"Effin' A!"
Posted on 04/25/2025 6:00:00 PM PDT by CFW
This was a really interesting couple of pieces I came across this morning, especially after writing that piece on all the student loan defaults.
It seems there might be a trend back towards the trades beginning to appear among the Gen Z crowd.
Some of the reasons seem obvious to me - the bloated cost of a college education, for one, and the ubiquitous nature of the sheepskin being required for even entry-level jobs now.
If everyone needs a college degree, doesn't that necessarily dilute the value of earning one?
...That’s in part because of the cost of getting a bachelor’s degree, they tell CNBC Make It. The annual cost of attending a four-year, in-state public college increased by about 30% between 2011 and 2023, according to Make It calculations based on data from the Education Data Initiative, and went up by 42% at private, nonprofit four-year colleges.
“There are about 2 million fewer students in a traditional four-year university now than in 2011,” says Nich Tremper, senior economist at payroll and benefits platform Gusto.
[snip]
...Morgan Bradbury, 21, first tried welding in high school. She loved it.
[snip]
She got a job at military and information security company BAE Systems before even completing her course with a starting salary of about $57,000 per year. She’s now a second-class welder on U.S. Navy ships in Norfolk, Virginia.
[snip]
...The outlook, Moore and other experts say, is that there will likely be many more such scenes in the years ahead. That's because the current class of high school seniors scheduled to graduate this spring will be the last before an expected long decline begins in the number of 18-year-olds — the traditional age of students when they enter college.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Isn’t a lot of gen Z a product of immigration anyway? Is it so shocking that many of them are blue collar destined?
Of course it has to talk about the woman welder.
Sounds like an 8os rom com
“Of course it has to talk about the woman welder.”
And people wonder why it takes 10+ years to build a carrier...
Better than working 10 years in the sewer.
Smart move. The press is now calling them the “Toolbelt Generation.”
I've worked with women who were welders for 3 years, inspecting their welds with NDT.
No better or worse than the guys.
The daughter of one of my friends is a retired Marine, taught welding and became the head of the department of our local voc-tech.
Her father had a blacksmith shop doing large architectural projects so she grew up welding and working with metal.
Since I am the only person here that has been both a blue and white collar worker, the blue collar thing has some draw backs. I’ll explain if you want.
There is a satisfaction in putting something together and looking at it and saying to yourself, "I made that".
Does not matter what it is, a car, a book, a meal, a clean sink where there was once a pile of dishes. Where there was nothing, now there is something. Where there was Chaos, there is now Order.
You can not beat the dopamine hit from that. Unless it is to have someone who's opinion you value look at your result and say, "well done".
That’s not true.
I love seeing a man under the hood of a car, working. Or working on anything. I find that attractive. So, there’s prestige with the right ladies.
A man’s gotta be good with his hands.
About 15 minutes ago, I was just discussing the fine art of maintaining an engine’s twin turbo chargers.
“”””Since I am the only person here that has been both a blue and white collar worker””””
Don’t know why you would think that.
Welding is very well self regulated. If you have the classes and certificate(s), you are good to go, man or woman.
I don’t have those.
A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain’t!
The guy who owned the plumbing company we used made more money annually than the non-STEM PhDs in our family.
And that galled them no end.
Freepers disdain evolution but the evidence is there
Rosie the shipyard rivetter has evolved into Rosie the certified shipyard welder.
(and, a welder with a college degree is even more valuable)
You're not the only one here.
Are there more women or men welders?
"Effin' A!"
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