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The six twelves people mostly signed up for it for the opportunity to make more money, usually in jobs that would be tough to replace even if they might be unpopular in certain circles(oil extraction in particular likes this schedule). No one really finds this schedule controversial- those guys almost always volunteered for it. I think he's referring to the oriental grindset of overstudying to boost test scores above what IQ would predict.
It's controversial enough to require overtime pay, because a more decent population that existed in the past decided man is more than a workbot.
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Yeah, I don't necessarily like grinding at learning as a widespread practice, though that mostly seems to be about worrying that the only alternative to passing tests and office drudgery is too horrible to contemplate. The main way around that is making second or third tier jobs bearable. It should be alright (and largely is in America) for a moderately smart person to work as a cook or something. People make fun of liberal arts baristas, but that is a sign that America is producing barista jobs that are better than someone grinding super hard or running back to their families, which is good, actually.
Being a cook sucks- the pay is bad, the hours are maximally terrible, and the working conditions are usually awful, and it's stressful and you're surrounded by felons and have to be bilingual. But there's lots of jobs which do not take a grindset to get into for moderately smart people which are totally fine; you can be a teacher or accountant or cop or work in most trades and make a decent living for a manageable work life balance- and America has lots of second chances if your kids have the same parents and you don't do drugs or commit violent crimes. Not getting into Jane street isn't a consignment to working in a sweatshop.
My father and grandfather were cooks.
I'm confused about my father's trajectory, because he's never been in trouble with the law, got a college degree in the 70s, upstanding member of his church community, remained married to the same woman for 40 years, refused to learn Spanish, and yet was a line cook surrounded by Spanish speakers for years. Then he went and taught high school for a decade. My understanding of the situation is that he is just incredibly uncharismatic, and couldn't figure out the boomer job search methods, but it's kind of weird in retrospect. Also, we were homeschooling, and living partially off of... stocks gifted by relatives, I think?
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