This may seem tangential, but bear with me.

A long, long time ago, at the tender age of 17, I had the good fortune to be hired as an apprentice pharmacist at a local non-chain drugstore.  My pharmacist supervisor, Les, was a grizzled older Navy guy who had served in WWII and had very definite ideas about darned near everything.

Les taught me how to read scripts, call doctors for clarification, type labels one-handed, count pills, and deal with customers, all while watching the store for shoplifters.  I loved working with him, and fairly flew to the counter every time a customer came in the door...until one day when a middle aged man came in the door.  Les looked up from his work, recognized the man, and told me he would "get this one".  Puzzled, and thinking I had perhaps done something wrong, I resumed filling prescriptions. 

Les pulled a paper bag from under the counter, and vanished into the back room.  A few moments later, he reappeared with the now occupied bag and took a sum of money from the man.  The two men smiled cordially at each other and shook hands before leaving the counter.  Les saw the quizzical look on my face but said only that it was "none of your business, little girl".  I was outraged, but held my tongue.

Later, when Les went on a break, I crept into the back room to figure out what the man had wanted.  The only things small enough to fit in that paper bag were a small stack of unfamiliar little brown and grey boxes on a shelf near the rear of the room.  I heard Les returning, and scampered out of the room.

The next day, I related the story to our other pharmacist, a younger man with a good sense of humor.  Jerry started laughing and took me to the back room.  "Les just didn't want to embarrass you or the customer", he said.  I got my introduction to the notion of birth control in that unique moment.  Condoms!  Who would have thought!  (I had a very sheltered childhood)

On another occasion, an unkempt older man came in and asked for a bottle of cough syrup.  Les got it for him, and had the man sign a registry of sorts.  The man took the bottle, stepped outside, sat down on the curb and proceeded to drink the entire bottle.  I was horrified and hollered for Les.

Les closed his eyes and sighed.  He took me by the shoulder and guided me back to the pharmacy.  "Little girl" he warned, "don't ever get yourself messed up on anything like that!  You'll lose everything that means anything!"  It was my first exposure to the ravages of drug abuse - in this instance, Terpin hydrate with codeine.

I mention all this because of one thing that has gone by the wayside - apprenticeships.  Les not only taught me the specifics of my job, but also gave good lessons in morality and ethics.  Lessons that have stuck with me all these years.  What we have in its place are institutions of higher education where students remember things long enough to pass the next test.  Few if any values are passed on, and no one hears the phrase "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

The folks at Monsanto need apprenticeships.