South Carolina BS thread under new MANAGEMENT and lives in SC

Ok with all this talk of college degree vs trade school, let me put on my tinfoil hat .

I am not knocking anyone who has put their hard earned time and/or money into getting a college education. With that said, I believe this big swelling movement toward getting a college degree started sometime after the end of the Korean war in the late 50's pre-Vietnam war era. Blue collar workers saw what white collar workers are making compared to them and they are putting 2 and 2 together that those people have college degrees while they don't. Hell, it can even happen in the office environment where upper management all the way up to the CEO level have college degrees.

So now they start to associate that this college degree results in making more money, so they push their children to get a degree all the while saying that college degrees will make you more money. Their children further propagate this to their own kids, so now generations upon generations are living this college = more money. I believe they glossed over the most important aspect of this daisy chain though, which is this drive and motivation to further yourself educationally. I guess it could be equated to having a passion to further yourself. These people back in the beginning of this chain and sporadically throughout this chain have striven to further themselves because they had that passion to learn more about their dreams. They pushed themselves educationally to get their BA's or MBA's and this same drive they took with them to the office environment. This drive helped them climb the corporate ladder because of that passion. This brings us to the laymen, we look at these people that are climbing the corporate ladder and have mistakenly associated their college degree as the result of their earnings. I think Mike Rowe touched on this topic during one of his speaking engagements and it sorta makes sense.

My mother raised me on an office salary with no college and she pushed me to get a college education. She had money set aside in a trust to cover a year or two of college and I used it to go to community college. It didn't result in me getting a degree but it did knock out a huge chunk of my associates degree which I have since completed. I am a firm believer that you can do just as well financially with trade and a passion. That's my .02$ and this is me stepping down off my soapbox.

-J

 

You're pretty spot on. I can give you several examples within my own family that show both sides of that. The ones that drove hard to get more and the ones that failed miserably and just got the degree because that's what you're supposed to do. I'll go one further and say that we should slow the amount of book teaching in HS and push more skilled trades back into them too and some critical thinking and life skills. Like balancing a checkbook, finances, home care and basic repair, investing (minor), auto maintenance, etc. Because let's be real not everyone is going to be a Dr. Carson. I mean we still need the shitter pumper and landscaper as well as that guy who created some software that made an app that was fun to play or your doctor. Let's also be real you can make a good and comfortable living off a blue collar job and do well.

 

With COVID I can’t go in all the doc appointments with my wife but this is the 2nd time I got to go in with her for our 20 week ultrasound! So I thought I would share pics with my tw family of my little girl emery and her tiny booty

 

I remember taking an Economy class early in HS back in the late 90's early 00's. We were given our own checkbook to balance as part of the curriculum. My HS also offered woodshop, metals tech, a science & futures tech course, and auto shop along with ceramics, art (yeah, these two are subjective) and building fundamentals. Apparently, the schools aren't offering those types of blue collar courses anymore. Econ and social sciences have seemed to be pushed to the backburner and were the first to get cut. Education seems to have drifted away from 'teaching to learn' and cherishing the foundations of education to this new system of just running down checklists to prep for standardized testing. One of our family friends is a reading teacher that teaches middle school reading and she talks about this all the time from the teaching perspective. I've really been considering home schooling my kids. My son recently turned 4 and my daughter recently turned 1 and the more and more I read about this, the more I want to home school. I wish it was as easy to home school as it is to send them through the pipeline. Why can't I be financially compensated to educate my children at home? Let me preface this which I have only recently started looking into a few programs so I am no expert on this so take it with a grain of salt. I just worry about my children's future. I want them to value education while still having that important social development they would get from an environment surrounded by other students. In my time in the Air Force, you can absolutely tell the difference between a kid that was home schooled vs a kid that went through public education. I don't want my children to be socially awkward.

To get of that pedestal, I do have a haphazardly built woodshop in the garage which can get cleared away to put a vehicle in there to work on. It brings me great pleasure when my son comes out in the garage and "helps out". I wouldn't trade it for the world and I'll do anything and everything as his father to stoke that fire. With our daughter being so young, I cant bring out the big-boy legos but I cannot wait to open his mind to that potential. Right now he seems to be infatuated with the damn television so when dad gets home from this deployment, I'm gonna nip that in the bud.

-J

 

Congrats! Will this be your first?

-J

 

I finished by BSBA when I was 27/28yo...let me tell you, college kids these days are a fucking joke. These dumbasses had no clue about the real world, and I would say that 80% of them had never worked a job in their entire life...most colleges are nothing more than a paper mill...get em in and get em out...those 2 years were about the easiest classes I had ever taken. the "group projects" and "weekly discussions" were a total joke.

 

I had a finance class when getting my BSBA...literally the entire class was Dave Ramsey videos...no quizzes or tests...just had to make sure you watched all the videos.

 

I would do HVAC or Electrical if I had to do it over again...there is a fuck ton of money in that shit.

 

Yea she will be. Due March 8th

 

I would probably go commercial electrical. Because I don't like crawling under houses.
Or underwater welding. BIG money in that! I didn't get certified to dive until later in life. But I always thought that would be a good job. The super deep underwater welding is hard on your body though. They usually only work like 6 months a year I think.

 

We are close in age and it seems that our age group was the last to see those in HS on a normal basis. You are absolutely correct in a lot of things there. Another problem is your friend is probably older too and this new breed of teachers is taught to teach this new direction. There are still a few hold outs but I'm not entirely impressed as the "budget" keeps getting hacked by that. One thing that is impressive here with a few school districts is what they call a College prep or something like that. Where the kids get bussed to the local community college to do either the 1st 2 yrs of college or do a trade program but those classes still count towards HS too and it's not any extra. So a kid with a good parent system or counselor that can guide them with this will really be ahead of the game by comparison. There are many things that are happening that I'm not happy with having a school aged child.

Homeschooling I am all for!!!! Do it. If my circumstances were different I totally would. I had a scout troop in which about 30% of the kids were homeschooled. No awkwardness like back in the day or social issues. In fact I'd say that the Homeschooled kids were much more apt at doing a lot of the tasks as well as critically thinking and then self motivation and learning. Those that went to normal school predominantly looked to the adults for answers and guidance. I have cousins that homeschool there are tons of groups and other resources today that there wasn't 20 yrs ago. I've been looking at Montessori type private schools lately sadly demand for opened private schools has created huge wait lists more so than previously.

 

Well that's good to a certain extent but he is only teaching a little nothing really beyond that. There is a reason he says go talk to someone about XYZ seems like they did you a disservice by only showing you that.

 

I saw that on my online courses. 1 reply of at least 250 words to the weekly topic and you had to reply to at least 2 posts from others with at least 100 words. It was sad. I fear that the college system is set up now to be a currency generator for the universities by raising the tuition costs all while being sharked by the private student loan companies with high interest rates. Ugh. I tried my hand at a 'technical university' (videogame designer, yeah fight me!) in my younger years. Wracked up 30k in student loan debt for a little over 1 and a half years behind the desk - dropped out in debt. Then I spent the next 15 years it seems paying it off. My God I was dumb back then. Now, though, I don't think I could force myself to sit in a classroom with a bunch of 20 somethings that don't want to be there - Id gouge my eyes out. I have to figure out what I want to do with my GI Bill when I get out, maybe more trade school stuff to add to my toolbox. I dunno.

-J

 

Its ok to cry when she's born. Just don't let your wife see, she'll never let you live it down. Haha. But seriously, it's the best time of your life. It wont be easy and realize that it will get better. Make sure mom's taken care of and looked after and take as much shit that you can stuff into your bag from the hospital's baby cart. Blankets, wipes, diapers, suction thingies, burp cloths, swaddlers, ect .. take all that shit.

-J

 

Any welding is hard on your body to a point. Here’s me reactor diving. Not in water but still under supplied air

 

Yeah, I think I will do that. I have a little over 6 more years till I can retire then I'll be pushing hard for the home school thing. Right now it wont work due to work obligations but it gives me more time to research options and it will allow the kiddies to spend most of their formative years in the public environment. We had some of those college prep courses for taking like English or Math and still get credit for high school as a dual credit course. We also had internship programs where you got credit for working outside the classroom environment. I cant remember what class that was satisfying, maybe something to do with econ but I cant remember. Ill definitely look into volunteering for the Boy Scouts or coaching for the YMCA or something. I just need to do something for the kids to get active.

-J

 

I make sure wife is taken care of. Food and back rubs all the time. Felt little one kick for the first time Sunday and may have teared up some haha and they charge you for all the stuff anyways so why not take it home haha

 

I may or may not have raided the restock cart in the hallway too. I'm sure everyone and their mother is going to be wanting to give you advise or 'this is how I did it'. She's your child, you raise her how you want. Take everything with a grain of salt and realize that we are a resource if you need stuff. We bought all second hand stuff for our first child, but your mileage may vary. What the wife says, goes.

-J

 

Just as an FYI with some of the changes and PC of boyscouts I choose to not be involved anymore.

 

Thing I need help from y’all is what brand of car seat will fit for my Tacoma? Now there isn’t a lot of room from the back or driver seat to leg spot in back seat. Any suggestions? Also my dad gave me great advice. Said if someone tries to tell me how to raise her just say I’ll take your advice into consideration and move on