If you're a fan of Mike Rowe you may embrace his thoughts on higher education...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Lk1KwWEMo

We had the youngest go to Wyotech for 18 months for custom car work he drives a truck today! LOL

Yup, and as a degreed engineer who worked in the nuclear power industry for 33 years before retiring, I still needed skilled craftsmen (and women) to build my house, fix my truck, put in my well and septic, and maintain all the pumps, motors, valves, etc. in the power plant. Those craftsmen had skills I did not have and are an essential component of our economy. We have convinced a generation that all they have to do is get a 4 yr degree and they can immediately have everything their parents spent 20-30 years working their butts off to accumulate.

As a teacher I can tell you he is right on. Tell kids all the time to look seriously at the trades. Good money, affordable to obtain.

Many parents do not want to hear that college for their kid may not be the best option.

I agree that many kids do not belong on a 4 year degree path. Skilled trades would suit them and society much better.

That said, I see nothing wrong with having the 4 year degree....if you can do it without massive debt.....AND a skilled trade.

X2!

I have a 4 yr degree and it has helped me get the position I currently have and is essential for promotions. Having said that I have been constantly encouraging my son to get some sort of tech degree instead of going to a university. He started his first tech class today. Happy dad.

Well said guys, there are many occupations that pay very well without the need for a 4 year degree. That said, there are many occupations that pay very well that require a 4 year or more degree to accomplish said occupation. Not everyone is cut out to be an astronaut but then you see billionaires who dropped out of school and relied on their brilliance to get where they are today.

Zim

I also went to WyoTech for 6 months in 1974-75 for auto mechanics. Used the skills all my life and still do. While there, the kid selling pop and donuts at the snack bar had a 4-yr degree from University of Wyoming.
In the Army, you needed a college degree to get past E-5. That was in 1984.

And...........there are vocations that require licensing that can often times be enhanced by having both the degree and the hands-on experience.

I have the degrees to be both an astronaut and a billionaire but chose to be a homesteader and a trapper. See...........flexibility is enhanced by education !!

Earned a four year degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin system. Biggest regret was stopping after 4 years. Would've, could've, should've continued on for a masters degree! Ended up serving a 5 year apprenticeship in plumbing and have since earned my Masters Plumbers certification and own a plumbing business! Nobody can take my education away, though!

Chris

Even better, get a business degree, then decide what you want to do. A local dentist got a business degree, then went to dental school. He is a mastermind businessman and very well-healed.

But getting long in the tooth !

Mike Rowe does a good job promoting technical education. I taught building construction technology for 23 years. That is a fancy name for residential carpentry.
When I started we had 42 kids apply for the 32 slots. Over the years I had some outstanding students. Many went on to successful careers in building, and some in plumbing or electrical work. Many went on to two year technical collages, a few went to four year academic schools. I am still in touch with many students.

As time passed it became more and more difficult to fill all technical school programs. We did or close each year but it was a struggle. More and more kids simply do not want to work.
More and more kids are so tied to computers or phones and gaming that they cannot think about working. More and more kids come from families that neither parent works and many do not have any good role models in their life. More and more kids were coming through with emotional baggage and many many with various mental disorders.
Each year over those 23 year it became evident that there was a swing in the dynamics of our population.

I was working in what was a traditional blue collar community when I started. In the time I taught I witnessed at least a dozen manufacturing companies die out and close. When I started there were 6 module home plants within a 20 mile radius. All but one has shut down. Times have changed and not for the better.

During that time in education it was easy to observe the work ethic decline, and grit and or determination almost disappeared in students as a general rule. The problem was not just in technical education, it was a problem through out the academic sections of the school as well.

I still have great hopes for technical education but all educators face a tough row to hoe. Many problems in our schools and in our general population.
I do not mean to sound bitter but I guess I do. It was like watching a slow leak in what used to be a good vessel.

Mac

My son has a 4 year business degree and is now in his second year of law school. He is going to do very well for himself and the way I operate it will be handy to have an attorney in the family.

Zim

NO, NO, NO! Encourage them all to go to a 4 yr school. We need ditch diggers too, the Mexicans may not be around all that much longer.

Screw society and trading yrs of your life for a permission slip to work for some ungrateful thumb.

It's a scam , funneling people through institutions selling over valued pipe dreams .

Some of the dumbest people I know have framed papers on the wall.

I like Mike Rowe.
I agree with what has been stated thus far.

When graduation was near 80-90% of my friends knew they were going college but wasn't sure what they wanted to do. I didn't know what I wanted to do other than what I had been doing up until that point I was either a cook or a butcher. As an apprentice butcher while a Jr in high school I was doing really well. I landed up choosing to not go back for senior year for numerous reasons and got my GED. Few years later I was back cooking and worked with very talented chefs and cooks. I was making $0.50 less hr then another cook with a fancy culinary school under his belt. Eventually I got into health insurance and did well enough to support my family on just my income. I was in positions which a bachelors degree + was required. Had plenty of opportunities to move into upper management roles in other states but ultimately choose not to leave my family in the pursuit of money.

My dad never went to college and was 2nd in command under the owner of a concrete structure plant here. I had a boss who didn't get pass 9th grade and owns 20+ stores in NM and that doesn't include his partner in TX is the same.

All that being said if you have kids that are not sure what they want to do don't make them go to college in pursuit of a paper that might land up being useless.