Keep the Outhouse

Many things kept me from the keyboard in recent months. I’m trying to reboot.

Topwar.ru ran an interesting item on September 5. The RF Education Ministry is considering ending the training of lathe operators, fitters, and machinists in Russia’s post-secondary vocational and technical colleges.

The ministry proposes to stop accepting students for these “obsolete” skills starting in 2021. It will end courses for nine professions and 23 specialties in all.

The old skills don’t correspond to the demands of today’s labor market, according to the ministry. They will be replaced by training for the top 50 future professions and specialties as determined by the Ministries of Labor and Education.

If the Education Ministry has identified the new jobs, Topwar didn’t relay them.

Reader comments were interesting. Some readers pointed to artificial intelligence, computer programming, and even the Fedor robot working aboard the ISS. Others focused on economics. Many young people don’t want to work for 30,000 rubles ($450) a month out in the hinterland (closer to Moscow machinists make more).

It’s likely the RF Ministry of Education has the picture below in mind.

It shows a Swiss CNC vertical milling machine in some Russian business. Perhaps this is what the ministry wants future workers to learn.

But many Russian industries and crucial defense enterprises don’t look like this. And the Russian OPK advertises every day to fill openings for qualified machinists.

Maybe enterprises will get these workers from other sources. Maybe the Education Ministry’s proposal won’t even take effect.

Or maybe the OPK hasn’t focused what the ministry is suggesting. It could have a negative impact on Russian defense production.

As our dedy are fond of saying:

Не срывай сортир до того как унитаз хорошо работает!