Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

College enrollment tanks as many teens opt for trade school or an early career: 'Why do I want to put in all the money to get a piece of paper?'
The Blaze ^ | March 12, 2023 | By Cortney Weil

Posted on 03/13/2023 12:01:03 PM PDT by NohSpinZone

The effects of the COVID-related government shutdowns three years ago continue to reverberate. A new report from the Associated Press indicates that many American teens have become disillusioned with college and have opted to skip it in favor of going to trade school or working a job that does not require an undergraduate degree.

Between 2019 and 2022, college enrollment in the U.S. fell 8%, and the decline in college enrollment since 2018 has been the steepest on record, the AP claimed. Though enrollment increased slightly from 2021 to 2022 after most schools returned to in-person classes, the numbers have begun to alarm some lawmakers, college administrators, and researchers. by TaboolaPromoted Links You May Like Average Retirement Savings By Age: Are You Normal? SmartAsset WATCH: Dave Rubin is left SPEECHLESS after Tucker Carlson admits THIS Gronk's Favorite "Dressy" Shoes Feel Like Walking On Clouds Wolf & Shepherd Greg Gutfeld destroys Bill Maher with powerful response for hoping David Koch's death 'was painful' Chrome Users? Don’t Forget To Do This Before Monday guard.io

"It’s quite a dangerous proposition for the strength of our national economy," said Zack Mabel, a researcher at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: college; enrollment; school; trade
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last
Strength of our national economy? What does a useless degree in a woke major like gender studies do for our national economy except further degrade it? You mean "university economy", right?
1 posted on 03/13/2023 12:01:03 PM PDT by NohSpinZone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Group of Buffoons who run colleges would fit right in with a Gulliver’s Travels fairytale.


2 posted on 03/13/2023 12:03:04 PM PDT by Bayard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone
Correct, the world needs plumbers and electricians more than they need diversity studies majors.

Good for the kids that want to get out into the world and earn some cash while learning skills that will set them up in a well paying career for life.

3 posted on 03/13/2023 12:06:12 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (4,942,927 Truth | 87,539,833 Twitter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Wait ‘till the little snowflakes find out trade school means you don’t sit in front a computer screen every day and most trades require physical effort.....they may change their minds.

Having said that I’m proud I worked in a trade related field......it allowed me to retire at 59 1/2.

Am I rich? No but I am comfortable.....and for me that damn good enough.


4 posted on 03/13/2023 12:08:48 PM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Good news.


5 posted on 03/13/2023 12:13:03 PM PDT by beaversmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Short of being able to employ all those useless degrees teaching more to have useless degrees, (like the explosion of Sociology and Psych degrees in the 70s), they have to create a ‘need’ for their services.

Not likely with the fringe elements of wokeism, and the youngsters have awakened to the concept of earning money while apprenticing a trade, or just going to work.

The value of a Bachelor’s degree has been watered down pretty badly since I got mine in the 70s, no matter the field, because so much other stuff gets shoved in to graduate, even in STEM fields.


6 posted on 03/13/2023 12:14:13 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (Stand Fast! God knows what He is doing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

RE: the world needs plumbers and electricians more than they need diversity studies majors.
...
Great scene in the Money Pit had Tom Hanks trying to convince the man he later learned was the “executive plumber” to accept his project.

Plumber asks him about his background as he had never heard of him.

“I haven’t heard of you, either.” He has a law degree and had been on the law review.

Hanks says “Well I don’t feel like telling you how much I make. How much do you make?” Then...(shocked) “That much, huh?”


7 posted on 03/13/2023 12:19:33 PM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

My father and uncles insisted I learned a trade as well as getting a STEM degree.
I can build a world crossing boat from scratch, as well as design the software to allow idiots to create web sites.


8 posted on 03/13/2023 12:20:01 PM PDT by rellic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Good trend, most college degrees are way overpriced.


9 posted on 03/13/2023 12:20:19 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Smart kids!


10 posted on 03/13/2023 12:21:11 PM PDT by iontheball
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

For every 5 who retire i.e. the people who actually keep the country running in a practical way (mechanics, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators & on & on) they are being replaced by ONE person.

For example:

If the goal is to make a living without a boatload of debt, I have talked to several of the HVAC techs who service our units. No experience: employers will put them through training at no $$ cost to trainee. Experienced: $80K+ a year & that was before COVID. No trouble finding a job - even transferring to another state is no problem.


11 posted on 03/13/2023 12:21:35 PM PDT by Qiviut (I'm not out of control, I'm just not in their control. $hot $hills: Sod Off)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Mr. Mabel, if pieces of paper made one more intelligent in
the US economic structure, mail clerks would be sitting on top
of the world. Your reasoning is ridiculous.

Mr. McGuire suggesting to Dustin the future is plastic would be much easier to swallow, as well as, much less expensive (perhaps).


12 posted on 03/13/2023 12:23:43 PM PDT by V K Lee (Our CONSTITUTION. Written with DIVINE assistance by very wise men. A document Unlike any other.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

From 2018:
Trump and Ratzenberger on Trade Schools:
https://youtu.be/QRaKt—jM2s


13 posted on 03/13/2023 12:26:51 PM PDT by beaversmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

40 years ago, that kind of talk would have been unthinkable by most people.
To say a degree wasn’t really necessary. You would have been scolded by your elders, well, by most of them.

Nowadays, this is the correct way to think for most people, unless you really, really want that major course of study. Different than saying you are dimply eager to move out of the family home.


14 posted on 03/13/2023 12:27:35 PM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

From 2011:

The jobs tide threatens an American industrial tsunami (John Ratzenberger)

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2671304/posts


15 posted on 03/13/2023 12:30:20 PM PDT by beaversmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

I think more parents are talking their kids out of desiring to go- explaining that it’s mostly nothing but moronic liberal indoctrination these days


16 posted on 03/13/2023 12:30:27 PM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

[[Wait ‘till the little snowflakes find out trade school means you don’t sit in front a computer screen every day and most trades require physical effort.....they may change their minds.]]

Lol- aint that the truth! There have been articles on FR about kids complaining that manual work is punishment-


17 posted on 03/13/2023 12:33:45 PM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone
You mean "university economy", right?

Of course. Someone has to support all those professors and administrators, and if it takes being a quarter mil in debt for the first half of their working life to do that, well, it's their patriotic duty. All the university studies say so.

The lockdowns didn't do anything more than accelerate an already ongoing process - brick-and-mortar universities are going the way of brick-and-mortar stores. Both will require fewer employees.

18 posted on 03/13/2023 12:36:38 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Money is a huge issue. But even for the more affordable colleges, who wants to spend that much to go to an insane asylum? That is what colleges have turned into.


19 posted on 03/13/2023 12:37:52 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NohSpinZone

Remove all of the government money (including government loans) from schools and the free market will tell us the true value of degrees from college and/or trade school.


20 posted on 03/13/2023 12:38:55 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson