TeacherGoals’ Post

Instead of stigmatizing trade schools and apprenticeships by making young people feel that they will not be successful without a 4 year college degree, we should be encouraging them to pursue their passions and interests. The chef at your favorite fine dining restaurant likely attended a trade school. The master technician who keeps your Tesla running likely attended a trade school. There are too many more examples to mention. The average first time degree seeker takes six years to complete a four year degree, will have zero real-world experience and will likely have significant debt. Most graduates of trade schools and apprenticeships are employed immediately. Some 43.7% of recent graduates — those ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher — are underemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Labor Market for Recent College Graduates. It could mean they’re working in jobs that don’t require their degrees. Worse still, the report finds that 34.4% of all college grads ages 22 to 65 with a bachelor’s degree or higher are underemployed. That means some $462.3 billion in student loan debt is potentially repaid by people in jobs that don’t require the degree that cost them so much to earn.

Balance, like most things in life makes for the best solution in my mind. Neither path is any better than the other, however as a hiring manager I do find it extremely difficult to recruit skills trades simply because they do not exist. There is no one "coming up" in the ranks so to speak. Little to no depth in the pool of candidates. Can not successfully run a manufacturing operation without a mix of Maintenance and Engineering. Like seeing the positive Ads for Skilled Trades

I have a better idea. Educate every child, without regard to their zip code, so that they graduate from high school with the ability to make the choice themselves. Then they can decide whether they want to work in a trade or in an office. Right now the kids from the wrong zipcodes don’t even have the choice.

Trade school is awful. It was terrible graduating with no debt and getting reverse scholarships that retroactively paid for my entire education. my 20-year career of success for the biggest names on the planet is def the worst part. All of my College degree buddies still have the privilege of paying off school in their 40s. Man, did I mess up.

What this country needs is Apprenticeships, and yes, not everyone needs to go to college. Look how it works in Switzerland. Learning a trade is equal in value to a college degree.

Not everyone needs to be college bound. Trades and support services are necessary and valued professions. There is nothing wrong with working with your hands, making money and living the dream!

My son is going through trade school (half way through his second year). He works full time and goes to school once a week for his practical and theory. His tuition for 2 years is under $2000 combined. He lives at home while in school and has minimal expenses and he’s managed to invest a nice nest egg and is well on his way to a down payment on a home …he just turned 20. Trades are underestimated.

Better yet, we need to be offering more trade training WHILE our kids are in high school. We need to facilitate public-private partnerships between public schools and local businesses so that students can learn from local tradespeople. Non-college-bound students will have an incentive to attend and graduate from high school, especially if a family-wage job awaits. College-bound students will have learned a trade to help put themselves through college while earning above minimum wage. Businesses have the opportunity to train and mentor future employees, and benefit the community as a whole in the process.

Amen!

Spoken like true college grads Debbie and Heather! ( a bit biased maybe?) No one is being anti-intellectual in the above statement. But it is very telling that you, by virtue of your statements , are showing your bias in your presumptuous statements that infer that to be intellectual you must have attended college.(Voting? seriously?) Personal character is the stuff that makes anything possible! You cannot teach character, it must be fostered in you. Many people are taught character from their parents and grandparents from an early age, but this is not the only place and time you can learn character. Many have found character in hospitals, sports stadiums and arena's, battlefields etc. and at many ages from very young to very old. I have even heard of character finding people in prisons and jail cells. It's doing the right thing, all the time, even when no one is looking. It's doing the right thing, even though it might have a negative affect on your personal outcome or situation. (selfless) Character is made up of a great many things such as common sense, good decisions, respect, empathy, life experience's, and decisions both good and bad, that you learn from .College is not for all but trade schools are not just for non thinkers