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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It depends on their abilities.  If they are a top student, high test scores, etc. and can get into a great college, I’d be disappointed.

If they are a mediocre student, I’d fully support trade school.

It isn’t that one path is better than the other, but I would want my child to find a path that suits their abilities and talents.  Yes the world needs great plumbers and welders, but it needs great doctors and computer programmers too[/quote]

People throw around being a doctor like anyone can do it as long as they have top scores.    That’s not true.   It takes a certain type of person to become a doctor, a certain personality type.    And anyone  interested in working with their hands would be bored to death sitting in front a computer.

There are students who want badly to be a doctor and they work hard towards.   There are students who want to build things or fix things, that’s where their talents and abilities are even if they were valedictorian.

Welders who work industrial can earn $200,000 after experience.   It’s plain snobbery to be upset at your kid having a goal as welder.   I’d be happy. [/quote]

What's interesting to me from this comment- I come from a family of many different kinds of physicians, down to the 5th generation of physicians on my dad's side, also a bunch of academics and lawyers, business ppl is that doctors are the sort of kids who would thrive in trade school- they work with ppl, they are service providers, and most importantly, they have to know how to work with their hands. My dad always said the difference between him (general surgeon) and a mechanic was the body that they worked on.  From where I am sitting, this is mostly a class thing and as blue collar workers increasingly were squeezed out of building a good middl class life for themselves, they encouraged their kids to "class jump" to white collar work- since this has caused a huge shortage 2-3 decades later, its a great thing for kids to be able to have that choice but lets not pretend its not class based and you have to be "smarter" kid to be a doctor, it just has more snob appeal. Medicine is a trade, it's just "respectable" to use 19th century parlance.  some people arent cut out to do trade work- my husband is a brilliant litigator and routinely drops and breaks things, cant even manage to hammer a nail into plaster without it crumbling, and im not much better- I love to knit but im bad at it. Some ppl dont have the dexterity to fix and build things. [/quote]

Sorry, but yes, you do need to be “smart” to get through medical school and training. It also requires more years of school & training than (almost?) any other profession. Nothing wrong with being a car mechanic, but it’s not the same thing as being a surgeon. [/quote]

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