Your American parents were wrong: about school, about jobs, about life.

“You don’t want to be a garbage man!”, they said.

What’s wrong with Garbage men? They make a shit-ton of money. Should I go to school and be an accountant? Would you be happy if I worked on Wallstreet buying and selling invisible money?

Truth is I’d be a garbage man... instantly. Something about the safety of collecting benefits, having structured time off, and monitoring a 401k sounds fantastic. It’s like being a teacher, without having to deal with the runny-nosed, snot-faced kids. Garbage men get out of work by 12 Nooon and have the rest of their day to do whatever they please.

Where did the idea of how and what sort of jobs we do go misguided?

As immigrants our grandparents didn’t have formal educations. They didn’t have the option to as it was expensive and they needed to hit the ground running from Ellis Island. They worked hard in labored jobs to provide for their families. They went through the Great Depression and endured hardships first hand. Schooling was expensive and looked at as a huge accomplishment and leg up for those who “studied” as being part of an upper echelon.

Our parents were raised and battered about the importance of a college education, and at that time - it was pretty important. As time progressed, more and more parents passed down that “old-idea” that one must attend college to get a job which created a major gap in employment as our country grew.

The diminishing skill trades.

With an ever-increasing attendance in colleges and children brainwashed into thinking that if they were to get a ”real” job, it would be a result of attending college... the well of labor and skill trade workers began to dry up.

Entire generations of children later, took and are currently taking out loans they will almost never pay off to attend institutions designed to create profits. Add a required class here and a required class there and we’ve figured out how to make money up front off of suckers piling up debt.

Parents stopped pushing labor unions and trades such as: HVAC techs, automobile mechanics, plumbers, etc. If there is one thing supply and demand teaches us - it’s this lesson right here. Without enough laborers who know and understand the mechanics of fixing or building things, prices will increase to account for their demand.

The pendulum swings foreseeably into the future with the generations to come.

Are you a skilled laborer? Do you notice an increasing interest in the trades and a decreasing interest in traditional schooling?