Meanwhile the trades are starving for people

Libs claim to be so smart... but after racking up school loan debt for worthless degrees, say otherwise...

LOL

I sometimes think colleges should be sued for bait and switch degree debt, they knew the degrees would be worthless and offered them anyway partly to keep certain people employed pushing anti American propaganda who otherwise would only be qualified to ask people if they'd like fries with that.

What’?

College isn’t a scam…. College mostly doesn’t grant you a job or won’t cost you money. College is for you to explore what you’re super passionate about and what you’d like to be a job. Just cuase someone goes doesn’t mean they were scaned.

If they like fries with that? That’s kinda a low blow considering most successful people worked at McDonald’s one time or another

When people are suckered into paying 6 figures for a worthless degree they got scammed.

I can understand that sentiment. I think probably what needs to happen is that we need to make college more affordable for everyone and also we need to make the paths for getting to the career of choice for most kids in high school MUCH more clear.

Despite people thinking I'm a HARD leftist here, I actually don't advocate for ANY permanent life choices being made by children whether that is about being married, changing their physical anatomy in an irreversible way, or like this conversation - deciding their whole future work life. I don't think it's fair to teens to force them to make such permanent choices when they don't have the experience in the world to make a well-informed decision many times.

That is the reason I also advocate this third thing - we should make sure teens have classes and paths that can easily pivot to other careers. I.e. - if you have coursework or ideas that were taught in an apprenticeship that can apply to a degree and you want to shift gears, that credit should transfer both ways. Maybe a kid in college is going to a calc 2 class and is like, "oh crap...this is actually fully not for me" - he should be able to transfer some of the work he did to a trade school if he wants to go and vice versa. Kids shouldn't be trapped by a decision they made two years before graduating school. That's insane to me. How could they even know which path to take?

That last part of yours is my favorite.

Too early we in bed in our kids that they must be something. I’m in a homeroom because of a club with mostly red necks who are always saying “college is a scam” “college is useless” which is wrong maybe they think that because they don’t like school or there parents have made them think it. I think we should make it accessible for kids to do something. My one friend doesn’t like math while my other friend and I are doubling up math because we find it too easy now.

Kids should just try there best and see what they like, the only right path is the one that makes you happy.

If only the economy and reality cared about what path made you "happy", though. The world (aka other people like me who might pay you to do sth) cares about what *value* you can provide us and what problems you can *solve*. Not your happiness. It's the harsh reality, I'm afraid.

My boiler is broken. I'll pay you to fix it coz I don't know how.

My computer won't boot up or my phone screen is smashed. I'll pay you to fix it coz I don't know how.

My plug just caught fire or my toilet is blocked. I'll pay you to fix it coz I don't know how.

My car won't start. Ditto.

My tooth is in agony. I need a dentist. I'll pay you to fix it coz I don't know how.

I just had an accident and broke my bone. I'll pay you to fix it coz I don't know how.

I need to learn English, German, Spanish or Japanese to pass a job interview. I'll pay you to teach me coz I don't know how.

You know how to juggle flaming balls and walk the tightrope while playing the ukelele standing on your head? You can do epic stunts on a snowboard? You can paint amazing pictures? You can do [insert super difficult and impressive stunt or skill that doesn't actually solve a real life problem I have]? Awesome. That's super impressive. I respect that, for real. I could never do that.

But I don't need that, and money's tight coz it's always tight. That's one of the laws of life. So I won't pay for it, I'm afraid.

I'll pay for what I NEED, not for what I LIKE or what makes you HAPPY.

It's just how it goes. Yes, I know it's shit and I don't like it either. I hate capitalism. It is what it is... They lied to you.

I agree tbf. It's a scam. End of. And it's been going on for decades. But kids are slowly waking up to it. Needs tearing down.

6 figures is a good pay, and if they need that degree to get there they should shoot for it l.

Yeah but that's what I'm saying you don't need a degree to make six figures the last person that I was working for I was at 100K a year but there were personality conflicts so I left but I just got off the phone with another guy wanting my services I'm doing it for myself right now but I have no benefits and so getting into the new year I'm considering working for someone else again I've been on indeed I put about 10 out so far and my phone will not quit ringing the trains are where the demand is right now and you don't have to go to school to learn most of the larger companies are training in-house these days they have to they have no other choice all they ask is that you show up every day on time and the more you know the more you earn

You’re right but it always depends

While I met be an expert at calculus and science and will become a very good astrophysicist at NASA and get payed big bucks

My friend might go into deep sea welding. I’d doubt he’d like my job and I’m not unsure he’d like his job.

So it’s all basically what you want t

Less then 1% of degrees are gender studies

What are the rest? America is a racist nation 101? White supremacy, the scourge of America? LGBTQ/RSTUVWXY and/or Z, the future of the human race? Makes me want to run out and get into debt learning those valuable skills....

Most skills are valuable unlike the skill your portraying

Very few college graduates major directly in traditional trades either.

That’s why we need a balance of trade and traditional until the day comes where Ai can takeover some sectors

And that’s what Trump is trying to do with tariffs - balance trade. Glad to see you agree with Trump.

This is true but not as much, trade school cost a lot less than a 4-year degree and more and more companies are training in-house these days due to the need so in a lot of cases it's not even necessary to go to school just show up everyday on time is all they ask

Well my education helped me get a job where I travel internationally and have generous PTO and can enjoy my life rather than being stuck in a menial dead-end job. I am happy with my choice, personally. It's nice that my progress in my career didn't cost me my health or my body. I don't believe that having a good and happy life should cost people their bodies.

Well somebody has to do it who are you going to get to fix your furnace this winter if your heat goes out? And besides most people go on to create the own business with people working for them or they go on to teach it of which I have done both.

One of the problems with college educated people is that they seem to be taught to look down on others and I'll let you in on a little secret my price goes up depending who I'm working for, a job that I might charge someone a couple hundred dollars for in a neighborhood that a college educated might look down on can become a couple thousand dollars in a neighborhood that I have low opinions of which are full of the college educated.

But they've got the extra money and so I think nothing of it I just leave with a bigger smile on my face than normal.

I fix my own heater. I fix my own cars. I fix my own plumbing. I grow my garden and stockpile my own food and can it. I make my own bread with my sourdough starter. We make our own soda with a ginger bug. I am going to start making my own yogurt with a yogurt culture as well. I do my own landscaping. I use my wood shop to build and repair furniture. You seem to think that because I have this job where I don't have to do the physical work that this must mean that I don't know how to or that I'm not actively doing those things anyway. I do. What you call a career, I call a hobby and vice versa. What I call a career, you also would likely call a hobby.

You see, it's not that I'm afraid of the work. It's that I don't want that to be my full time job. I don't look down on anyone doing that for a career. It's valid work and they work hard. I just also think you've got this messed up if you think education is a bad avenue as well. Both are valid paths. I chose the one where my body doesn't get rekt over trying to make money. Where you exploit people based on their proximity to money, I do not. I also own two small businesses where I sell goods and I'm in the process of getting the food licensing to distribute baked goods and all natural pro-biotic sodas that my wife and I make but, you see, the difference between you and I is that I fully intend to donate a ton of this to people in need as I currently do. I also have knitting machines and while I watch movies and junk I can use those machines and make hats and scarves for the homeless for the cost of yarn - so I do that as well.

So, if my heat goes out, I will fix it myself like I did last time. If my water heater goes out, I will swap it like I did myself last time (though I took the opportunity to upgrade to a tankless last time so now I have the duct work for both because I left the duct work for the old unit and capped the ends in case I need it in the future or a future owner of the home wants to go back to a tank). Some of us don't have to pay for all of those things. The education I got has enabled me to learn how to solve these problems on my own so I don't have to pay for them.

You're the exception rather than the rule not everyone has the can-do spirit most just write a check, what do you do about your air conditioning? You have to be EPA certified to get freon let me guess you got that too laugh out loud but you're still the exception in that case

If I wanted to recharge the cooling element with more freon? I make enough from my day job that I'd just buy a new unit and donate the one that needs refilling to someone like you, who can fix it themselves if you have the cert. You get a rig you can fix up to be nice. I spur the economy by not hoarding money. I get a new unit so it's less hassle for me. I can install the unit myself so I'm not WASTING the money. Wins all around.

So far though my cooling unit to the central HVAC system hasn't copped out. I do the maintenance to keep it up and I put the cover on in winter, etc. I've always been of the impression that if I want nice things I should take care of them to the best of my ability but yes, if for some reason the freon were low or needed refilling for whatever reason I'd probably just get a new unit and install it and then call up someone who does repair and be like, "this just needs the recharge but you can have it and flip it for a profit if you like. The only cost would be that you come pick it up because I don't wanna donate it AND deliver."

With my water heater it wasn't the case. That was over 10 years old. It lasted a good long while but the inner tank lining was rusting, and it was messing with the pilot underneath so the tankless was just the better way to go. I had to do a little math to figure the gas volume at the new endpoint for the new water heater though because I had to add on about 4 feet of pipe for the natural gas to get to the new tankless location. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem and my tankless has been working great for 2 years now.

Tankless is a decent idea but that's just more that can go wrong down the road, it's like I tell people trying to decide between an ultra high efficiency unit or something mid range, sure you're gonna save alot on gas and electric on the front end but the first repair you make you're gonna hand it all back in the form of repair costs, whereas a mid efficiency unit will cost more to run up front but alot less when repair time comes so it all evens out.

I was just contacted by a recruiter today, I'm in biz for myself right now but I have no benefits so I'm considering working for someone else and they said the same thing I've been saying, somewhere around 10 years from now the shits gonna hit the fan as people like me retire out and there's no one coming in to do the work. Rates are gonna go through the roof and there will be wait times for service "You have a no heat and it's -10 outside? We can be there in 2 weeks, unless you want to pay $750/hr for us to come out tonight".

Service techs will be making 100/hr easy, and that will pull people in who previously wouldn't have thought of it but theres gonna be a lag time as new talent gets seasoned in the field which is 5 years on average. The day is coming and we need people in trade schools yesterday.

Yeah man - I do the maintenance on the unit myself but if it has a problem with something like backup inside the unit then I'll open it myself and fix it. Appliance repair is generally something I'm pretty good at. If it's not something I can fix myself, I still have both exhaust outputs for the heaters and I can go whichever location I want for the water heater. So far, the tankless is ideal. It's less about trying to keep the bill down and more about not wanting to leave a pilot flame consistently heating several gallons of water in a tank just waiting for it to be used. I like only using those resources when needed rather than being a consistent consumer.

I hope the repairs DO come in for you on that though. If you can make your dough on it, great. I personally think the rat race for money is overrated but I don't shame others for aiming for it.

My dad a high school AP Calc and Engineering teacher

Fixes his cars
Does hardwood floor
Put in a coal furnace
Put in internet
Changes oil breaks ect ect
Makes sour dough
Has what we sometimes joke of an “apocalyptic pantry” stocked with food and mixes for whenever.
Fixes his John Deer

You are the example of what college should do. Too many people think college “one degree that it’s” they think people with degrees in law can’t change tires or can’t start a fire. College is to get you to critically think and ask questions. Why can’t I do this? Is it cheaper to do this? How do I fix this?

The idea that college is a scam and that all people who get a degree can’t do simple housework is one of the biggest lies ever told to society nowadays.

I think there's room for people who want to train for trades instead. People don't all want to do the same things. That's a good thing. We should embrace that. If everyone only wants to do the same things then we have gaps in what society can do for one another. We don't want that. We want and should respect that diversity.

That said, probably dogging on college education isn't the right route either, you know? lol

To respond to you, yes dogging on college is bad. To many times people right after highschool stop learning and are just done. That’s how we end up with people bad at money or vote without any knowledge fall for lies, are bad at making healthy life choices.

Ultimately college is for you to critical thinking and to learn to question. Dogging it shouldn’t be an option. I feel some of these things should be supplemental.

The trade school kid should learn about money and politics and how to question

The AP kid should know how to change the tires and build a fence.

Instead of maybe pushing the no college and you don’t need it rather we should push try your best in school try to learn? Correct?

The vast majority of degrees aren't in gender studies