Trade careers winning; are our kids hosed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I would interpret it as "our kids were sold a false bill of goods and paid for an education that's not going to lead directly to a job."

[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.

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.

+1. And this constant stream of articles and commentary pitching trades as the end all, be all and the savior for our kids will simply leave them oversaturated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I would interpret it as "our kids were sold a false bill of goods and paid for an education that's not going to lead directly to a job."

That completely depends on how you approach college.

The growth in trade jobs — electricians, plumbers, etc — can be easily paired with college, especially if you major in something like business or accounting, which would allow you to build out a management role in one of these companies.

But ultimately I think you’re all stressing out unnecessarily. Your kids will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1. And this constant stream of articles and commentary pitching trades as the end all, be all and the savior for our kids will simply leave them oversaturated.

You think lots of little Sidwell and NCS alums are going to be running to plumbing and electrician jobs? Please.

The jobs are there for the kids who aren’t so arrogant as to think they’re too good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ultimately she didn't go that route, but my wife was accepted to the IBEW apprenticeship program after four years of majoring in English at an Ivy. She does have decent math skills, which is important for being an electrician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1. And this constant stream of articles and commentary pitching trades as the end all, be all and the savior for our kids will simply leave them oversaturated.

You think lots of little Sidwell and NCS alums are going to be running to plumbing and electrician jobs? Please.

The jobs are there for the kids who aren’t so arrogant as to think they’re too good for them.

No, and I never said that. Not sure where you got that from other than you didn’t read the comment before firing off your own.

What I did say is that the constant pitching of trades as some kind of unicorn is going to result in them becoming oversaturated. It doesn’t matter where the kids come from. Plenty of middle class kids not at private schools are hearing this message just as often as everyone else.

Combined with the other poster’s point about PE takeovers, they are not the panacea some people think.

[Anonymous]

Troll thread. Please make it stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1. And this constant stream of articles and commentary pitching trades as the end all, be all and the savior for our kids will simply leave them oversaturated.

You think lots of little Sidwell and NCS alums are going to be running to plumbing and electrician jobs? Please.

The jobs are there for the kids who aren’t so arrogant as to think they’re too good for them.

No, and I never said that. Not sure where you got that from other than you didn’t read the comment before firing off your own.

What I did say is that the constant pitching of trades as some kind of unicorn is going to result in them becoming oversaturated. It doesn’t matter where the kids come from. Plenty of middle class kids not at private schools are hearing this message just as often as everyone else.

Combined with the other poster’s point about PE takeovers, they are not the panacea some people think.

You are forgetting that not only will there be an oversupply of trades, there will be a drop in demand. We cant all work on the 20 houses owned by the local tech bro. Who will have money to hire trades? Not to mention if everyone is in trades, a family will likely have the necessary skills to perform most household work.

No more office buildings, thats a huge demajd gone too. Data centers have some trade work but not nearly as much maintenance as an office under constant use.

[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

I know you're joking, but I do know a Columbia grad who became an electrician and it was a very strategic choice for her.

[Anonymous]

They could do competitive poker. A kid from my high school class deferred college for a year to play competitive poker. She made a ridiculous amount of money. Ended up going to college, but it’s always a backup option.

[Anonymous]

Artificial Intelligence, robots, self driving electric cars are going to have huge impacts.

Schools and colleges are preparing kids for a world that, to a great extent, will no longer exist in 10 years.

White collar jobs including law and medicine will be heavily impacted. Government, too.

Some blue collars jobs will be unaffected, but many others can be be done by subsequent versions of Optimus Prime.

[Anonymous]

Schools and colleges are preparing kids for a world that, to a great extent, will no longer exist in 10 years.

Not really. College isn't a trade school (certain graduate disciplines aside, like medicine and law). There will always be benefits to being an "educated person," with knowledge of art, music, literature, science, mathematics, etc. That is why colleges require that students take a wide variety of courses, regardless of their intended major subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Schools and colleges are preparing kids for a world that, to a great extent, will no longer exist in 10 years.

Not really. College isn't a trade school (certain graduate disciplines aside, like medicine and law). There will always be benefits to being an "educated person," with knowledge of art, music, literature, science, mathematics, etc. That is why colleges require that students take a wide variety of courses, regardless of their intended major subject.

Me when I’m delulu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1. And this constant stream of articles and commentary pitching trades as the end all, be all and the savior for our kids will simply leave them oversaturated.

I don't know if oversaturated is the word, but the anxiety about pursuing trades is just the newest fad, following the anxiety about coding. People feel like they have to find "the key" and optimize for it, instead of raising thoughtful, well-educated kids who can turn their hand to a lot of different things as the world changes around them.

When I was 20 I had never even thought about the job I have now in my 40s. The job I got right out of grad school doesn't exist anymore, but I'm still using the skills I learned there. Probably the most impactful class I ever took, K through grad school, was APUSH. The kids will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Well said, PP. The key is being comfortable with adapting, more learning, and being able to teach yourself new skills.