In Switzerland, Austria and Germany, 50% to 70% of young people are trained through apprentice programs, according to "Training Tomorrow's Workforce."
Community colleges - learn a trade that won’t be outsourced.
Go to a local Community Collage and get into Electrical, Plumbing, Diesel Mechanics or ANY of the Trades and you will NEVER be out of work.
Maybe working your way through college is an option like I did. Can’t do it in four years but then again, patience is a virtue. Oh wait a minute! Working? Maybe that doesn’t work today. Sorry, I lost my head for a minute.
What they are not telling people is that financial aid for tuition is getting harder to get. I need money to finish out my degree but I can’t get it.
Going in to 'regular' debt...
Apprenticeship is the only option if you plan to become a Bater.
The idea of college has become so ingrained among middle class people that apprenticeships are a tough sell.
Most middle class people want their kids to have a job where they sit in an office and work on a computer. Many think it’s a step down to work in a “blue collar” type of trade.
Today, with so many graduating college with so much debt, and not being able to get a good paying job, maybe attitudes will change. Why go thousands into debt to go to college, when you will end up working at a job which you could have gotten without college?
Anecdotal evidence is that lots of college graduates work at Target and Barnes and Noble and other retailers.
Many may have majored in subjects which don’t translate into jobs. Majoring in women’s studies won’t qualify you for a job after college. Majoring in many fields does not translate into a professional career after college.
Maybe young people need better information about which college degrees DO qualify you for some entry level positions afterward. Or better information about whether college is appropriate for them, based on what they want to do in life.
The want ads around here are packed with companies looking for drivers with a CDL and heavy equipment operators. HVAC and electrician skills also seem in fairly high demand.
This was exactly how Calvin Coolidge earned his license to practice law and eventually run for elective office which would take him all the way to the presidency.
Grover Cleveland never set foot in a college classroom as a student and would make most people's list of ten best presidents. Ditto for Lincoln, who was largely self-taught.
Teach a person to read and reason, use their hands as well at their brains, foster an environment in which they have opportunity to hire out the skills thus developed and you will create the next generation of Franklins, Lincolns and Clevelands.
As a side benefit, you might also create the next generation of universities which actually foster those skills rather than retard them with the politically correct garbage which has taken over so many fields today.
Better to be able to do stuff than just know stuff that isn’t true.
Hair school is another option. Takes about a year. Usually after about another six months apprenticeship you can make good money.
Long story short, after four years now he is one of the best locksmiths in our area and in demand.
He just loves the job and looks forward to a challenge every day.
He has said he will never be a millionaire but he will always have a decent pay and job.
Proud of him.
Spend $100,000 on student loans or $30,000 on a small business loan and go for it.
Oh, so correct. I was trained from age 10 (that’s right..age ten) to be a watchmaker...the third generation of the family.
66 years later I still cannot keep pace with the demand. I get calls and e-mail from across the USA regarding watches that cannot be repaired locally.
I refuse to work more than 48 hours a week, so I turn down many watches.
In 2011, there are too many laws and bureaucrats that keep me from taking on an apprentice, such as I was.
I have merely a High School diploma AND a trade that has supported me for a lifetime.
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance.
A good janitor is much more valuable than a poor surgeon. Think about it.
One more gripe, Let's get away from all these "professional" titles and ranks. A dentist should be called a dentist, not doctor. A Chiropractor should be called a chiropractor, not doctor. It is silly to put "esquire" after an attorney's name. Once you have served your term you are no longer a senator, congressman, judge, ambassador etc., and should not be called by these titles. It is pretentious and downright silly.
I spent many years in the martial arts and my instructor in Okinawa decried the use of "belts". He believed everyone who trained was "bushi" or warrior, no other differentiation was necessary. Everyone knew who had trained harder and longer by the obvious results. No "black belts" should be necessary, although as director of one of the larger organizations, he went along with the modern use of black belts.
I guess the point is, life should be thought of more like a foxhole during a battle. You don't give a damn about the rank or title or economic status of the guy next to you, you are only concerned about how well he will do his job.
Until I retired, I owned a computer store and a computer networking business. College grads were absolutely worthless. I was actually embarrassed for them. The best employee I ever had was a young man who learned because he was interested and searched out every source he could to learn about computers. He was 13 when he first came into the store and started to just hang around the back room with us. Even at that age he put every college grad that came in to apply to shame.
When a thread comes up like this I usually post our experience, because it is possible to do “college” tuition free.
A few caveats...you must live in an area with colleges (we have a State U, several community colleges, and several private universities within about a 40 mile commute.) The kid must be willing to live at home so you don’t have to spend money on room and board (so give up “the college experience” whatever that is.) We didn’t figure out how to avoid the costs of books and gas, but those were the only costs. Here’s how our son did it.
Start Dual Credit in 10th grade at the community college. They have to test into College Alg and Comp I, so do what you have to do before 10th grade to prepare them to meet those qualifications. Tuition free, and by 12th grade you have an AA and a High school diploma.
We used a merit based program for the bachelor’s degree, so the kid has to study hard and do well on SAT’s and maintain a good grade point plus community service in order to qualify. It pays tuition at a State University for the Bachelor’s. So BA is tuition free (cost of gas was more for this degree because the commute was 35 miles each way.)
Grad school...score well on the GMAT and you can be offered a job as a TA, which means you give 20 hours a week to a help a prof, and the school (this time it was a private university) covers your tuition for Grad School, plus a small stipend. Another longer commute, about 20 miles one way.
Another big advantage, you get out early, if you can stay motivated and work hard. AA age 17/18, Bachelor’s age 19/20, and grad degree age 21/22.
The hardest part was the final semester of grad school because it involved 3 days a week as an intern at a company (good thing was of a job upon graduation), 2 days a week as a TA, 3 nights a week (3 hour classes) of grad classes, not to mention weekends being filled with homework, group projects, test studying, and social life that could be fit in.
We picked up car costs, gas, and the cost of books (during grad school his stipend covered the books.) We just kept telling him he’d be glad if he perservered, I don’t think he always believed us, but now, looking back from a couple years down the road, degrees in hand, married to a wonderful girl and a great job w/out a lot of money struggles because of college debt, he’s a happy guy.
the Marcellus Shale Gas drillers in my area are absolutely desperate for welders, mechanics, heavy machine operators, drilling techs, etc. Provided the EPA doesn’t shut it all down.