That sounds rational, given what we know of young people in our community. However, there is no excuse to let this focus obscure the collapse of our public school performance (in California....the only one I follow....now at "40th" in the US). Every student graduating from high school needs a reasonable understanding of civics, basic economics and history, good English writing and math skills to prevail in every route through life; and our public schools are not providing that.
The public school system is a sinking ship. Regardless of a kid’s eventual career path, the way forward is not through a traditional public school. Almost any alternative educational model is superior: charter school, a voucher system, a rigorous magnet school, home schooling, school pods, or parochial or private schools. Kids relegated to the public school system face an uphill climb and have been done a terrible disservice by society.
All good but I would like to see the crosstabs on the survey. If the college educated parents of the rising generation are tilting towards the trades that would be significant. If the working class parents are seeing it as a way for their children to escape the trap the parents are in that would also be significant but in a different way.
I'd like to mention something. Of the total US population maybe 40 million people have an IQ under 85, they are going to have a hard time reading let alone wiring a house.
Median undergrads now have a median IQ, about 100. Not everyone is at median, some are below, there are a lot of not bright college grads.
In the general public you can't expect everyone to have the cognitive tools to become a master plumber, electrician, or lead carpenter. Generally speaking people who own their own business or have a lot of responsibility at a job site are smarter than the average bear, even if they lack grammar and haven't read the books we're all supposed to have read.
Currently, the easiest way to assure yourself that your kid will land a middle class job they can do for life is to get a degree in stem. If a kid has an SAT score 1200 or above I can't see any parent pushing their kid to learn a trade that often pays poorly has no retirement, damages their body and is low status.
When I am king I'll institute a massive immigration program based on intelligence such that we have an excess of bright folk willing to work high paying trades with great benefits and easier work past 50 years old.
There's another issue here that may not be discussed much. I have two girls, both good students but one who is definitely "college material". High 130's IQ, great social skills, honors classes with high grades so should go to college, right? But... she doesn't want a corporate job. She doesn't want a desk job and she doesn't see the appeal of the corner office and she also wants flexibility in her schedule when she has kids, which are as much or more on her list of life goals as her career.
I told her she'd be fine if she opened her own business or went into the trades. Intelligence is not rewarded anymore in corporate, conformity is. Out of the box thinking gets you fired. Connecting with others in a curious and authentic way is the kiss of death in most performative corporate cultures.
Not only is the University degree meaning less due to the watering down of standards, the high-value corporate job it supposedly gets you is also worth less. Smart kids are moving away from this as well. Interesting times.
High schools rate themselves on how many graduates go on into college. Colleges rate themselves on the percentage of applicants they deny. ‘Only X applicants get into college Y’ it must be a good education.. it’s ridiculous
GREAT post - in my last Stack I discussed Baldwin Prep (southern Alabama) and Delaware Area Career Center (Delaware Co, OH) as two great schools partnering with employers and foundations to move kids from high-school into can't-be-offshored trades. Very glad to hear about these other satellites of change across the country - almost nothing good happens from the top down; but these "nodes" of effectiveness show surrounding counties (and state legislators) how it can be done. Thank you for this commentary!
That sounds rational, given what we know of young people in our community. However, there is no excuse to let this focus obscure the collapse of our public school performance (in California....the only one I follow....now at "40th" in the US). Every student graduating from high school needs a reasonable understanding of civics, basic economics and history, good English writing and math skills to prevail in every route through life; and our public schools are not providing that.
The public school system is a sinking ship. Regardless of a kid’s eventual career path, the way forward is not through a traditional public school. Almost any alternative educational model is superior: charter school, a voucher system, a rigorous magnet school, home schooling, school pods, or parochial or private schools. Kids relegated to the public school system face an uphill climb and have been done a terrible disservice by society.
That's not because public schools are bad, the way we run public schools is bad.
All good but I would like to see the crosstabs on the survey. If the college educated parents of the rising generation are tilting towards the trades that would be significant. If the working class parents are seeing it as a way for their children to escape the trap the parents are in that would also be significant but in a different way.
Maybe Trump University would have been a good case study? It's important to examine how students can be scammed by unscrupulous operators.
I'd like to mention something. Of the total US population maybe 40 million people have an IQ under 85, they are going to have a hard time reading let alone wiring a house.
Median undergrads now have a median IQ, about 100. Not everyone is at median, some are below, there are a lot of not bright college grads.
In the general public you can't expect everyone to have the cognitive tools to become a master plumber, electrician, or lead carpenter. Generally speaking people who own their own business or have a lot of responsibility at a job site are smarter than the average bear, even if they lack grammar and haven't read the books we're all supposed to have read.
Currently, the easiest way to assure yourself that your kid will land a middle class job they can do for life is to get a degree in stem. If a kid has an SAT score 1200 or above I can't see any parent pushing their kid to learn a trade that often pays poorly has no retirement, damages their body and is low status.
When I am king I'll institute a massive immigration program based on intelligence such that we have an excess of bright folk willing to work high paying trades with great benefits and easier work past 50 years old.
There's another issue here that may not be discussed much. I have two girls, both good students but one who is definitely "college material". High 130's IQ, great social skills, honors classes with high grades so should go to college, right? But... she doesn't want a corporate job. She doesn't want a desk job and she doesn't see the appeal of the corner office and she also wants flexibility in her schedule when she has kids, which are as much or more on her list of life goals as her career.
I told her she'd be fine if she opened her own business or went into the trades. Intelligence is not rewarded anymore in corporate, conformity is. Out of the box thinking gets you fired. Connecting with others in a curious and authentic way is the kiss of death in most performative corporate cultures.
Not only is the University degree meaning less due to the watering down of standards, the high-value corporate job it supposedly gets you is also worth less. Smart kids are moving away from this as well. Interesting times.
High schools rate themselves on how many graduates go on into college. Colleges rate themselves on the percentage of applicants they deny. ‘Only X applicants get into college Y’ it must be a good education.. it’s ridiculous
GREAT post - in my last Stack I discussed Baldwin Prep (southern Alabama) and Delaware Area Career Center (Delaware Co, OH) as two great schools partnering with employers and foundations to move kids from high-school into can't-be-offshored trades. Very glad to hear about these other satellites of change across the country - almost nothing good happens from the top down; but these "nodes" of effectiveness show surrounding counties (and state legislators) how it can be done. Thank you for this commentary!