Dont' discount the value of learning a skilled trade.

[Benton]

(09-01-2017, 10:16 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: You seem to think that the only majors are library science (which is a lot more than putting books on a shelf) and teaching. 

According to the census, the plurality of Americans earn science related degrees (44%), followed by business (20%), education (14%). Of the remaining 22%, 13% are liberal arts, 4% are communications, and the remaining 5% is "other". 

The reality is that the issue doesn't lie with people who go to college and get degrees, it's with those who are pushed into college and never get a degree but keep the debt. Part of my job is finding alternative post secondary routes for my students. This includes jobs, job training programs, apprenticeships, internships, and community college programs that provide life skills training or certifications. 

Yeah, but how many of those science related degrees are in junk sciences like sociology, psychology, biology, ecology, astronomy (really? a degree in astronomy? look up, BOOM, you're an astronomer), oceanography, botany, geology (really? it's a friggin rock, and you spent $30k studying to know it's a friggin rock?), etc?

When i was a kid, we had one science class. it was called gym. All you needed to know about science -- fungal infections, fight or flight, puberty -- you learned in gym class. Maybe if these colleges got back to having more dodgeball and less botany (really? it's a damn flower, stick it in a book) we would get back to making cars in Detroit again.




Seriously, though, I'm a big advocate of bringing the trades to more schools. If a guy can learn to operate a dozer or repair HVAC equipment and make a decent living, that guy is probably going to find a higher job fulfillment than someone who gets a masters degree and stamps paperwork. Maybe the paperwork guy makes more money, but he's always biting off a lot more debt.

We sometimes have a stigma that the guy who cleans out your septic tank is lesser of respect than someone who appraises your loan just because one guy wears a tie and the other wears coveralls. That's unfortunate.