OK, so you go take care of your daily routine on the toilet, and when you are finished you realize that you have a problem. There is something wrong with the toilet, it won’t flush. Maybe it overflows. Whatever the problem is, are you going to call your lawyer? Your Banker? How about a computer engineer? I doubt that you’ll call any of those guys. But, unless you are a real handyman, I bet you are going to call a plumber. When you have problems with your car, it’s the mechanic that you will call, not a brain surgeon or a dermatologist, right?
Well, since around the time that I graduated from High School, 1980, we have kind of made it a goal to send almost every kid to college. I can remember when I was younger, we had trade schools. Not every kid needs to go to college, they can go to trade school, learn a trade and be successful in life with that.
I am sure there are still a few trade schools out there, but the number has certainly declined greatly during my lifetime. Truth is a lot of things that college teaches these days could be handled in trade school too. For example, I believe that things like the computer could be a trade school curriculum.
I went to college for a little over 2 years, almost 3 years. I never completed my degree. To be honest, I feel that I have had a lot of success despite my lack of a college degree. What I found was that it just was not for me. I was bored with college. I spent too much time partying instead of studying as I should have. However, the lack of a degree has never held me back from getting a job that I wanted. I have gotten every job that I have ever really tried to get. Now, I will admit that there have been times that I had to start out with a little lower level job than I would have preferred, but within a few months, I moved up to the job where I thought I should be, or even beyond that.
About 5 or 6 months ago, I wrote an article about Mike Rowe and a position that he came out with saying that not every kid needs a college degree. I could not agree more with Mike. He is right on the spot. There are so many jobs that need to be filled that don’t require a college degree. Not every kid is fit to be a doctor, an attorney or a banker. They can’t all be stock traders or engineers. We need all of those people, but we also need plumbers, mechanics, technicians and such. There is nothing at all shameful about taking on a trade. Working is an honorable thing, and different jobs fit each of us. I admit it, I would be a terrible carpenter or plumber. I don’t work well with my hands. I get frustrated and give up, because I am a perfectionist, and don’t do those types of jobs to the standards that I demand of myself.
For the past 20 years or so, I have been self-employed. When I left college back in the early ’80s, people told me that I would regret doing it. Know what? I can’t think of a single time that I have regretted making that decision. In fact, there have been times when I regretted that I didn’t leave college sooner than I did, and get on with life.
Do you want to be a carpenter? Do you have a child who wants to make furniture or cut glass? Nothing wrong with those things. What matters is that we are happy with what we do, and enjoy our life. Making money is secondary because if we do what makes us happy, the money will be there.
Bob I’d have to agree that Trade Schools are very beneficial for the right person. I graduated from a Trade School in 1993 and have been in the HVAC/R field for 16 years and have National Certification. This has allowed me to perfect my skills with the ever evolving field and that has made it possible for me to be able to secure employment as the top technician wherever I may choose to work. With that said, I am trying to get myself into this blogging thing and learn something new but I find it very difficult to transition to that line of work. I am more of a mechanically inclined type of guy and this type of work is just more beneficial to me for job satisfaction. It seems to be a personality thing.
Bob I’d have to agree that Trade Schools are very beneficial for the right person. I graduated from a Trade School in 1993 and have been in the HVAC/R field for 16 years and have National Certification. This has allowed me to perfect my skills with the ever evolving field and that has made it possible for me to be able to secure employment as the top technician wherever I may choose to work. With that said, I am trying to get myself into this blogging thing and learn something new but I find it very difficult to transition to that line of work. I am more of a mechanically inclined type of guy and this type of work is just more beneficial to me for job satisfaction. It seems to be a personality thing.
Bob I’d have to agree that Trade Schools are very beneficial for the right person. I graduated from a Trade School in 1993 and have been in the HVAC/R field for 16 years and have National Certification. This has allowed me to perfect my skills with the ever evolving field and that has made it possible for me to be able to secure employment as the top technician wherever I may choose to work. With that said, I am trying to get myself into this blogging thing and learn something new but I find it very difficult to transition to that line of work. I am more of a mechanically inclined type of guy and this type of work is just more beneficial to me for job satisfaction. It seems to be a personality thing.
Thanks for sharing that, Chad. I think that trade schools could make a big comeback in the USA.
Thanks for sharing that, Chad. I think that trade schools could make a big comeback in the USA.
Thanks for sharing that, Chad. I think that trade schools could make a big comeback in the USA.
my grandson graduates high school in may and he is already registered for the fall classes in technical school. he received a two year grant to learn auto body and mechanics cause that is where his love lies….fixing up cars. bob, are there trade schools in the RP? cause all I ever hear of is colleges and they seem to all offer the same classes which doesnt make much sense to me. it is a good observation to see that not everyone is right for college.
Hi Donna – Good luck to your grandson! I hope he does very well in his chosen field. I am not sure if there are many trade schools here. I suspect that those kind of trades may be learned through apprenticeship here, but am not certain.
As far as i’m aware trade schools are called Vocational Training in PH.
donna west said:
my grandson graduates high school in may and he is already registered for the fall classes in technical school. he received a two year grant to learn auto body and mechanics cause that is where his love lies….fixing up cars. bob, are there trade schools in the RP? cause all I ever hear of is colleges and they seem to all offer the same classes which doesnt make much sense to me. it is a good observation to see that not everyone is right for college.
[Comment imported from blog]
donna west said:
my grandson graduates high school in may and he is already registered for the fall classes in technical school. he received a two year grant to learn auto body and mechanics cause that is where his love lies….fixing up cars. bob, are there trade schools in the RP? cause all I ever hear of is colleges and they seem to all offer the same classes which doesnt make much sense to me. it is a good observation to see that not everyone is right for college.
[Comment imported from blog]
Robert Martin said:
Hi Donna – Good luck to your grandson! I hope he does very well in his chosen field. I am not sure if there are many trade schools here. I suspect that those kind of trades may be learned through apprenticeship here, but am not certain.
[Comment imported from blog]
Robert Martin said:
Hi Donna – Good luck to your grandson! I hope he does very well in his chosen field. I am not sure if there are many trade schools here. I suspect that those kind of trades may be learned through apprenticeship here, but am not certain.
[Comment imported from blog]
Hi Bob,
I didn’t graduate from college either. At the time it was because I was more than a bit rebellious, but today I wouldn’t go back even if I were offered the chance … because it has now become the “Great American Ponzi Scheme”. Many will recall seeing charts and posters along their way in life that showed how, overaall, college grads earned mor e money in their lifetime.
But today, we have reached th eointwhere, on the average, a college grasd, aftre paying off his/her tuition loans, will only brreak even with a high school grad over a normal “work span”.
Student Loan debt has now far exceeded credit card debt as America’s largest bill to pay. Mike is definitely doing the country a great service by helping to tell the truth about jobs.
Here’s a really interesting piece I also found today about how many US cities who are dying for employees to fill new jobs … but many of those jobs are,’t Wall Street type jobs where the object is to repackage bad debt and sell it to other unsuspecting folk, so the jobs pretty much go begging. Interesting graphic.
http://www.imgrind.com/the-hottest-us-job-sectors-of-2013/
Hi Dave – I know what you mean about being a bit rebellious! I resemble that remark! Ha ha…
Yes, I have heard in the news lately that the cost of college has gone up so much that most people do not have a financial advantage by attending college. Amazing, isn’t it?
I wonder what ever happened to ” Shop ” Class, aka ” Industrial Arts ” in the schools here. I remember that from my Jr. High School years. I also went to trade school for ” Trade Electronics ” . These kind of things kept my interest. In academic classes I always tell people these days, I majored in staring out the windows and watching the clock in the classroom.
What would happen if you mixed a University, College and Trade School type courses all together ? This is something I was quite surprised and delighted to find at Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City. In addition to many academic and professional type courses, things such as Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Auto Mechanics, Electronics, IT, drafting by using traditional mechanical drawing tools and todays version using a PC and CAD / AutoCAD, and many such other practical trade type courses of education. These are the kind of things I can easily relate to as opposed to pure academics.
AS technology has advanced many of the things I learned in my trade school years could be termed as obsolete these days although many of the basic principles still apply. My many job related experiences that I have gained throughout the years I apply to the work I do these days and more times than not surprise many of my co-workers as to how I quickly figure out what often at first appear to be a complex problem.
I think, Bob, that the problem in the States is that if you mixed those trade school course into the regular colleges, it would drive up the cost of learning a trade. College costs are just so high these days, and I think it would make a trade unreachable for many. There must be a solution, though.
Yeah Bob, i know what you mean about obsolete skills, lol.
Mine however became obsolete by moving up into Sales and not keeping fully in touch with the technicalities, only the basics were needed.
Bob New York said:
I wonder what ever happened to ” Shop ” Class, aka ” Industrial Arts ” in the schools here. I remember that from my Jr. High School years. I also went to trade school for ” Trade Electronics ” . These kind of things kept my interest. In academic classes I always tell people these days, I majored in staring out the windows and watching the clock in the classroom.
What would happen if you mixed a University, College and Trade School type courses all together ? This is something I was quite surprised and delighted to find at Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City. In addition to many academic and professional type courses, things such as Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Auto Mechanics, Electronics, IT, drafting by using traditional mechanical drawing tools and todays version using a PC and CAD / AutoCAD, and many such other practical trade type courses of education. These are the kind of things I can easily relate to as opposed to pure academics.
AS technology has advanced many of the things I learned in my trade school years could be termed as obsolete these days although many of the basic principles still apply. My many job related experiences that I have gained throughout the years I apply to the work I do these days and more times than not surprise many of my co-workers as to how I quickly figure out what often at first appear to be a complex problem.
[Comment imported from blog]
Bob New York said:
I wonder what ever happened to ” Shop ” Class, aka ” Industrial Arts ” in the schools here. I remember that from my Jr. High School years. I also went to trade school for ” Trade Electronics ” . These kind of things kept my interest. In academic classes I always tell people these days, I majored in staring out the windows and watching the clock in the classroom.
What would happen if you mixed a University, College and Trade School type courses all together ? This is something I was quite surprised and delighted to find at Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City. In addition to many academic and professional type courses, things such as Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Auto Mechanics, Electronics, IT, drafting by using traditional mechanical drawing tools and todays version using a PC and CAD / AutoCAD, and many such other practical trade type courses of education. These are the kind of things I can easily relate to as opposed to pure academics.
AS technology has advanced many of the things I learned in my trade school years could be termed as obsolete these days although many of the basic principles still apply. My many job related experiences that I have gained throughout the years I apply to the work I do these days and more times than not surprise many of my co-workers as to how I quickly figure out what often at first appear to be a complex problem.
[Comment imported from blog]
I’m whole heartedly in agreement with Trade/Technical schools, it’s how i started out in the RN.
On leaving the RN i attended a Gov’t/Military sponsored 6 month full time rehabilitation technical school to adapt my skills to civilian life. ( remember it well, 6 months living in a boarding house, lol)
My parents could never have afforded to send me to college/uni, no such thing as student loans in those days. There was a limited number of free scholarships, but only awarded to the exceptional Academic high flyers.
Thankfully the penny has finally dropped with our Politicians and they are re-introducing Trade/Technical schools by 2014.
We won’t then need to employ so many tradesman from Poland and other Eastern EU countries.
Still lurking from time to time Bob.
So much to do at the moment in preparation for my big move.
I’ve been a buyer/seller of various things over the years. For the past 15yrs or so it’s mostly been 50s/60s stuff, but i’m a hoarder too lol. I’ve got a garage filled to the rafters with stuff, not to mention the spare bedroom lol.
Selling it is fairly easy, it’s the sorting and preparation that takes the time. I’ll get to the end of it eventually though.
Had a good browse on this site this evening, very interesting for me.
Take care Bob.
Good luck with that, Chas! When do you expect to make the move?
Years ago I visited a high-end subdivision in Connecticut. My host was a well off exec at a fortune 500 firm. His house was nice, but certainly no mansion. We drove around and looked at many other nice homes, then I noticed a real mansion, high on a hill overlooking the whole community. I asked if that was the developer’s home. My host replied, “No the developer went banko and now lives in a double-wide trailer. That big house is John, the guy who had the contract for all the plumbing installation in the community”. Hmmmmm …. see also http://www.mikeroweworks.com/ for info on thousands os skilled trade jobs going vacant because Americans are taught by elitists that there is something wrong with getting your hands dirty.