College is just not for everyone. There, I've said it.
The rising cost of higher education has far surpassed inflation, and with the economy being what it is, a degree is no longer a guarantee that you'll be employed once you graduate (with staggering student loans.) Unthinkable 30 years ago, now lots of college grads are moving home with Mom and Dad.
Yet there are industries begging for workers. Health care, for one. Someone has to monitor the machinery in the emergency room, as well as operate Xray and Ultrasound machines. Someone has to be the "first responder" in the ambulance. Wind energy is another up-and-coming field that is poised for growth. Look in the newspaper and see what jobs appear again and again: trades, such as welding & pipefitting. These jobs do not require a college degree. They require technical and/or on the job training.
I read today that the Chicago schools are bumping up their Career-Tech Education. Thank God. Someone has to build the roads. Someone must cook in restaurants, fix roofs, and lay drainage pipes. In fact, if this is what you are called to do, you will be absolutely miserable paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege of sitting in a Literature class in some college or university.
It's ok to learn a trade. It's ok to work with your hands. In fact 72% of people in the US do NOT graduate from college. A College degree doesn't guarantee you a comfortable living. It doesn't even guarantee you a job. It opens doors. Doors to doing the kind of professional work that you are called to do. If you're called to build ships, go where you will learn about shipbuilding: probably not Literature class.
How will you learn about what you are called to do today?
Indeed, and amen! Here's something from a post I wrote that fits with what you're saying: A bank executive told me last summer that we should be glad we’re losing mill jobs. “Let other countries do that work while we focus on innovation.” I frowned then, and I’m scowling now. We can’t all sit around and create intellectual property. And while it may rankle our entrepreneurial spirits, some individuals are actually very content punching a clock and (gasp) doing what some would deem menial labor. Regardless, we should never aspire to “evolve” into a country (or world) of “thinkers” who have lost the talent, knowledge, and hands-on ability to make vehicles, furniture, and products for a host of other industries that are, because of our insatiable hunger for the ever-cheaper item, dying.
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