March 17, 2010
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Is Trade School for People that Can’t Handle College?
I was just reading an article about how some people are using government loans to go to trade schools only to find themselves in debt with no real job prospects. Here is the link: Link
I remember when I was in high school that trade schools were considered to be schools that people attended that would not make it into college.
Are trade schools for people that wouldn’t make it in college?
Comments (107)
i dunno they build boats and stuff on tv
That’s definitely one group who should consider something like trade school, certainly not the only group. Not everyone is cut out for college or belongs there or needs it to achieve their goals.
maybe people who can’t afford college.
Heck no. That’s a stupid assumption, in my opinion. Puts college on a bit of a pedestal too, which I don’t like.
~V
Nah. Because people have interests and talents that lie outside traditional academia, doesn’t mean they wouldn’t make it in college. I think most people are smart enough to make it through college, just not always driven or mature enough.
No.
Isn’t college for people who don’t have or want a useful trade?
haha. I went to trade school.
I easily could have made it into college, but I wanted to do hair.
I don’t need to go to college for that, so why waste time and money?
Definitely not.
No. I wish I would’ve gone to trade school instead of college, SCUBA ftw!
Definitely not. I think that’s quite a judgmental thing to say.
College is a ripoff.
Period.
Not necessarily. If there’s a something you want to get into, generally, you go to school for it. Sometimes there’s a specific trade school for it, and sometimes you take college courses to get into it.
No way. I wish I had gone to trade school instead of going to college. Grad school is expensive, and right now I’m in a major (economics) that doesn’t really have obvious job potential, especially for people who only have a bachelor’s. I think I would have been much better off learning some direct skills. Colleges these days are run more like businesses anyway, you waste almost 2 years worth of time and money taking Gen-Ed BS before you even get access to classes relevant to your major.
Without them all those college degrees would be so useless. I believe auto mechanics are making about $100,000 in these parts and there is lots of work for them. I can round you up a lot of people with shiny new B.A’s and no work
@milfncookies - Exactly
Too many people going to higher education institutes are graduating with debt but no jobs. This phenomenon isn’t limited to trade school.
Maybe that was how it was back in the days. But now a days, my trade school class is filled with both young people out of high school and older people who finished Bachelors and Masters degrees and wanted to do something else. Also, with the way the economy is, lots of people who have degrees are going back to trade school to better themselves for the job market.
idk it depends on the school. i went to branford hall for like a week and felt like they dumbed everything way down.
I think there are a hell of a lot of people in colleges who have no business being in colleges. There also are an awful lot of people with college degrees that do nothing for them other than create debt.
Trade school is for people who want to get off of thier ass and get a job.
Going to trade school with zero experience and knowledge of your chosen field is a mistake. I ran into some very predatory trade schools this year pretending to be a college for people who could not make it to college. Anywhere you can get screwed in this country, there will be people waiting to screw you.
@squeakysoul - You are so thoughtful and intelligent. You know how sexy that is? ;P
@milfncookies - *high five* This is just another one to add to my growing list of reasons why I love you. :p
i think it still has that stigma. but i think it’s unfair to make that assumption. especially with the state of the job market today, you can’t blame someone for opting to learn a trade with a practical, tangible use over the traditional college route, which often leaves one with the option of either getting a job that is totally irrelevant to their degree, or pursuing further schooling which is only going to increase the heaps of debt.
I don’t know.
I just know I don’t want to go to one.
i have always been under the impression that trade school is for slackers. i’m not saying that it’s any easier than college, but it doesn’t round out your education as much.
i went to a trade school when i could have gone to a ton of places. Its about choice. I loved learning about my trade, but college sounds nice too. Its not for dumb people if thats what your saying. Most people who go to college dont usually get a job in their major either. So there is that
@SnakeWhore - it rounds your education in the fields you actually care about. Unlike college which makes you take very useless classes that you will never need nor care about. People think college rounds you, but if you don’t care about what your learning and have a passion for it how can it stick?
@Niccee - maybe i am one of the few who enjoys college because i have interest in more than one field. but who would you rather meet at a cocktail party? the person who can talk about any number of intellectual subjects, or who can only talk about how to take apart and install a motorcycle engine? (i only use this example because i have faced it recently.)
@SnakeWhore - I dont have to go to college to know a wide variety of subjects. But who would you rather fix your car, someone who trained in that specifically, or someone who diddled in a ton of other things?
no their typically for people who dont want to take cannon fodder classes that have nothing to do with their major and waste time and money on them. There’s a girl who is majoring in fashion design and she’s being forced to take chemistry. Really? Is it just because it’s a 5 unit class and will rack up the dough. You be the judge.
@Niccee - that’s a very good question. since i have never actually said more than a handful of words to my mechanic i guess it doesn’t matter either way, as long as they know that they are doing.
@SnakeWhore - Well the belief that trade school is for slackers is very insulting. Its best to know your side before saying something offensive.
@Niccee - i was stating an opinion based on my personal beliefs. as in i was saying why i didn’t go to trade school or just skip a formal education all together. i didn’t mean to be insulting.
@SnakeWhore - still was
I don’t think so, we’re ending up with too many people who are over qualified for the jobs available on the market. but that doesn’t mean that I would go to a trade school. I’m an academic.
No. If you can get the same education and qualifications somewhere cheaper, why not do it?
We need loads more people in trades schools to help invent an alternative to the combustion engine, or at least make shoes. We gonna need them soon.
Some things don’t require a college degree. The degree just gets you a job faster for certain areas, but others don’t really need them..
*Trade school graduate – Film School*
Definitely not. Not everyone can afford to go to a big college. I know that a lot of people look down upon community colleges as well in that same light, but those aren’t just full of people who can’t get into “real” colleges either. Some people just don’t have mommy and daddy paying for everything and have to put themselves through their education. However they go about doing that is up to them.
Trade schools are just for people who want to do a different kind of work. It’s just elitest snobbery over jobs that makes the judgments. A plumber does not go to college, yet will make as much (or more) as a college grade, has to have just as much skill and knowledge as a guy with a “degree” job, and all academics could disappear from earth tomorrow and no one would notice for a week, including most spouses. Let the plumbers disappear and see what happens in a day.
My youngest will be attending a technical high school next year. He is an A/B student and will likely attend college as well… the tech schools here in CT send nearly 90% of their graduates on to post secondary schools. Employers like Sikorsky Aircraft pull students from there and send them to college for things like engineering…I think it is just another path.
And for those who do not continue on, what’s the big deal. There are plenty of jobs (plumbers, electricians, HVAC) that do not require college degrees and are vital to our communities. And might I add these guys make more than many college grads I know!
@Gunner_Poole - Love your reply! so true!
@SnakeWhore - the trade high schools (called technical schools in CT) are definitely not for slackers. CT has very comprehensive achievement tests in all the core subjects that must all be passed before graduating. This is for tech schools as well as traditional high schools. Kids in tech schools have half the time in academic classes, and so must work much harder, and then they have the other half of the year in which they learn their trades. The tech schools have robotics clubs, alternative energy vehicles clubs etc… yeah, that’s where all the slackers hang out. Also here in CT there is a very high % of tech school grads who do go on to college.
Also your assumption that tech school grads will only know one thing is just silly. Maybe your conversation about the motorcycle engine was just because that person was trying to convey their passion to you.
Are trade schools for people that wouldn’t make it in college?
It’s pretty ignorant to suppose that this is true. It isn’t. Who says people in college are “makng it” or who says when you come out of college you have better prospects for a job? (you don’t, trades are in demand).
This is dumb.
No.
I just graduated from college last year and I’m wishing so badly I had gone to midwifery school instead of college. I have a degree in History Education with a minor in Religious Studies and I have no desire to use it. I’ve now realized my career dreams are in childbirth, in a nonmedical atmosphere — doula/midwife. But…I guess my degree is a good back-up if I ever need it. It was an expensive back-up though.
HVAC dudes make lots of money quick, and the job market is pretty good. Funny, I see guys in their late 20′s getting out of college and hitting the entry level job market. Most of anyone that I would call “chums” or “somebody I know” that went or go to a good college usually had their parents pay for it. It’s not very impressive when Mommy and Daddy did everything for ya.
But there are a lot of people I’ve met that couldn’t do college and just hit the tech schools because they didn’t get well enough grades.
Trade schools are for people who are smart enough to know college is a ripoff, but stupid enough not to realize $30,000 for a two year course is just as bad.
Like my sister who dropped out of the RN program at a local community college, only to re-enroll in a trade school that costs twice as much and offers an inferior degree.
I actually hate that stereo type. Not everyone should go to college, there are some people who would be much happier going to trade school and working with their hands. Teachers now put so much weight behind going to college, that people stress out and miss out because they think that unless they have a college degree they will die alone in a box on the side of some freeway overpass at the age of 24.
trade schools i think are for people who do not want to put of with a lot of the stupidity in college. The fluff classes, the arrogant professors, ext… Yet do not want to end up working at Mcdonalds for the rest of their life.
You could say that. I got meself a 4 year degree in an internationally accredited university.
What trade school did you go to, Dan?
Frankly, a good many trade schools are BETTER than the “politically correct” (but intellectually dishonest) crap being foisted at too many universities.
To borrow a line from an old song, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in Berkeley / It’s a wonder I can think at all….”
PINCHED
Not at all.
I thought community college was the lower one. Is trade school considered to be even lower?
no and its kinda offending me that you think of it that way
Those Macs are so three generations ago.
@GunStarHero1988 - thats a pretty ridiculous impression. To feel that ALL people who went to trade school are slackers. Maybe she needs to meet better people.
I graduated 16th in a class of 250 and I went to trade school. I could have gotten into college, but I didn’t have enough money. I’m really glad I chose the path I did because now I have less debt and am more professionally and financially successful than most of my classmates who attended a 4yr college.
I think a better question would be: Is VoTech High School a better alternative to academic high school for those whose interests lie outside traditional academic goals?
Kids who are not necessarily interested in college but have a trade/skill they are interested in should be encouraged to try that out in VoTech. My niece wanted to be a graphic designer, and had the opportunity to explore that in VoTech – she would have graduated with a high school diploma (traditional, not GED) and would have had experience in the trade, enough to decide if she wanted to continue with that or attend a traditional college. It would have been a ‘free’ way to see what was what.
As far as the question asked, “Are trade schools for people that wouldn’t make it in college?”, I think that the answer depends on the person considering trade school. IMHO they are too expensive, and don’t offer enough job placement to be worth it for most people, unless Unemployment was picking up the tab…
it really depends. i’m just being honest here. a lot of the people that i know that went to trade school went to trade school b/c they weren’t smart enough for college. on the other hand, i know a lot of people that went ot trade school b/c they could’t afford college. and others went b/c they prefer jobs where you work with your hands, like welding, over jobs that require a degree.
Most trade school grads don’t have a problem these days finding jobs but lots with college educations will be standing in front of a mirror practicing “Do you want to supersize that?”
I spent most of my time in college reading for class (sometimes over 1,500 pages a week) or partying. College doesn’t prepare you for the “real world” at all. I’d rather have gone to trade school.
dude get off your high horse and come read my story
I think trade school is just that, a school for people who want to go into a particular trade. I don’t think that means they couldn’t get into college. Sometimes, that’s the smarter choice just going to trade school.
I know lots of people who are smarter than me who went to trade school. I’m currently in a college. The difference: I actually like learning in a school setting while they prefer to work with their hands and to teach themselves. My cousin, in fact, went to ITT for computers. He’s incredibly intelligent, he just felt like if he were to go to school an additional 4 years that he would be even more burned out and quit.
So no, they’re not for people who can’t make it in college. In reality, I don’t think there are people who made it through high school who can’t make it through college. Not everyone in college is smart scholastically, but they know how to get passing grades and will pass college somehow.
nope.
Nope. It’s for people who don’t want to deal with the usual college bullshit. The entire college system is a rip-off anyway.
@SnakeWhore - being intellectual and well rounded can happen outside of college too. And having a college degree doesn’t necessarily mean you are interesting to talk to at a cocktail party.
@saintvi - I agree. Not everybody wants to go to college so the military and/or trade school are perfectly viable options.
@saintvi - I definitely agree with your statement.
I have a Bachelor’s degree from the university where I live, as well as a Certificate of Technical Studies in Medical Office Assisting from the vo-tech school. There’s nothing wrong with going to a vo-tech school; it certainly shouldn’t make you feel like a loser. It’s just a different path of learning, that’s all.
It’s for people who can’t afford $30K+ in debt, and for those who prefer to have a single, steady career. I considered going to a trade school for nursing, but I decided that just wasn’t my calling. It doesn’t mean I can’t handle college (although I still can’t afford it.)
@LauraG0929 - no your right some people DONT have mummy and daddy
and some people aren’t lazy asses in high-school and get scholarships
dont be hating if you dont know
it most definetly is
if they could design those engines they probably would, but they cant because they are either to lazy or stupid to figure out the system
Nope.
No, don’t think or look at it that way, just sometimes college isn’t for everyone and sometimes the colleges don’t have what someone might be interested in, or college can take longer to do that same thing than a trade school offering the exact same thing for less in price and time.
I had to get a trade to pay off college.
@GunStarHero1988 - but you would assume all indians are dumb. Thats called racist. And thats my point.
College is overrated and a rip off.
Some people go to trade schools because they ACTUALLY want to do something they enjoy, instead of being stuck in college getting a stupid expensive degree.
Unfortunately when I hear someone is in trade school, I’m like,…oh. I judge right away that the person isn’t very smart. This is so bad because it’s how our culture views trade schools and unfortunately I picked up on it. Same thing for community college. I judge that as well, except I find myself wishing I would’ve gone to CC before a university to save thousands of dollars. And now after I graduate with over 50K in debt I’m getting my RN at a community college because it’s cheaper and it’s more hands on. Oh the thoughts…I hope my subconscious stops making judgments about CCs and trade schools because I really don’t think they’re bad or only dumb people go.
@GunStarHero1988 - if u actually read my blog u would realize i was making that generalization based on the pure fact that these people made a generalization about trade school kids. Its was to prove a point. Maybe you are the one who doesn’t understand, and obviously commenting on something that wasn’t meant for you in the first place. So attention hungry perhaps.
You would have to be an idiot not to notice the sarcasm in my blog.
So your logic is flawed.
to say all trade school kids are dumb, is like saying all college kids are Einstein, and like all Indian people are dumb, and all white people are racist.Even with minimal experience with a race, or people, you should be able to classify them.
Don’t comment back. All you college kids are so stupid :p
@GunStarHero1988 - the same reason I cant take xanga arguments seriously?
I think trade schools are a fantastic opportunity for a lot of people. There are so many people that I know are working $8 an hour jobs and they have a bachelors degree. Then there are people like my boyfriends dad that barely made it out of high school (I’m not sure if he graduated) and he makes like $150,000 running his own business. I think people confuse a degree with a guaranteed job. I know a LOT of people with degrees that don’t have an ounce of sense or any usable skills.
No. If you know what you want to do, sometimes you can do it in a shorter amount of time in trade school. Plus it’s cheaper. I don’t see the need to go off to college for four years and take mandatory classes that have nothing to do with what you’re interested in doing just for the sake of ‘going to college’. I suppose it’s whatever you like though.
Either for people who can’t make it in college or don’t have the will to. Either way, someone has to do some of those “lesser” jobs. Lawdy knows how many “rich” people would get behind a counter and cook their own damn burgers or read a service manual and diagnose why their sink is overflowing.
Trade schools are colleges without all of the academic bullshit, such as, the general education curriculum. They do not waste your time teaching you things that are unnecessary for your career advancement. If I wanted to learn art history I’d be an art major… if I wanted to write elegantly I’d be an English major, most of the classes students take to fill gen ed requirement in college have nothing to do with their life plan…. and really only serve as a distraction from the things they NEED to be working hard and studying at. As a sociologist, I have little need for biology, so someone please explain the 200$ I spent on that class….
No… I went to a trade school and made it in a large University just fine.
@GunStarHero1988 - lolz at you being so angry about this. Nice shades btw
That is, by definition, what a trade school is.
No. They’re for people who don’t want to wait 4 years to start their career. Or for people whose job really doesn’t have an applicable major. I’d go to one if I could decide on just one field of study (which is also the reason I’m not going to college right now).
I made it into university. I hate it and am now looking at trade school. Funny thing…
In my humble opinion, college isn’t just for learning, it’s also for research.
@GunStarHero1988 -
“God, it must be true: trade school kids are just stupid. “
angry or just lashing out, either way, I no longer care
@GunStarHero1988 - Why do u still care?
@GunStarHero1988 - you act like you serious hurt my feeling or threw me off gaurd. Your a 21 year old boy in scene glasses on xanga. Your argument is invalid
@GunStarHero1988 - you take yourself way to seriously kid. Find something better to do.
@GunStarHero1988 -
I LOVED all my trade schools. I went to that because I didnt want to waste 2 out of 4 years doing nothing. General education is basically K-12 & I have to do it all again in college? Trade school is not for lazy people as some put it. In fact, the work is accelerate so you do more in less time & like college, it’s not cheap but not as expensive as a 4 year school. I still apply for grants, loans, you name it. College isnt for everyone but I dont knock it either. I did go for a while but it didnt work out for me.
In my personal opinion though, I think trade schools offer more & since you start your major right away, you retain the knowledge better. When I start school in May, I’ll be finished by December & I’ll be taking my exam right after graduation.
@TheMarriedFreshman - You know, it’s kind of funny, since the majority of commenters here are pretty much bashing 4-year universities or colleges.
Trade School is not ‘worse’ than a university by any means. But I’m a bit baffled as to how many people are hating on universities and colleges saying that college degrees are useless. Yes, there are many people who do attain a Bachelor’s and wind up with no stable job or no job at all (especially when you consider what kind of majors people are attaining) but to resort to calling universities petty names and insults is just ridiculous. Look at the other side of things: there are just as many if not more people who DO get their Bachelor’s and get a stable, good paying job while contributing to the world.
Maybe I was just a bit irked and offended, because I’m currently attending a 4-year public university.
No, it’s for people more mechanically inclined or those who excell in hands-on education. that doesn’t mean they are stupid, just that they are not academically inclined. i know people who are very intelligent, but simply can’t handle classroom based instruction. they pretty well teach themselves, and they learn best through hands-on. my brother went to vo-tech school and learned autocad. but because he was very good at math, he was able to go farther with what he was taught on his own (very few people can think outside the box with what they’ve learned) and when he was working in a sign shop he was the only one who could plot out a five-pointed star pattern (and the other guys in the shop had been there and working with this equipment for YEARS) my brother never did well in school, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t intelligent, he was just bored and uninterested in what was being taught and what he was expected to do.
I am a college student, and I’m doing it very economically, because in the end what it comes down to it may or may not help me. I have spent 9 years in a trade, and know at any point I can go back to it and make at least what I’ll make starting off as a newbie in the “professional” world.
Trade schools are nothing to look up the nose at; unless you can learn it cheaper, just as an apprenticeship or interning. College is not a savior, and you’ll find many bachelor degrees sitting around. Doubt you’ll see a match in unemployment if you are a plumber, electrician, carpenter or landscaper. Construction has been hurting recently though; but when it comes to repairs and maintenance, you’ll see these guys pretty busy.
BTW – Im getting a fully accreditted BS degree in 2 1/2 years for around 12K. No hype. No financial aid. Just old fashioned work. Worth every penny.
nope.
They shouldn’t be. Not if you’re learning a useful skill that can get you a job. And if it’s a hands-on job rather than an office job, so what? Not everyone wants an office job.
Trade schools and colleges offer different things. I don’t think trade school is for slackers, but I find it funny and kind of insulting that so many commenters think college is pointless and those that graduate from them don’t find jobs. Also, what ever happened to learning for the sake of learning? All those “pointless” GE classes enrich thinking. I think that’s worth it.
@asininity@datingish - Agreed. Next we’ll hear that universities are for slackers who can’t do anything but read a lot.
Not necessarily at all… despite the still-common bias. Consider: Who is more important to society? A business major who partied through four years of his dad’s money? Or the guy who put in the electrical wiring and repairs it? The shallow journalism grad who reads his script on TV? Or the guy who installs and fixes the plumbing? The politician from Harvard who squanders our money to buy himself votes? Or the mudfooted infantryman who defends what’s left of our nation’s freedoms from freedom’s enemies abroad? I’d pick options 2, 4 and 6. The much despised “trade schools” are more important than the underachieving “sheepskin factories”.
BTW: I AM a college grad. I have a B.S. in geology. I now wish that I HAD gone to a trade school. Or just stayed in the Army!
I think it depends…sometimes, it obviously is. Sometimes people who are smart enough for college go to trade school instead.
Being perfectly honest though, I wouldn’t want to go to trade school. Everyone I know who has gone to one went because they were too stupid for college or to do anything else.