Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is not. I started a thread here about it and received lots of great ideas for careers he could pursue.

Can you post the thread here?

Sure, here it is: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1064407.page

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

To many, that lambskin diploma and alma mater don’t mean much either.

Meh. I wouldn’t worry about going into the trades limiting my kid socially, but I’d worry about it limiting them intellectually. At its best, college teaches kids how to think critically, how to evaluate evidence and how to recognize logical fallacies. People with those abilities are, in my experience, more in touch with reality and happier people. Of course, there are a LOT of college educated people who believe any sort of nonsense, so it’s no guarantee.

This must be a white thing. I'm black and didn't go to college; my husband has a master's and is the first in his family to go beyond a high school education. My best friend of 30 years is an MD (with a very particular specialty) who makes a salary triple my own and my other friends are a mix of people with college degrees and not college degrees. One of my kids is currently pursuing his master's and the other is still in high school but on track to go into a trade instead of college. I don't understand the issue.

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is not. I started a thread here about it and received lots of great ideas for careers he could pursue.

Can you post the thread here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

To many, that lambskin diploma and alma mater don’t mean much either.

Meh. I wouldn’t worry about going into the trades limiting my kid socially, but I’d worry about it limiting them intellectually. At its best, college teaches kids how to think critically, how to evaluate evidence and how to recognize logical fallacies. People with those abilities are, in my experience, more in touch with reality and happier people. Of course, there are a LOT of college educated people who believe any sort of nonsense, so it’s no guarantee.

This describes most of the smug DCUM people who imagine they are "critical thinkers" and "intellectually curious".

I think college is more necessary than ever--regardless of major, you learn to assess and synthesize evidence and make and critique arguments. This is true of humanities, social sciences, STEM etc.

But I wouldn't mind if my kid did what I did which is pick up a trade on the side while going to a 4 year college. My dad was a carpenter, and I did carpenter's apprenticeships full-time for six summers starting with the summer before my freshman year and ending the summer after my senior year, including an intensive welding program. I liked the physical labor and in my 20s though I had an "office job," I would join some building projects on the side as I had time/needed money. Carpentry carried me through grad school too and has saved me a lot of money working on my own home. I liked the tradespeople I worked with, but many were feeling their age even by 28-30 if physical labor was their primary gig. And they basically rarely read or thought too deeply about anything. They were susceptible to scams and pretty terrible with money. Nice guys for sure--would give you the shirt off their back and I would do the same for them. But I was glad I had friends from college/work/grad school because tbh too much time with them gets old.

Some went back to community/technical college to pick up more opportunities, but a lot of them--even though they had practical knowledge--really struggled with even the most basic classes. It's hard to get a successful trades business off the ground if you don't know how to keep your own books, advertise, have strong written communication. I still keep in touch with a core group from that work: 2 are on disability now in their 40s, one owns an LLC that has limped along and works in retail to make ends meet, and 2 have gone to work more on the office side for a national company, but they gripe a lot about how little they are paid considering their level of experience.

So YMMV, but from my experience it seems like skipping college seems like a better deal for the first 10 years but then it doesn't. And for a lot of people 10 years out of school with little intellectual stimulation makes it hard to go back. Some of these guys were guys I knew in HS and they could have gone to a 4 year college back then, but academic skills atrophy and they have more responsibilities now. The guys on disability have tried to do a CC program and I do try to help, but it's a bridge too far now IMHO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

To many, that lambskin diploma and alma mater don’t mean much either.

Meh. I wouldn’t worry about going into the trades limiting my kid socially, but I’d worry about it limiting them intellectually. At its best, college teaches kids how to think critically, how to evaluate evidence and how to recognize logical fallacies. People with those abilities are, in my experience, more in touch with reality and happier people. Of course, there are a LOT of college educated people who believe any sort of nonsense, so it’s no guarantee.

*worry about not going to college limiting them intellectually. Nothing limiting at all about working in the trades, and lots of people make good money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

To many, that lambskin diploma and alma mater don’t mean much either.

Meh. I wouldn’t worry about going into the trades limiting my kid socially, but I’d worry about it limiting them intellectually. At its best, college teaches kids how to think critically, how to evaluate evidence and how to recognize logical fallacies. People with those abilities are, in my experience, more in touch with reality and happier people. Of course, there are a LOT of college educated people who believe any sort of nonsense, so it’s no guarantee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

What kind of elitist privileged narrow minded environment do you come from that you would even come up with something like this?

DP. This is a fair question. Even if PP doesn't hold this view, the truth is a lot of people see lack of college as a negative. My own mother didn't go to college, but she looks down on people of my generation who did not, even if they are successful financially. So you are right that money doesn't trump all things, yet for some failure to go to college is a failure - signaling a lack of intelligence or at least a lack of intellectual curiosity. I don't think my mother's viewpoint is unusual and I do wonder if it no college for my child could be a social hurdle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

To many, that lambskin diploma and alma mater don’t mean much either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

Don’t you think they will regrets missing college later in life? Or that it may limit them socially?

Just curious. To many people, money does not trump all things.

What kind of elitist privileged narrow minded environment do you come from that you would even come up with something like this?

My youngest is not. I started a thread here about it and received lots of great ideas for careers he could pursue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. DC is entering the trades- pretty cool to be an 18 year old contributing to a 401k!

For kids who struggled in school (for whatever reason), or would have to incur steep debt, this can be a very wise choice.

Entering the trades isn't some sort of "consolation".

DP Oh please, simmer down, you’re projecting

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

NP. OK, that’s great, but anyone with a normal story?

I think all the next generation of college drop outs - Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerbergers, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Holms - will be posted here soon.

A charlatan with criminal fraud convictions is not the best example of a successful dropout tbh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a kid who's heading right into the working world?

Yes my kid turned down CMU and joined his older brother 2nd tech start up. The first start up was acquired for 500M by another FinTech start up.

NP. OK, that’s great, but anyone with a normal story?

I think all the next generation of college drop outs - Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerbergers, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Holms - will be posted here soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. DC is entering the trades- pretty cool to be an 18 year old contributing to a 401k!

For kids who struggled in school (for whatever reason), or would have to incur steep debt, this can be a very wise choice.

Entering the trades isn't some sort of "consolation".