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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DS (15) is not academically inclined and school is a real struggle.  He's intelligent but has several LDs that have made traditional academics a challenge.  He has great visual/spatial skills and can build and put together things with ease.   I think he will be happiest (and most financially secure) if he can learn a skilled trade---like carpentry, or electrical work, etc.  Where does a modern-day teenager go to figure out what type of skilled trade work they'd be most interested in?[/quote]

UDC has a whole department dedicated to vocational training AND IT'S FREE for DC residents!!! I hope my children will take advantage of these trainings once they come of age. It's great skill-building and exposes them to working class age-mates. I've already asked the guy who I rely on for handyman work if he will allow my son to apprentice with him when he's older. A solid working class work ethic is what my grandparents carried with them from Hungary, and what my other grandparents could rely on to prosper in the Deep South. It's nothing to look down upon. It's an important value, something that we've lost since this pervasive image of the shiftless poor had taken hold (e.g. "the welfare queen").

I have a doctorate. People often ask if I want the same for my children. God, no! I'd be thrilled if DS were a plumber is what I always say. He'd never be out of work and could build a small business enterprise out of it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a skilled tradesman.

My neighbor's niece is currently an undergrad, but her aspiration is to get an MBA and her cosmetology license. She wants to open her own hair salon. How wonderful!!

I wish your son luck! He already has parents who see his potential and have not placed him in a normative box. So, he's off to a strong start.

My mother built a million dollar business and I'm not sure if he ever even attained her Associates Degree. Her generation was expected just to marry, never enter the workforce. So, she had to fight against all of the embedded notions she'd grown up with in order to venture out an start her own business. I'm very proud of that!

I was on site following Hurricane Katrina. My great-grandfather's house was the only one on that street to survive the storm. All the others were completely destroyed. He had built it himself, with his own hands, every inch of it. The guys from the Army Corps of Engineers were like little kids throughout the inspection. He'd even made the nails himself. Nothing was standard. they marveled at the craftsmanship!

Good on you for seeking out options for DS that suit his talents. I wish you all well.[/quote]

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