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Donald PorterDonald Porter is fifty-four years old and his children are
grown. He is currently unemployed
and suffers serious health problems.
A son and daughter-in-law (both of whom work) and their young children
are currently living with Don and his wife while their home is under
construction. Donald left school
after completing the eighth grade to help his family financially.
He related, “Back then you didn’t have to have much of an education.”
Donald has worked hard throughout his life in a variety of manual labor
jobs. Now that he is older and in
poor health, the avenues of employment that he formerly depended on are no
longer open to him. I
went to work in a lumber yard.
I worked there in ‘69 and then I left and went to Indiana.
They gave me a job at the steel mills up there.
I came back down here ‘cause the economy got so bad.
I started hangin’ sheet rock with my brother-in-law.
Then I went to work for this farm out here.
I worked for him until 1990 and I went to work for the mines.
In 1994 I got hurt and was laid up for about two years, then I went to
work for the chicken plant and worked there for two and a half years.
His lack of a high school diploma or GED has prevented Donald from
obtaining several jobs. He believes
his age and poor health were also contributing factors, further illustrating how
generational differences affect employment
opportunities and education decision-making strategies. I
ain’t even worked in over a year now. I
put my application in quite a few places and nobody wants to talk to me.
I went down where my boy’s workin’ right now.
I asked for an application and they asked me did I have my high school
diploma or GED? I said “no” and
they wouldn’t even give me an application.
So I went through this temporary service and filled out an application. But they didn’t want me and they never called.
Donald’s legs are very painful, making it difficult to stand for
extended periods of time. It
gets my legs to stand on ‘em. And
then when I set, my legs and feet go to swellin’ and my ankles here go to
swellin’ real bad and hurtin’. It’s
just like somebody takin’ a hammer and beatin’ on me.
That happened in ‘94.
In spite of these difficulties, Donald
considers himself a hard worker and believes on the job training is the best way
to learn. He explained that he
learns most effectively by actually working alongside the person who is teaching
him, a strategy favored by many study participants. The
best thing to prepare ‘em for work is to take ‘em in there and show ‘em
what’s goin’ on and set ‘em down and explain every job in there. It might take awhile, but if they’s gonna be on certain
jobs, set there and explain every detail and spend at least one eight hour shift
and show ‘em and make sure they do it right.
And if they’s doin’ somethin’ wrong, point it out to ‘em. A lot of times they just take you in there and show you what’s
what [and] then walk off. You have
to learn the hard way. Because he has primarily worked at physically demanding jobs, Donald is especially disadvantaged by his failing health. His identity as a worker is also adversely affected. Donald related, “I’ve done a lot of things because I was always a worker. You can ask anybody that I worked for and they’ll tell you I was a real worker.”
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