Do what you were told and keep your mouth shut.

I witnessed this in the small towns near Midland, Michigan. Dow Chemical is located there. Dow needs highly educated employees in research and management. They got them from the University system. The hourly employees came from the small towns near Midland where most people only had a high school education from an inferior school system. Gradually Dow need for better educated hourly employees increased: they needed more than just someone with a strong back that would do what they were told and that would keep their mouth shut.


I had some of the Gladwin Michigan students in my classroom when I taught at Mid Michigan Community College. They refused to study, they were disinterested in what was being taught, some did not bath and were generally nasty people. They were not the type of people that Dow Chemical wanted. This is another reason why Dow management would out-source. It was not could just that it could be done cheaper else where.

Dow also learned how to do more with less people. That was obvious when I saw Dow's employee parking lots. When I was there, the parking lots would be almost full. When I visited there the parking lots were about one 10th full.

By the time I left Michigan, Gladwin had become a welfare town.