re: Question for OT baws: What's with the OT's love of trade schools?

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Start with SUNO and then find two more.

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shite, we couldn't close that and they have a 4% graduation rate.

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And this ties back in with the great idea as well that we need to look at closing some universities in this state. Start with SUNO and then find two more.

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This

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I think the OT's love of trade schools is based one of two things.

1. This thought: "I have a degree, so you don't need one. Trade school would be good for you." People like to recommend things to other people that they would never do, because they subconsciously don't like competition - real or imagined.

2. Also, this thought: "I went to a trade school, and I'm a real worker. Everyone else is a pussy." No further explanation needed.

This argument is one of the most frequent and most pointless of all arguments on the OT. Here's the thing: there's no such thing as a useless degree.

It might be useless for YOU, but not to the person who has it.

I was a liberal arts major. I've had good, steady employment for nearly 30 years, with no lapses at all. I pay all of my bills. I've sent my kids to private schools. A welder's certification would be useless to me. I don't enjoy welding. I don't want to do it for a living. I don't want to do hard labor for a living.

The work I do, I can do until I'm 80 years old or more, and it will hardly feel like work. Why in the ever-loving frick would someone like me want to do trade school?

What's more important than anything is work ethic and willpower. Every single job market has competition, whether you're a plumber or a photographer. If you're good, you will get paid. To all the people out there with liberal arts degrees and lots of college debt, I say, don't go to trade school... start creating shite! Start businesses, elevate your side gig to full-time, innovate, bust arse. Don't be a chickenshit. This is not hard.

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Well said.

From someone who relies on skilled labor to make my business run, we're going to be fricked if more people don't go the trade school route. When I am looking for machine operators, most of the people who apply have either no education or work experience, or their work experience is a cook at a fast food joint. Even teaming up with the local tech school to try get kids from there, we can't find skilled labor fast enough. People teach their kids now that skilled labor is for stupid people and push Little Junior Sonofabitch into a 4-year school for an art degree and he's going to learn jack shite that will pay dividends in the job market. I know from experience... I majored in Political Science, but I was lucky and worked my family connections well. Our operators make anywhere from $12/hr to $30/hr. You can make a really good living as a skilled laborer.

I helped build the Audubon bridge baw. I can show you a thing or two about carpentry.

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It's definitely a regional thing. I'd doubt you'd find this same sentiment on a UF or Georgia board.

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True. I moved to LA a few years ago to get an associates in PTEC. Already had a BS, but that didn't mean shite to the plants in S Louisiana since I didn't have any plant operations experience.

The trade school degree is what allowed me to get on at a plant working in operations. I still don't have my truck nuts though.

Since there are so many chem plants and refineries (to a lesser extent) up and down the Mississippi River in S Louisiana, PTEC trade school degrees are a way for plants to weed out/select people that apply for operator positions.

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We are sending too many dumbasses to college who have no business being there and many of them are getting useless degrees while running up huge debts.

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This. I know a few HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors that have a hard time finding qualified employees.

Because while all my podnahs were making $8 an hour at the grocery store/bar/bumming off parents, I was making $32 at 20 years old. That's why I loved that shite.

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Nah, they just hate liberal arts majors.

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this is also pretty shortsighted

Liberal Arts majors run major corporations and governments. I have friends that were French/English/History majors that are surgeons. Not everyone wants to be an accountant or engineer.