Kids can't count on auto jobs anymore, mom says

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February 7, 2010

FIXING MICHIGAN'S SCHOOLS

Kids can't count on auto jobs anymore, mom says

BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

http://www.freep.com/article/20100207/NEWS05/2070508/1322/Kids-cant-count-on-auto-jobs-anymore-mom-says

Laura Cronyn constantly lectures her son Louis about the importance of doing well in school and being prepared for college.

"I talk to him every day and tell him it's going to be a real wake-up call. I tell him how difficult college will be."

Cronyn of Detroit had the auto industry to fall back on years ago, when she left college after three years "because I really didn't know what I wanted to do" and then spent 10 years waitressing.

"I knew it was a way to make a stable living," said Cronyn, 46, who works at Detroit Diesel.

That's not what she wants for her two sons. People entering the auto industry for similar jobs today aren't commanding the kind of salaries that were available years ago. She knows that her children -- ages 19 and 15 -- will need a different kind of skill set to succeed.

"Now you get hired in at $12 to $14 an hour. I don't think you can take care of a family on that," she said.

Her oldest son, Malcolm, graduated from Allen Academy in Detroit. He completed a program at Specs Howard School of Media Arts last July and is looking for a job. Her youngest, Louis, is a sophomore at Allen.

She has stressed to both that college -- or some kind of educational training after high school -- is necessary.

"High school is not enough for anything. You have to have something," she said.

College or educational training after high school is necessary these days, Laura Cronyn of Detroit stresses to her boys, 15-year-old Louis and 19-year-old Malcolm. She makes a living in the auto industry but knows her sons may not be able to. (RASHAUN RUCKER/Detroit Free Press)