Why even bother with college these days?

Oakley, Fox Head, Red Bull... (occassionally i'll cave and look at the Big S even though they sometimes have a questionable rep/business practices).

 

I was fortunate enough to get to do that to a mechanical engineer from Purdue. He was shocked that a company would let someone like him go considering he was brilliant and from such a prominent university. It is fine to think that you are smarter than your coworkers if you can back it up with something more than just a piece of paper...

 

Client of mine used his geography degree to get in with the DoD. Said They were looking for someone who could read maps. He's since left temporarily, but said it turned into him having a team, a multi million dollar budget, helicopters, safe houses in Somalia and "target removal".

Not sure what swinging dick that wouldn't appeal to.

 

If you're the "go to" service tech what you describe is hardly ever the case. You fix the shit when others can't and everybody is happy.

 

Haha, I was never the best magician, but I woked with some great people and they faced the same stuff, and often on the same jobs. You cant fix what isn't in the scope, and so the scope has to change, and then you have to get the parts, and the job goes longer, and then nobody is happy least of all me 'cuz it's another night in a $40 motel. But i'm sure you are right, I should have fixed it anyhow. Are you a "project manager"? Lol

Like I said..,

Eta
At my last job it got to the point that I wouldn't even look at the scope on some pm's jobs, because it was completely arbitrary and was certain to not have anything in common with the situation at the site. Hard to make lemonade out of that.

 

Union construction trades in Midwest pay very well . A journeyman tradesman earns about $ 43. @ hour in the check plus benefits . The total package which includes health and welfare , annuity , etc... Comes about to around $ 63.00@ hour . Plus you earn a pension . Those are priceless , IMHO .
In my trade , with 25 years service will earn a single person around $ 2500-2600 @ month after taxes . That is a livable wage, plus an annuity !

 

$20 benefit package on top of that scale????? Dayum!! Although not as bad as Detroit,thats really high. Our package is only about $6-7 bucks per hour on top of our wages. Those guys in the midwest are going to really regret Union vote for Obama when the "Cadillac Tax" kicks in.

 

Guess we read different articles because nowhere is he slagging college education the way you were describing, nor did it sound something Mike Rowe would say.

Hes pointing out extreme of the strawman argument of College or Jail that the idiot was twating.

And i aint staying af no $40 hotel. Holiday Inn or bust bitches! Hence why im so smat.

 

I retired at 58 and four months . It will be 2 years in April . I don't care what happens . Not all trades have the same Bennie package or pension , I lucked out with a good one

 

I thought the overhaul is going to affect even retirees within the next year?Ours wasn't too bad......then the clown came around. Went from an average $115-120 annual multiplier to $15!! I will give up being sober for 1 night if he dies a sudden horrible death.

 

Our multiplier was $ 127 . But that was Frozen for past service , not sure what the future / current multiplier is ! And it varies a very lot depending not only on what trade , but also what Local you belong to !

 

Everyone in our region gets the same benefits and pension regardless of trade or local. Whether its Millwrights,Cabinetmakers,Piledrivers,Carpenters,and Lather/Drywall slingers........we are all in the same Union and plan in the D.C. area. Philly has a good multiplier at around $135,and makes it damned tempting to make the move up there since we are now a merged affiliate of them.Philly runs a tight ship,and has around 90% market share,where we have 5% at best,in D.C. When the economy tanked a few years ago,our college educated investors did nothing whilst we nose-dived into red zone and have since stayed,whilst Philly who is run by actual people of the trade,stayed in Black and never dropped below around $100-110 multiplier for a year before going right back up. Yeah,college educated only means but so much around here

 

If you think going to college won't improve your life, you're probably right.

 

Here, consider this: if people had to pay for college with their own money, how many do you think could actually afford to attend? And for the most part, prior to 1958 (the National Defense Education Act), that is how it worked…the Federal Family Education Loan program didn't come about until 1965…sure, po' folks went to colleges prior to 1958, but look at the numbers: fewer than two out of ten high school graduates went to college prior to the 1950's.
Colleges and universities expanded from the massive amount of money thrown at them thanks to the federal guaranteed student loan programs, and then continued to get bigger thanks to contributions and involvement in the corporate world. So, is the 'education' worth it, is that what some of you are asking? Obviously, it depends on personal choice.

 

A high school graduate from 1950s would run circles around a College graduate from today in Math, english, economics, hell anything but new tech that wasnt available to them at the time.

We've diluted the learning and skills/knowledge earned.

 

Are you sure about that? What makes you so confident? Stanford, University of Virginia, and Yale might have some resistance to your conclusion, to name a few. Are you suggesting that people who attend colleges and universities today are less intelligent or capable than high school kids from the 1950's?

 

Less capable? No. Less prepared? Another topic altogether.

 

I believe it depends on where you look and what, exactly, you're looking for to determine 'prepared.'
And the threshhold question would be: prepared to do what?