Trade careers winning; are our kids hosed?

[Anonymous]

All this rat race and kids like ours will struggle getting jobs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/31/labor-market-gap-trade-workers-white-collar/

[Anonymous]

Kids like ours can still get trade jobs if they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids like ours can still get trade jobs if they want.

New level of cluelessness unlocked. Congrats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like ours can still get trade jobs if they want.

New level of cluelessness unlocked. Congrats.

Sounds like you are clueless. Be prepared to support your child through its senior years. You enabled their degree in a field with limited prospects. And you are the one with the inflated opinion of your kids being to good to be a carpenter, mechanic, HVAC tech. Bet you can't or even ever taught your DC to change a tire.

[Anonymous]

Arts teachers have been sounding this alarm for years in independent schools. Why are we forcing kids to specialize so young and take double math, science and WL classes at the expense of any arts electives. Where do you think kids learn grit, resilience and all the other “soft skills” that will help them navigate the new gig economy?

NPR recently aired a story about CPK aiming how current college students are trying to hedge their bets by double majoring in a very specific skill-based area and humanities for this very reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like ours can still get trade jobs if they want.

New level of cluelessness unlocked. Congrats.

Sounds like you are clueless. Be prepared to support your child through its senior years. You enabled their degree in a field with limited prospects. And you are the one with the inflated opinion of your kids being to good to be a carpenter, mechanic, HVAC tech. Bet you can't or even ever taught your DC to change a tire.

Uh, no. I’m saying that poster is clueless for saying “our kids can still get trade jobs if they want!” Yeah, I’m sure the IBEW apprenticeship program is chomping at the bit to hire Larlo after his four years at HYP didn’t land him his dream job

[Anonymous]

Other countries are more than willing to poach our scientists, mathematicians, physicists, etc.

And yes, some of those countries are places even DCUM would be fine living in.

But hey when they come back to visit it will be nice to know we have really well maintained HVAC systems for their comfort

[Anonymous]

This isn’t news. Trade jobs have been solid for a long time. Not everyone is cut out for office work. White collar jobs are always changing and workers have always needed to adapt. Manual labor isn’t for everyone, just like office work.

[Anonymous]

Trade jobs have been a great option for a long time. It's the one field where AI probably won't be able to disrupt meaningfully.

[Anonymous]

I’ll quote Mr Crawford, from European History during my lower year:

“I better never catch you disparaging someone with a trade job. There’s a good chance the guy down the street who owns his own plumbing business made more than you will straight out of college.”

So while you’re wringing your hands over the notion that your prep school kid might — shock! — end up with a trade job, the good teachers at those same schools are telling your kid to stop being an arrogant prick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll quote Mr Crawford, from European History during my lower year:

“I better never catch you disparaging someone with a trade job. There’s a good chance the guy down the street who owns his own plumbing business made more than you will straight out of college.”

So while you’re wringing your hands over the notion that your prep school kid might — shock! — end up with a trade job, the good teachers at those same schools are telling your kid to stop being an arrogant prick.

Is anyone here wringing their hands over their kids ending up with a trade job? Who are you responding to with this?

[Anonymous]

Can we stop ourselves from turning this thread into yet another trade job circlejerk? There are plenty of these threads already across DCUM. Most of these articles and analyses are relevant primarily for kids for whom going to college is an on-the-fence decision, not kids gunning for T20s. And yes, I know you’ll have an anecdote of the kid who went to HYP and couldn’t find a job and their life spiraled, and another who went into a trade and makes a million a year and owns three houses, but that’s not the result for the vast, vast majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll quote Mr Crawford, from European History during my lower year:

“I better never catch you disparaging someone with a trade job. There’s a good chance the guy down the street who owns his own plumbing business made more than you will straight out of college.”

So while you’re wringing your hands over the notion that your prep school kid might — shock! — end up with a trade job, the good teachers at those same schools are telling your kid to stop being an arrogant prick.

Is anyone here wringing their hands over their kids ending up with a trade job? Who are you responding to with this?

“Trade jobs winning; are our kids hosed” — how else would you interpret that thread title?

Seems to me like OP doesn’t see trade jobs as a reasonable option for their kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll quote Mr Crawford, from European History during my lower year:

“I better never catch you disparaging someone with a trade job. There’s a good chance the guy down the street who owns his own plumbing business made more than you will straight out of college.”

So while you’re wringing your hands over the notion that your prep school kid might — shock! — end up with a trade job, the good teachers at those same schools are telling your kid to stop being an arrogant prick.

I guess you aren’t paying attention. PE is gobbling up all these industries, so there wont be any plumbing business owners, just stuck as low paid techs digging through literal cr@p.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like ours can still get trade jobs if they want.

New level of cluelessness unlocked. Congrats.

Sounds like you are clueless. Be prepared to support your child through its senior years. You enabled their degree in a field with limited prospects. And you are the one with the inflated opinion of your kids being to good to be a carpenter, mechanic, HVAC tech. Bet you can't or even ever taught your DC to change a tire.

Uh, no. I’m saying that poster is clueless for saying “our kids can still get trade jobs if they want!” Yeah, I’m sure the IBEW apprenticeship program is chomping at the bit to hire Larlo after his four years at HYP didn’t land him his dream job

Why would someone with a proven work ethic and mental aptitude be turned away from apprentice work? Its not like the ranks of plumbers spent all of high school honing their welding skill and cosplaying Mario — its a job they fell into after they left high school.