Trade schools as a viable alternative to college

Jules said:
I’d appreciate any ideas for non-university careers for two of my granddaughters. They’re both tiny and not capable of
jobs that need physical strength. Neither are interested in the sciences, though it is the way to go if you’re inclined to that.
Click to expand...
Automotive spray painters are in demand. Same for furniture refinishers. Clock and watch repair. Animal groomer. Florist. Land surveyor. Building inspector for a municipality. Funeral director. Engraver. Recreation director for seniors center. Real estate sales. None of those require much physical strength. JImB.
 

palides2021 said:
It all depends on what you want in life. Making lots of money is not everyone's goal (like me). Sometimes there are other intrinsic factors that are more important, like expressing compassion, creativity, and talent.
Click to expand...
I totally agree with you ... money was never my main consideration on jobs or career ......
i was reflecting on some if not most young people rate careers on $$$ not what is really involved in the job / industry . when i worked retail a young man went to school for a job he picked on income potential alone.........but after school and working in industry for a very short time he HATED it and came back to retail ....... angry about school loans and it not being what he thought ... many refuse to see it was THEIR choice.

My MBA son still rants to this day that "HE did everything society said .......go to college get an advanced degree "
( he has tons of debt i am sure) and his brother who only completed high school is doing same level salary wise as MBA is with zero debt.
 

oldaunt said:
But its so much more fun to attend college (and all the parties) for a fluff degree that is fairly easy. You have a big loan to pay back and no one but McDonalds will hire you.
Click to expand...
It's easy to generalize, but it's not exactly the way you state it is. I went to college and my degree was not a "fluff" degree, and it was very difficult to achieve. I did get a decent paying job after that. It all depends what college one goes to, and what degree they achieve, and the job market at the time.
 
In the UK Trade school were Called Polytechnic colleges... they were deemed to be one step lower than a full University because students couldn't earn a degree.. but in those you could learn a physical trade as stated in posts above. Engineering.. Hairdressing , Motor Mechanics.. Humanities, etc....

However since 1992 they have not existed in that Format and became fully fledged Universities...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_(United_Kingdom)
 
palides2021 said:
It's easy to generalize, but it's not exactly the way you state it is. I went to college and my degree was not a "fluff" degree, and it was very difficult to achieve. I did get a decent paying job after that. It all depends what college one goes to, and what degree they achieve, and the job market at the time.
Click to expand...
I speak from personal experience, knowing 7 who did this, 3 of whom I am related to. 5 of them are "general arts" degrees.
 
palides2021 said:
It's easy to generalize, but it's not exactly the way you state it is. I went to college and my degree was not a "fluff" degree, and it was very difficult to achieve. I did get a decent paying job after that. It all depends what college one goes to, and what degree they achieve, and the job market at the time.
Click to expand...
No, your's is certainly no "fluff" degree. I checked. You are an amazing woman with many talents. Kudos.
 
I graduated from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio with a double major in Engineering and Applied Mathematics. After a short employment period with DuPont, I decided I really didn’t want to be an engineer. My first love was always to fly. After a long talk with my dad, he agreed to pay my way through flight school. Back then, it only cost $24,000.00. Today, it’s almost 5 times that amount to reach getting an ATP certification or rating.

I made the better choice and was able to get my dream job of being a pilot. I also was able to pay my dad back even though he didn’t want to accept it. My son, OTOH, went to trade school for 2 years after high school and has a great job with the state. He worked his way up to being head of the IT departments across the state, which is about 250 employees. Lucky him, he is able to do most of his work from home.
 
CarolfromTX said:
College degrees often come with a pile of debts, often into six figures. Plus, colleges these days are too woke for my taste. My plumber, on the other hand, drives a truck that probably cost more than my first house. If my grandkids wanted to be tradespeople, I’d be all for it.
Click to expand...
You’re right. I know two doctors that are married to one another and it was only last winter during a dinner party, they told us that when they had completed their degrees, they owed a total of just over $1,000,000.00 She’s an Orthopedic Surgeon and he is an internal Medicine Surgeon.
 
oldman said:
You’re right. I know two doctors that are married to one another and it was only last winter during a dinner party, they told us that when they had completed their degrees, they owed a total of just over $1,000,000.00 She’s an Orthopedic Surgeon and he is an internal Medicine Surgeon.
Click to expand...
And that, ladies and gents, is why health care is so expensive.
Ask yourself why college is so expensive. Because they pay people like Elizabeth Warren six figures to teach one class. Because they have to staff offices of Gender equality, Transgender equity, Racial Equity, and on and on. How did I ever get thru college without those?
 
The USA college business is mostly an evil scam. Parents, students, and the government are milked for mostly worthless classes, for tens of thousands of dollars.

Learning skills that benefit other people and people are interested in paying dollars for, is the way to go.

Hopefully most colleges will go out of business now that the internet and a multitude of ways to learn are here.
 
Colleges an universities of today are nothing compared to what they were back in our times. Today, colleges like to have enormous endowments. If they would use some of that endowment money to lower the cost of education, more students would be able to attend. Too many universities use parts of their endowments to take trips that they refer to as research and developmental explorations.

Back when I was in college, our class was allotted 'x' amount of dollars to study abroad at the Pasteur Institute for 8 weeks. We isolated different types of bacteria and even man-made some different types of bacteria that we named ourselves. It was nice over there and studying with people that really were super intelligent in the biomedical fields. I learned an awful lot about how the different viruses take on different forms in order to hide themselves.

It kind of reminded me of "gain of function" research after we had heard so much about it during covid. In fact, once I heard of "gain of function," I immediately had a flashback to the days I was at the Pasteur Institute and we were attempting to rearrange the cells inside of a certain strain of bacteria to make a new strain. It's funny how your mind can work at times.
 
Last edited:
One large company that I worked for as a Project Engineer,
looking after different jobs in construction, would send me
graduates occasionally, unfortunately the modern education
systems do not teach too much about the trade that they are
studying, they are taught to pass exams, not to absorb all the
intricacies of a profession, electrics, in my case, I then had the
not very nice job of trying to teach somebody about electricity,
somebody who has a degree and thinks that he knows better
than I do, about the subject.

Give me an apprentice trained person any time, or one who
really wanted to be an electrician and took the time to study
the subject.

Mike.
 
They are hurting for tradespeople so much that, if you are hired into an apprentice program, they will pay for you to go to school 1 or 2 days a week. The rest of the week is on the job training with a decent paycheck.
A retired friend was a Millwright. At 72 years old, his employer asked him if he would return to work to lead a crew.
Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, hvac and heavy machine operators in this area don't have enough time in a day to get all the jobs done that are asked of them.
There is a huge amount of opportunities today.
 
stretch5881 said:
They are hurting for tradespeople so much that, if you are hired into an apprentice program, they will pay for you to go to school 1 or 2 days a week. The rest of the week is on the job training with a decent paycheck.
A retired friend was a Millwright. At 72 years old, his employer asked him if he would return to work to lead a crew.
Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, hvac and heavy machine operators in this area don't have enough time in a day to get all the jobs done that are asked of them.
There is a huge amount of opportunities today.
Click to expand...
The average income is good also.

Trade School Salary
Annual SalaryMonthly Pay
Top Earners$89,500$7,458
75th Percentile$81,000$6,750
Average$66,465$5,538
25th Percentile$48,500$4,041
 
Everyone can't be a Lawyer or a Doctor .... seems that used to be the ultimate goal when pursuing a life career.

The trend is turning to the trades now.
There is a huge shortage of qualified people .... and way too many doctors & lawyers.
 
When I was in university, I simply chose the classes I wanted to take. Now you’re allotted a day to sign up and you’d best be up early to start your selections. These days you are assigned your selection day based on your overall grades.

JustBonee said:
and way too many doctors & lawyers.
Click to expand...
We have too few doctors and nurses. No problems with finding a lawyer.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top