A Lucrative Technical School or a Four-Year College Degree?

[longknife]

Without having to spend back tens of thousands in college loans.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a skilled technician to fix anything. Everything is disposable – something breaks down, let’s buy a new one. There are fewer and fewer technical and trade schools and, even if there were more, American students are not interested in learning a trade. They have been conditioned by society and by their parents that, unless they get a four-year college degree, anything else is not worth their effort and time.

Technician and trade jobs are generally filled by foreign workers, legal and illegal because Americans are not qualified, nor interested in pursuing such jobs. When our home was completed and there were some problems, every company I called to fix something sent a foreign national. I counted twenty-seven individuals born outside of the U.S. who did not learn their trade in this country. How is that possible?

Full article @ A Lucrative Technical School or a Four-Year College Degree?

 

[WinterBorn]

When I was in public school, there was a trade school attached to almost every high school. Those seem to be gone.

I told all 3 of my kids that technical school was perfectly acceptable. Learn a trade you could avoid unemployment for life.

 

[JoeMoma]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

 

[Toro]

I think the emphasis on a four-year college degree above all else is a mistake, especially if one is spending $100k+ for a degree, particularly for a non-practical one.

I think for some, trade school is an excellent idea. In Germany, the trades are not seen as a low-status profession. It should be like that in the US as well.

Also, as someone who now has his kid in college but went to college in another country, I think this emphasis on the "college experience" in this country is ridiculous. Kids flying all around the country to determine which school they go to, then spending a boatload of their parent's money or going deep into debt is absurd. That doesn't happen anywhere else to my knowledge.

I've done the math. If a student opted to go to a private out-of-state college such as Duke instead of an in-state state college in Florida and paid full freight for each, he will have to save - not make, save - $8500 a year, each and every year from the age of 22 until he retires at 60 to break-even going to Duke. That's ridiculous.

My son will spend less than $1500 getting his AA, then he will transfer to a big school. With the scholarships he earned in high school, he will spend little because he is going into an in-state school. So instead of owing a boatload of money when he graduates, he'll have a boatload of money to buy a house.

 

[Windparadox]

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The skilled trades are is desperate need of qualified technicians, especially plumbers, HVAC, electricians and carpenters.

 

[longknife]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

 

[JoeMoma]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

Completely? Okay dude!

 

[WinterBorn]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

And? It is not as if the mechanic has to program the computer.

 

[rightwinger]

Why either or?
Both serve a purpose

In terms of debt, trade school can be just as bad and some disreputable trade schools just talk students into taking loans to develop marginal skills

 

[fncceo]

Depends on the trade. I have a computer science degree but in my life I’ve been trained to repair.

Teletypes, gyroscopic accelerometers, fascsimile machines, and daily wheel printers.

None of which exist any longer.

 

[JoeMoma]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

And? It is not as if the mechanic has to program the computer.

I guess I need to upgrade. My little truck is nearly 20 years old. There’s a lot of problems my truck can have that computer diagnostics don’t diagnose.

 

[koshergrl]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

Diesel mechanics don't, though.

 

[WinterBorn]

Trade school isn’t just for people that can’t handle college either. An auto mechanic needs to be very intelligent just like a medical doctor to be able to correctly diagnose that clicking sound the engine is making.

Auto mechanics today rely completely on computer diagnostics.

Diesel mechanics don't, though.

One of the first things I learned in my brief time as Equipment Manager for a utility construction company was if you have diesel trucks (especially the big ones) you better maintain them well. Taking them to the shop costs big money.

 

[DGS49]

Don't forget the role of Unions in all this. For many trades, you can have all the training in the world, but to break in and actually get a job, you have to sign up for an apprenticeship, which often takes personal contacts. And even if you come in knowing "everything," you are still stuck with the wage scale defined by the union.

And non-union construction is very iffy. If you get in with a good company it can be fine, but there are a lot of fly-by-night companies who treat their people like schidt, not caring if you quit because there are plenty waiting for that job, no matter how crappy it is.

Most college degrees are worthless, and most college grads have forgotten 80% of what they "learned," while retaining a lot of garbage, as spouted by a faculty which has - by and large - never had a job in its life. But a degree demonstrates to an employer - theoretically - that you are a person who can take on a task, figure out how to do it, and get it done properly in a reasonable amount of time.

Theoretically.

 

[JoeMoma]

Don't forget the role of Unions in all this. For many trades, you can have all the training in the world, but to break in and actually get a job, you have to sign up for an apprenticeship, which often takes personal contacts. And even if you come in knowing "everything," you are still stuck with the wage scale defined by the union.

And non-union construction is very iffy. If you get in with a good company it can be fine, but there are a lot of fly-by-night companies who treat their people like schidt, not caring if you quit because there are plenty waiting for that job, no matter how crappy it is.

Most college degrees are worthless, and most college grads have forgotten 80% of what they "learned," while retaining a lot of garbage, as spouted by a faculty which has - by and large - never had a job in its life. But a degree demonstrates to an employer - theoretically - that you are a person who can take on a task, figure out how to do it, and get it done properly in a reasonable amount of time.

Theoretically.

If the task is to read a book and write an essay about it, then the theory is correct. When it comes to being able to get things important to the functioning of a business done, not so much. OJT is often the best training.

 

[rightwinger]

Don't forget the role of Unions in all this. For many trades, you can have all the training in the world, but to break in and actually get a job, you have to sign up for an apprenticeship, which often takes personal contacts. And even if you come in knowing "everything," you are still stuck with the wage scale defined by the union.

And non-union construction is very iffy. If you get in with a good company it can be fine, but there are a lot of fly-by-night companies who treat their people like schidt, not caring if you quit because there are plenty waiting for that job, no matter how crappy it is.

Most college degrees are worthless, and most college grads have forgotten 80% of what they "learned," while retaining a lot of garbage, as spouted by a faculty which has - by and large - never had a job in its life. But a degree demonstrates to an employer - theoretically - that you are a person who can take on a task, figure out how to do it, and get it done properly in a reasonable amount of time.

Theoretically.

It is bullshit conservative mantra that most college degrees are worthless

Tell it to your doctor, accountant, lawyer or engineer

 

[Unkotare]

Fewer than one in seven community college students transfer and get a bachelor’s degree — but there is new hope

 

[rightwinger]

Fewer than one in seven community college students transfer and get a bachelor’s degree — but there is new hope

That is not necessarily bad
They are still getting an advanced education

 

[Unkotare]

Fewer than one in seven community college students transfer and get a bachelor’s degree — but there is new hope

That is not necessarily bad
They are still getting an advanced education

They often earn more than those with a bachelors degree.

 

[rightwinger]

Fewer than one in seven community college students transfer and get a bachelor’s degree — but there is new hope

That is not necessarily bad
They are still getting an advanced education

They often earn more than those with a bachelors degree.

Community colleges provide a valuable service at low cost