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>Your statistic is even more misleading because in the non-graduates category you are lumping in people that couldn't make it to college even if they wanted. A

>Your statistic is even more misleading because in the non-graduates category you are lumping in people that couldn't make it to college even if they wanted. As someone who owns a business doing something I'm way overqualified for, this is something that's way too often overlooked. A slightly-above-average Electrical Engineer (earning, say $150k pa) might be as competent as someone in the top 5-10% of Electricians (who can own their own businesses and earn $250k+). Yet when we're looking for a career for our kids, we tend to compare averages rather than their personal outcomes.

johnnyanmac 3y ago
>we tend to compare averages rather than their personal outcomes. because it can be hard to be honest about our loved ones. Everyone wants to say Bobby is a genius and can grow up to be president. But having a 2.3 GPA and no drive in life means getting through the first year of community college will be a challenge, at least a challenge for Bobby. There are core questions to answer before we keep pushing Bobbby down such a path but his support network may never ask those questions to begin with. Meanwhile, Andy with a 4.0 GPA, nationally acclaimed talent, and mutliple top college acceptances has the world as his oyster. He could probably go to art school and have the drive to end up in a highly successful career, even if that type of schooling tends to end up as one of the worst ROI. OFC, Andy's support network may be pushing him to be a doctor or Lawyer so there's still issues there.
red-iron-pine 3y ago
I've known electricians working in data centers that made more than I did -- as the data center manager. I was also in charge of service delivery and some ISP/networking functions. But. Dude was 1) union, 2) worked 6 days a week to make that cash, and 3) they were long, hard days. This was also in the big data center areas outside of DC (NoVA) and probably wouldn't be a thing in rural Indiana, or Outer Nowhere, NSW. FWIW I also know a plumber who owns their own business and had several underlings and they were making well north of ~300k takehome doing mostly construction/new build plumbing work. But again, long, hard days.

johnnyanmac 3y ago

>we tend to compare averages rather than their personal outcomes. because it can be hard to be honest about our loved ones. Everyone wants to say Bobby is a genius and can grow up to be president. But having a 2.3 GPA and no drive in life means getting through the first year of community college will be a challenge, at least a challenge for Bobby. There are core questions to answer before we keep pushing Bobbby down such a path but his support network may never ask those questions to begin with. Meanwhile, Andy with a 4.0 GPA, nationally acclaimed talent, and mutliple top college acceptances has the world as his oyster. He could probably go to art school and have the drive to end up in a highly successful career, even if that type of schooling tends to end up as one of the worst ROI. OFC, Andy's support network may be pushing him to be a doctor or Lawyer so there's still issues there.

red-iron-pine 3y ago

I've known electricians working in data centers that made more than I did -- as the data center manager. I was also in charge of service delivery and some ISP/networking functions. But. Dude was 1) union, 2) worked 6 days a week to make that cash, and 3) they were long, hard days. This was also in the big data center areas outside of DC (NoVA) and probably wouldn't be a thing in rural Indiana, or Outer Nowhere, NSW. FWIW I also know a plumber who owns their own business and had several underlings and they were making well north of ~300k takehome doing mostly construction/new build plumbing work. But again, long, hard days.