Posted on 05/19/2013 6:23:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
At an event on Friday the Mayor of New York City put his foot in his mouth…again. Michael Bloomberg attempted to give mediocre high school students some advice: skip college and become plumbers. He said students who were not above average should learn how to be plumbers instead of reaching for a career that would involve going to a prestigious college and obtaining a degree.
The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class. Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College — being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal. You don’t spend ... four years spending $40,000, $50,000 in tuition without earning income.
Not only does Bloomberg think that skipping college is a good plan, but he also went on to give some advice about finding jobs that won’t be outsourced. “It’s hard to farm that out ... and it’s hard to automate that,” he said. He went on to say that a number of studies indicate that people who learn plumbing skills have less debt and make more money than those who get college degrees.
An advisor who helps students with college financial planning who was also at the event was not completely supportive of Bloomberg’s comments. He said, “College is a good investment,” and continued, “The only schools that cost $40,000 or $50,000 like the mayor said are elite schools”.
So maybe it is time for Michael Bloomberg to lower his elitist standards. College degrees are a good investment and should be sought after. Not everyone has the ability to afford these elite schools, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options for them to be able to attend college.
Oh and one more year as a Journeyman Before you can become a Master Plumber to Be able to hang a shingle out.
Yeah, pick a career where you won’t ever need to use a bloomberg terminal.
[grin] I'll have to take your word for the calculations. Like I said, I'm not the plumber.
I do know it took hubby about 8 years to get his Masters....and he STILL complains how the guys who are taking their Master's now only have to pass a 'dumbed down' version of what he had to deal with.
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(sigh) I'll take a guy who can WORK on something over one who can only draw a picture of it any day....but maybe I'm just prejudiced! LOL!
“It’s a simple fact that some people are smarter than others and that more physical jobs in general require far less education than others.”
So you’re implying education and smart are synonymous ?
This is BS. The college I went to doesn't have anywhere near the cache of Harvard and they want $58K per year. There are lots of 2nd tier schools trying to charge that much. They are not even remotely worth the money.
Anyone thinking about being a plumber (or even getting married to one), they need to get over the 'ewww!' factor pretty quick!
We hadn't been married for six months yet when I flatly FORBADE my husband to talk about work at the dinner table....
and I'm not normally even the insistent type!
LOL!
“Hubby’s a plumber Mr. Bloombutt, and I’ve seen him calculate fall and do volume/mass calculations without even using so much as piece of paper! Can YOU do calculus equations in YOUR head, Mr. Mayor?”
I’m with you. Try laying out drain line for an underslab application (here in Texas) that has to make bends, slope at a minimum of 1/4” per foot and then tie into an existing line connection. All with 4” PVC. Also trying cutting rafters with bird-mouth cuts. Done both and it’s MUCH, MUCH, easier for me mentally to spend to a day at my office job than doing the above work - I was literally drained after doing that. I have nothing but respect for plumbers and framers who have to do much harder jobs than me (like trying to run drain line between floors in a house and figuring out how to make rafter cuts on some really whacked out roof designs).
But even though I was on the fence about it before, I'm definitely not going to castrating lambs any time soon....:-)
I think Rowe started out as a fairly liberal guy but saw too much destruction at the hands of regulatory agencies to ignore.
A liberal smart and willing enough to escape the echo chamber is a rare bird indeed.
True. The below average should go to college and major in Sociology and Womyn’s Studies. Average and above should learn a trade before they graduate from high school.
“The world needs ditch diggers too.” Judge Smails
Why waste four years. You can drink beer and have hook-up sex without wasting $40,000 a year.
One of the worst idea’s American’s have ever had is that everyone should go to college.
LOL! Hubby just LOVES the add ons that get slapped on to a house....big /S
He calls them 'brother-in-law' additions, as in "Well, my brother-in-law said he knew a guy who could build it, so they came over one weekend......"
Or the commercial properties that have a maintenance man work on the plumbing all day, but HE couldn't fix it so he calls hubby....at midnight!
Hubby always yanks them around about it too, asking if their builder was on crack or telling property management companies he charges MORE to fix their 'fixes', but since he is so very good at what he does and never charges more than a reasonable price, they still love him anyway.
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A big Texas SALUTE! to all proud tradesmen.....everywhere!
Yea it used to be 5 years I had to go 5 years.
Which is the way it was done before the government started regulating us all to death.
Many of hubby's fellow plumbers started out as summertime ditch diggers when they were in school. They weren't formal 'employees', they were just day laborers.
As far as I know, you now have to be 18 just to be on the job site!
Thats just it Most Plumbers are not just plumbers.
We are!
Business owners.
Sales staff.
Quality control.
Human resource person.
Coustomer satisfaction person.
Educator of employees.
Hvac Tech.
Purchasing agent.
Delivery driver.
Heavy equiptment operator& mechanic.
Liason to the IRS.
Bookkeeper Accountant and payroll master.
Emergency Job site DR ready with the duct tape.
Just to name a few hats we wear every day>
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