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Why don't we ask plumbers what they think of a college education? And how it feels to go through life without one. Do wealthy plumbers want their kids to skip

• barrkel 14y ago
  For people who are good with their hands, don't enjoy academia and don't navigate institutions and bureaucracies well (whether from temperament or lack of access to that kind of knowledge in the family etc.), the trades are a kind of passport. They let you earn a healthy income, find decent work almost anywhere in the world (provided you can get a visa etc.), and ultimately set up an independent business and earn as much as you're willing to work for. To be frank, I think programming may be better suited to a trade-oriented approach for many people, with only a relatively small academic oriented aspect for things like discrete mathematics.
  • commonersense 14y ago
    I am inclined to agree. In my experience, at any given non-technical university, the number of students studying discrete maths, or even CS, is a relatively small group. This is relative to other areas of study. Perhaps the issue is that Thiel's VC recruitment scheme, which is aimed at students who might study CS, delivered under the guise of an argument that "degrees are overpriced", is being broadcast to a much larger pool of students than just the ones you describe. Perhaps there might be some students who have no intention of studying CS or discrete maths who are now thinking of dropping out or not attending university, based on this idea of overpriced education. What do you think?