College Y or N?

[Wilbur ★]

1 minute ago, sheep_herder said:

My father -in-law would have set me up to work with sheet metal, if I had quit college and moved to California. The money was tempting, but I stayed the course. Did not regret my decision.

My brother did just that.  After he completed his apprenticeship he quit and became a stockbroker, a realtor and restaurant and pub owner. He hated bashing tin though. 

[BR46]

4 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

While we tend to put down importance of higher education,

There are a lot of people who put down people who did not go to college.

For years teachers pounded into our heads that you had to go to college to be able to make money or you will be a worthless bottom feeder working a dead end factory job the rest of your life. 

I played my cards right, started planning for retirement at age 22, took advantage of compounded interest  I was able to retire at the age of 58. 

I have a long time family friend who did the same thing and was able to retire at the old age of 53.

 

[sheep_herder ★]

1 minute ago, BR46 said:

There are a lot of people who put down people who did not go to college.

For years teachers pounded into our heads that you had to go to college to be able to make money or you will be a worthless bottom feeder working a dead end factory job the rest of your life. 

I played my cards right, started planning for retirement at age 22, took advantage of compounded interest  I was able to retire at the age of 58. 

I have a long time family friend who did the same thing and was able to retire at the old age of 53.

 

I ignored those people, and I must admit that it made first couple of years challenging in college, but it all worked out in the end. I admire folks that have skills and work in the trades. My best friend does custom bobcat work, among many other things. He has to turn work away.

[Bikeguy]

1 hour ago, BR46 said:

There are a lot of people who put down people who did not go to college.

For years teachers pounded into our heads that you had to go to college to be able to make money or you will be a worthless bottom feeder working a dead end factory job the rest of your life. 

I played my cards right, started planning for retirement at age 22, took advantage of compounded interest 

There you have it...   A LOT of people who have college degrees NEVER figured that out. 

[dinneR ★]

Maybe people should do what works for them. Instead of being judgmental, we could respect freedom of choice.

 

[Bikeguy]

In HS... I found out I was good in math and science (chemistry.. not so much).  I found out I was good at working on cars.  My HS had a 4 year auto shop program.  Back in the 70's our HS entered  team into the Plymouth Trouble Shooting Contest every year.  Over the years, our school won the state competition more than a few times.  There was a team of 2 techs from each school. In 1973 Dave and I won the state competition for IL.   That got us an all expense paid trip to Boston.   There we had our car running first... but that freaked us out.   It can't be that easy.   We looked for more problems to fix.  And we made a carburetor adjustment at the last minute and then went in for testing.  That carb adjustment... ultimately was slightly off and we got a time penalty assessed for the error.  There was a written test too.  We were 13th in the US.   If we would have got the car stated, and closed the hood and went into the testing area, we would have won.   but I digress...  (that's still kind of upsetting) 

I still didn't know what I wanted to do.   For a while I was seriously considering going to  Denver Automotive & Diesel College.  In the 70s that was a great place for that kind of training.   

But... I was also great at math and science.   My parrents 'suggested' maybe I should consider becoming an engineer.  I had NO idea what kind of work I'd eventually get.   But I figured...  maybe I'd work in the auto industry.   The auto industry never happened.   

College... for mechanical engineering.   I figured...  if I flunked out... I could always work on cars.   I survived.    (I never had a pocket protector)

One day in an advanced math class.... the professor took some time and explained to the engineering students there..   "If you take 2 (or 3) more math class, you can have a major in engineering, and a minor in math."  It took me about 30 seconds to skip that.  I already took enough math I'd probably never use. 

While In college... that's when I found programming on the mainframe computer was kind of fun.   But I never got 'that' serious about coding stuff.  Then again that helped me at work too.

That said....

After I got my job.   THAT is when I really started to learn.  I learned more about working with people, communications, the tech stuff on the job, how to survive and raise a family...  all the other stuff that is NOT taught in any school. 

[BR46]

3 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

My HS had a 4 year auto shop program.  Back in the 70's our HS entered  team into the Plymouth Trouble Shooting Contest every year.  Over the years, our school won the state competition more than a few times. 

Do Schools even teach shop classes any more? 

I heard that the high school here has a shop class that works with industrial robotics and CnC machining because one of the local factory's paid for it.

I tried to get a Build program started a our local high school but when it was brought up it fell on deaf ears. I had a motorcycle shop that would give us work space and 2 full time mechanics that would volunteer their time but still nothing. 

https://buildmoto.com/

And after the build is finished there's a race where all the motorcycle that were in the build program race....I think that a guy who would race it.

[maddmaxx ★]

4 hours ago, dinneR said:

Maybe people should do what works for them. Instead of being judgmental, we could respect freedom of choice.

 

This should be one of the golden rules.

[sheep_herder ★]

1 hour ago, BR46 said:

Do Schools even teach shop classes any more? 

I heard that the high school here has a shop class that works with industrial robotics and CnC machining because one of the local factory's paid for it.

I tried to get a Build program started a our local high school but when it was brought up it fell on deaf ears. I had a motorcycle shop that would give us work space and 2 full time mechanics that would volunteer their time but still nothing. 

https://buildmoto.com/

And after the build is finished there's a race where all the motorcycle that were in the build program race....I think that a guy who would race it.

They do in our high school. My friend has work tables that the shop class built for him. He provided the supplies. Welding also seems to be very popular.

[ChrisL]

1 hour ago, sheep_herder said:

They do in our high school. My friend has work tables that the shop class built for him. He provided the supplies. Welding also seems to be very popular.

My kids went to the same HS I went to and I noticed the Wood & Metal shop classes were repurposed.  One is the ceramics class and the other is the maintenance building.  
 

The JC I went to had a good automotive repair program and the JC nearest me has a culinary arts & aviation repair program.  It seems the vocational programs locally are in the Junior Colleges. 

[Wilbur ★]

Our kids all take a semester of industrial arts in 9th grade and there are trade oriented streams for those inclined to pursue an industrial education.  

[shootingstar]

9 hours ago, dinneR said:

Maybe people should do what works for them. Instead of being judgmental, we could respect freedom of choice.

 

Dearie while he was in Canada as a young man, was offered by a retiring uncle to inherit a bakery in Germany. Dearie turned it down. Dearie's stepfather didn't want him to attend university (he didn't finish HS) And his mother wasn't thrilled either. She finished at a technical college in Germany before WWII.

So dearie was going against the grain. He did well in life.

Though if any of us worked in restaurants, I'm certain my parents wouldn't have stopped it but they wouldn't be happy. Restaurant work can be physically demanding work. It's more for young/fit people.

1 of my sisters has a BSc in biology. She is the receptionist-patient intake staff person at Canada's largest pediatric hospital. She does earn a much lower income than rest of her sibs.  However, she was very lucky to buy a home 30 yrs. ago. It would be impossible today in Toronto.

I participated in an internal employee group session (about 70 employees which is alot since it wasn't mandatory)... I can't remember topic. But several employees probably well into their mid-life or beyond, lamented NOT going to college nor university because they felt they were passed over for some internal jobs which asked for specific formal training or degrees. They felt they had the relevant work experience and that should stand by itself.  They didn't want to invest money at this point in life after having also raised children.

There is no easy answer for above.

In all frankness, there is a hard reality of competition.  When I did my Master's, there were at least 10 students already in their late 30's into 40's who returned to full-time studies.  It would have been significant use of money and also their time to get the degree.  

After graduation, the courses I put immediately to practice...because that's why I was hired:  were management courses -- I had develop from nothing, dept. mandate, objective, processes and policies. Those courses I've had to draw upon for several jobs forward.

I was 27 yrs. old and attending monthly department management meetings with other 10 other dept. managers. Needless to say, I was slightly intimidated and alot of the time, found it challenging to speak up. Looking back, it was an enormous learning curve for me how to conduct oneself at the management level and develop business relationships. Latter, is not taught much in courses.  We were skeletally told about it in school.

I also learned especially from the women managers, how to carry oneself professionally, and communicate well. Some of these managers had 10-15 direct reports.