To certain people, Scott Fabel is a national hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fabel runs an auto body and collision repair shop in Appleton, Wisconsin. He is the 2021 winner of the All Star Award from FenderBender, the magazine of the body shop industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To read about him is an inspiration. He was interviewed about management techniques, he talked about the importance of investing in staff, and among many innovations, his is the first shop in Wisconsin certified to work on Teslas. Like good businessmen everywhere, he supports local nonprofits; he donated a car to a domestic violence organization. The magazine was crammed with advertisements from suppliers and vendors congratulating him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The article didn\u2019t say, but I\u2019ll bet his floors are spotless. In a car repair shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I found this magazine in the comfortable waiting room of a local body shop where my repair was, as promised, completed in half an hour, I was treated like a valued customer, and COVID-19 safety was being carefully observed. This shop would naturally subscribe to a magazine that celebrates excellence in its industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experience reminded me that any industry can be a source of pride and achievement. People in the body shop business, or any business, can live each day and go home each night feeling a sense of accomplishment. It\u2019s not the industry you work in; it\u2019s the attitude you bring to your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which led me to reflect on the continuing discouraging news about New Mexico young people. Too many of our kids have no exposure to the realistic options life offers. Their choices are limited to what they think they know about, which might be teacher (unexciting), pro sports star (unattainable) or drug dealer (dangerous and criminal but profitable). I sometimes wonder if the teenage girls who reportedly get pregnant on purpose do so because it leads to a life path they think they understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have worried (haven\u2019t we all?) about the effects of the lockdown year on the students who had already fallen behind in school. I fear a certain percentage of New Mexico\u2019s next generation will be lost in a rapidly changing world where they don\u2019t have the resources to catch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently New Mexico passed a law requiring a financial literacy class as a condition of high school graduation. Now there\u2019s a push to get those classes implemented. We hope a basic understanding of interest rates will successfully keep those young graduates from getting entrapped into an endless cycle of high-interest loans. But it won\u2019t reach the kids who reach high school age, drop out and still can\u2019t read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back at the body shop, the employee who eliminated the dent in my car was proud of the job he had done, thought of himself as a skilled craftsman and didn\u2019t mind letting me and the boss know it. The boss thought so, too, but added that it\u2019s hard to recruit young workers, possibly because they don\u2019t even know this type of work exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are kids in New Mexico who won\u2019t graduate, won\u2019t learn to read, were set further back by the pandemic and will never catch up with the learning they missed. We might as well recognize that. They can still live a fulfilling and honorable life if they learn about the choices they have, especially by in-person exposure to the real world \u2013 while they are still young enough to be curious and open to possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps our schools could make meaningful changes in those kids\u2019 lives by regularly taking students as young as fifth grade to visit workplaces, from science labs to factories to bakeries, so they can experience firsthand the many ways they could use talents they haven\u2019t yet discovered they have. I\u2019d love to take a field trip of kids to that body shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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To certain people, Scott Fabel is a national hero. Fabel runs an auto body and collision repair shop in Appleton, Wisconsin. He is the 2021 winner of the All Star Award from FenderBender, the magazine of the body shop industry. … Continue reading