what happened? No American wants to clean house? No American wants to do lawn maintenance? No American wants to do snow shoveling? How about washing cars for the summer? And where are our American kids, getting involved at the local level?
This is where I suggest that we all look at ourselves and parents of those who don’t want to, take an accounting. Look at what our government leaders have been spewing during the campaigns over the past 30 years and those crying about our borders, the foreigners, and the loss of jobs. Is it the foreign worker who needs to be stopped at the border? Or maybe it is the American society that needs to look at itself and admit to the direction that many have headed.
Dana Hodsdon
Vineyard Haven
I don’t think it’s so much that American kids don’t want to work,although I’m sure a good amount of them don’t. My biggest issue with American(read, local) is the expect to be paid a ridiculous amount of money. When I was still working carpentry,I was asked about hiring a friends son for the summer. Kid was 17 years old, had zero carpentry experience and basically would have been cleaning up and moving lumber. When I met with him he wanted $25 an hour. I asked him if he was serious. When he said yes, I replied with “Have a nice summer. Good bye”
Of course, you back in the fifties you could probably pay for tuition at a non-Ivy League school with what you made over the summer. And you didn’t need an ever increasing stack of extracurricular activities, including unpaid internships, in order to be considered suitable for college admission / entry-level employment in a job outside the service industry. And renting a room on MV probably cost less than $200 a night. But yeah, it’s the millennial that are lazy. That must be it.