I agree we need tradespeople. I disagree with thinking and policies that suggest that all college degrees are worthless, or that people should be forced to study something instead of having the freedom to choose for themselves.
I absolutely agree and you should be free to follow your passion, but you should also know that following your passion may not lead you to having the same qualifications as someone else in the field you end up in.
This also doesn't necessarily mean you can't reach those same qualifications, but if you go into debt earning like, gender studies or something, then you're not going to have as much capacity or time to learn as someone who doesn't have that debt over their head.
The problem is less that other subjects exist, but more that those subjects are overvalued in media and leads people to believe that it's the best route and will pay a ton of cash, and that in turn causes a lot of people to beg for handouts or a minimum wage increase.
Which is why I think learning a trade in high school alongside traditional classes is the way to go.
If you can earn an associates degree through community college partnerships, you should be allowed to earn a welding certification the same way. Unfortunately, at least in my experience, public schools have removed the ability to learn useful skills before graduation.
This is also why I took stagecraft skills with the theater department in college. Maybe the tenured professors are woke, but the behind the scenes crew classes still teach you how to sew, weld, use a saw, etc.
I also think that a drive to acquire and refine new skills is a really good thing to do throughout your life.
Not only does it improve your brain health staving off risks of dementia and Alzheimer's, it makes you more flexible and workable in the event you need a new job.
People act like if you reach 30+ without having a job that you should just kill yourself because you'll never acquire a new skill, but this isn't the case either.
It's never too late to get started and apply yourself to learning new skills and use your brain, and it's never too late to find a good job that will appreciate that drive to learn even if that's all you bring them to start.
I think you should always combine scholarly work (reading, writing, geography, history, math, physics, chemistry, etc.) with a form of immediately workable skill no matter what point of life you're at, and I think teaching kids to do this will be very good for them too.
It's better to nurture a drive to improve than nurture a mentality of giving up when met with resistance or difficulty.
Mike Rowe was also an opera singer.
And a salesman for an at-home shopping network.
I agree we need tradespeople. I disagree with thinking and policies that suggest that all college degrees are worthless, or that people should be forced to study something instead of having the freedom to choose for themselves.
I absolutely agree and you should be free to follow your passion, but you should also know that following your passion may not lead you to having the same qualifications as someone else in the field you end up in.
This also doesn't necessarily mean you can't reach those same qualifications, but if you go into debt earning like, gender studies or something, then you're not going to have as much capacity or time to learn as someone who doesn't have that debt over their head.
The problem is less that other subjects exist, but more that those subjects are overvalued in media and leads people to believe that it's the best route and will pay a ton of cash, and that in turn causes a lot of people to beg for handouts or a minimum wage increase.
Which is why I think learning a trade in high school alongside traditional classes is the way to go.
If you can earn an associates degree through community college partnerships, you should be allowed to earn a welding certification the same way. Unfortunately, at least in my experience, public schools have removed the ability to learn useful skills before graduation.
This is also why I took stagecraft skills with the theater department in college. Maybe the tenured professors are woke, but the behind the scenes crew classes still teach you how to sew, weld, use a saw, etc.
Agree overall.
I also think that a drive to acquire and refine new skills is a really good thing to do throughout your life.
Not only does it improve your brain health staving off risks of dementia and Alzheimer's, it makes you more flexible and workable in the event you need a new job.
People act like if you reach 30+ without having a job that you should just kill yourself because you'll never acquire a new skill, but this isn't the case either.
It's never too late to get started and apply yourself to learning new skills and use your brain, and it's never too late to find a good job that will appreciate that drive to learn even if that's all you bring them to start.
I think you should always combine scholarly work (reading, writing, geography, history, math, physics, chemistry, etc.) with a form of immediately workable skill no matter what point of life you're at, and I think teaching kids to do this will be very good for them too.
It's better to nurture a drive to improve than nurture a mentality of giving up when met with resistance or difficulty.
My opinion anyway.
I said "useless college courses". Gender studies comes to mind. Of course not all college degrees.