"The Hoarding of the American Dream"

[kevm14]

I am reading through that lstaff.com link.

Appearing on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” earlier this month, former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe lent a healthy dose of common sense to America’s current skills gap and our sad post-high school education predicament. Turns out, our soon-to-be burgeoning economy needs far more carpenters, plumbers, and HVAC techs than we do liberal arts flag burners, PC-police, and safe-space snowflakes.

Go figure.

And yet, everyone seems to think the only post-high school success comes from a 4-year college degree. In pointing out the prevailing view in America, Carlson stated out the shock-to-no-one fact that the students out there burning flags didn’t exactly attend HVAC trade schools.

Check this out:

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Interesting. Or they could unionize and ruin it, sending jobs out of the country...

[bill25]

I am here to provide some reality and reason to this ridiculous old man rant.

Graduating with a bullshit degree in the northeast in debt and with no job, and complaining about it? You fail

That is cool since that is what they were told to do. Just because you were lucky to have parents that already had good jobs and made sure you didn't pick some stupid ass major because they didn't want to piss away their hard earned money doesn't mean that everyone else that was told to blindly go to college and things would be awesome were wrong to listen to the adults while they were still minors and had no idea what they were doing. This is a ridiculous rant at best.

This is what happened.

Sure hindsight is 20/20 and if some of those people went into trades they would be doing better, but how were they supposed to know at 17? I went into computers and when I graduated there were no computer jobs and I had to go back for an entirely different major. Everyone told me computers were the way to go. I was supposed to just know what would be in demand?

You got lucky, and screw everyone for not guessing right?

There has got to be a better answer than that.

[bill25]

It just seems ridiculous that you are mocking people that, when they were 16 and 17, listened to adults' advice and ended up in serious debt over it. Seems like the wrong group to be blaming. Normally the victim isn't the one blamed. I guess it is cool to take advantage of groups that are not ready to make adult decisions.

This is what is wrong with a lot of things on the internet. People pass blanket judgement without having any idea what people are going through.


All I was saying was that as a society we might want to figure out how to deal with all of the misplaced jobs that are about to be impacted and the first thing to come back is "let them figure it out", "not my problem I have a job because I didn't go for some useless degree". You'd think we would be better than that by now.

[kevm14]

I put an assload of content in that post and you chose one of the few hyperbolic statements I made.

[bill25]

I guess I was drawn to your click bait.

[bill25]

I just get aggravated when people blame and ridicule groups with blanket statements rather than try to actually come up with a solution that helps everyone.

We seem to be coming up on a job situation, with what seems like enough time to curb implications. So why not focus on a solution?

[kevm14]

It's bad that I thought you would be. And it is worse that I left it in because of that.

Honestly what happened is I got more and more pissed off at this cycle continuing. I also got pissed off because I think this issue is politicized (because everything, sadly, is). I hope Mike Rowe is winning for the future generation.

[kevm14]

I just get aggravated when people blame and ridicule groups with blanket statements rather than try to actually come up with a solution that helps everyone.

We seem to be coming up on a job situation, with what seems like enough time to curb implications. So why not focus on a solution?

Ok fine, but I put over 600 words of my own thoughts (not including the quotes) into the solution. Quote bait or not, it is disingenuous to claim I am not focusing on the solution when the quote bait was, what, 2 lines?

People do have some strong thoughts on this subject, but I don't think anything Mike Rowe is doing or has said is wrong on this issue. The skyrocketing price of education combined with society's insistence that it is still something everyone should do (a push that Mike Rowe says we went overboard on, and I agree) is really the main issue. People with decent degrees (and by "decent" I mean in demand and well paying), but little or no debt, are generally doing pretty well.

I am very interested in pursuing the solution because, unlike my parents, there is no way we are going to be able to afford college for both kids, or even one kid. So if we can fix the balance, it should tip college education back down out of the stratosphere, and if one or both of my kids chooses a different path, that will be paved for them as well. Win win.

I'll assume that your focus on my quote bait means you agree with everything else.

[bill25]

I do agree with most of the other things including what Mike is doing. I saw how the trades were devalued when I was in high school and how people going into construction like their parents did were looked down on for not going to college. I think it is good that that it is being reversed. Those were/are good and highly needed jobs. Why make someone feel like scum for putting in a good days work.

I also agree that it is highly politicized which makes me pissed also. I am sick of the media targeting groups instead of reporting on the actual underlying problems. We need to come together and fix stuff instead of pointing fingers.

[Adam]

I do agree with most of the other things including what Mike is doing. I saw how the trades were devalued when I was in high school and how people going into construction like their parents did were looked down on for not going to college. I think it is good that that it is being reversed. Those were/are good and highly needed jobs. Why make someone feel like scum for putting in a good days work.

My high school was the "regional vocational center" with a culinary department, a wood shop, and auto shop, and some other stuff. The was somewhat of a stigma associated with either being one of the kids who came into that program or even taking classes there if you were a local. That would have been in the mid to late 90's, so the college marketing campaign was in full swing at that point.