3 ms·

It is hard to tease out what's going on because: - The public school system now acts as though its only goal is college prep - Above means that many of the ki

by aidenn0 10mo ago

It is hard to tease out what's going on because: - The public school system now acts as though its only goal is college prep - Above means that many of the kids most likely to excel at trades (i.e. the hard workers) go to college, because if you work hard at HS you will both get the credentials needed to get into college and be told it's the right path for you - The kids who slacked at High School often also slack at the trades and switch to a minimum-ish wage job where they won't get fired for being on their phones for 50% of their clocked hours.

mywittyname 10mo ago
> - Above means that many of the kids most likely to excel at trades (i.e. the hard workers) go to college, because if you work hard at HS you will both get the credentials needed to get into college and be told it's the right path for you Well, also that working in trades are long days that are hard on your body in a feast or famine industry. Vs being an engineer is easy on the body, barely 8 hours of work most days, and you get paid vacation, good health insurance, etc. My dad is a career electrician who discouraged me from getting into the trades by hiring me as a teenager. He'd often point out that the engineers on job sites were paid more than both of us put together and they got to chill out in the A/C most of the time, and they came to the site later and left earlier than we did. I do genuinely enjoy designing/building/fixing things. But the reality is, I'm much better off using my brain for work, and tinkering in the garage for fun. Anyone smart enough to be a great tradesperson is smart enough to do that calculus.
- aidenn0 10mo ago
  That's probably the real problem there; going into trades is pareto-suboptimal (for any combination of motivation and talent, you can get a better job)

3 ms·

It is hard to tease out what's going on because: - The public school system now acts as though its only goal is college prep - Above means that many of the ki

by aidenn0 10mo ago

mywittyname 10mo ago
> - Above means that many of the kids most likely to excel at trades (i.e. the hard workers) go to college, because if you work hard at HS you will both get the credentials needed to get into college and be told it's the right path for you Well, also that working in trades are long days that are hard on your body in a feast or famine industry. Vs being an engineer is easy on the body, barely 8 hours of work most days, and you get paid vacation, good health insurance, etc. My dad is a career electrician who discouraged me from getting into the trades by hiring me as a teenager. He'd often point out that the engineers on job sites were paid more than both of us put together and they got to chill out in the A/C most of the time, and they came to the site later and left earlier than we did. I do genuinely enjoy designing/building/fixing things. But the reality is, I'm much better off using my brain for work, and tinkering in the garage for fun. Anyone smart enough to be a great tradesperson is smart enough to do that calculus.
- aidenn0 10mo ago
  That's probably the real problem there; going into trades is pareto-suboptimal (for any combination of motivation and talent, you can get a better job)