I guess being a poor kid who went to college in the 90s and chose his major before he had the internet had its perks.
I never considered studying the things that actually interested me because I knew they were going to end up in dead end careers, and I didn't want to be broke my entire life. It's the same reason I didn't go to the top schools that accepted me. Hell, I didn't even go to the top schools that offered me scholarships because I was afraid of the cost. It's also why I ignore the pleas of people who came from substantially better backgrounds during the internet era and claim that they couldn't have known better and deserve debt forgiveness.
They SHOULD have known better. They had every resource to know better.
I think you (and sibling mfer) are commenting on "any degree" instead of my point that "maybe people don't go into the trades because they spend ~18 emotionally formative years of their lives being told to go to college" vs the idea "maybe people don't go into the trades due to wages offered" (which, mind you, I don't mean to discount).
The wages are going to have to necessarily increase, though. Look at how home prices are increasing. Homeowner insurance rates increase respectively, and deductibles increase as well. Intelligent tradesmen are going to keep track of this and price their services accordingly, especially when it comes to maintenance contracts.
I also think there's a stigma associated with the trades which doesn't necessarily permeate mixed middle class neighborhoods. I grew up in a situation where the majority of adults in my hometown did not have college degrees. Thus, college degrees became things to aspire to instead of things we MUST have. Plenty of my classmates then, and plenty of kids graduating now, are not going to college. For some, they've been told by their folks that they can stay at home and save up their money for the 4 years after getting out of trade school to put a down payment towards a house. Granted, the culture I'm from doesn't negatively view 20-something men hanging out on a porch with beers after dark. Cheaper than the bars, after all.
I never considered studying the things that actually interested me because I knew they were going to end up in dead end careers, and I didn't want to be broke my entire life. It's the same reason I didn't go to the top schools that accepted me. Hell, I didn't even go to the top schools that offered me scholarships because I was afraid of the cost. It's also why I ignore the pleas of people who came from substantially better backgrounds during the internet era and claim that they couldn't have known better and deserve debt forgiveness.
They SHOULD have known better. They had every resource to know better.