I’m a bit frustrated and felt going to school was a waste of time.
I was constantly bored in High School and at that time I wasn’t even sure why I felt that way. I was bored because I wanted to learn something different anything that was a skill. I didn’t like sitting behind a desk all day from 8-3pm doing the same thing everyday. I wanted to leave High School early but I also didn’t know what I wanted to do at the time.
I didn’t know what a GED is but I heard you can leave HS earlier. My goal back then was take this test ASAP go to a trade school and start working before senior year starts for everyone else. Every single person thought I was crazy. I was too smart for a GED and it’s meant for slower kids, drop outs, that guy who was left back so many times he can be mistaken as a young teacher etc.
I also thought all high schools were the same. But after learning more about vocational high schools, I’m a bit jealous. I think I would had made a better choice if I went to a vocational high school instead of regular public school. I think the variety would actually had helped me determine what I would like to do as a career. But why is a vocational high school looked down upon? If anything it would make a more rounded person with a clearer view of a career choice.
I graduate HS with a regency diploma and went to an university. it was expected. There was even a speaker from a local college that I had to listen to in HS and he scoffed at the idea of trade school. Trade School, GED, Vocational HS was considered less prestigious. I went to an university that my whole family goes to and I hated it. I spent most of my time doing the same exact thing in HS. I didn’t like the general core classes. I already did MLA papers in HS. I ping pong between majors so I graduated a year late. I am also realy bad at calculus and mos tof the majors requires pre. calculus, calculus 1 and maybe 2.
What annoyed me was the school requires all these calcusu classes for a major that doesn’t require that you know calculus for the job itself. I hope someone can understand my frustration of this.
I looked at my college degree and quite frankly I think I just repeated HS for five years. I took the degree that didn’t req. calculus. Nobody I know is using their degree and their degree was nicer then mine. My parents were mad that I didn’t get a masters.
Im too depressed about even considering trade school but i felt that would of been a better option for me instead of a Bachelor’s degree. College friend who also has a Bachelor’s is a bus driver. I have my permit and probably end up doing the same thing.
But imagine leaving hs early going to trade school and working while everyone else is still in HS? I think my life would be a lot nicer. I’m frustrated because I do not understand why college is seen as the only road to success.
I hear you. It’s not the right path for everyone. We’ve got this very wrongheaded and dangerous notion now that the only “correct” thing to do after high school is go to college, and that learning a skilled trade instead is somehow a shameful or lesser path to choose.
The good news is that there’s nothing stopping you from attending a trade school now, if you want. Your college degree at least proves that you are a good student and know how to learn; that will put you ahead of a lot of your classmates already. And you shouldn’t regret the stuff you learned at university; a lot of it might not be immediately applicable in a trade career, but it did teach you a lot that is applicable in life.
[ul][li]College grads end up with better-paying jobs than trade-school grads. Whether that’s true or not, as the OP has pointed out, it doesn’t mean that college grads are automatically happier. And it may in fact not be true, if you graduate with crummy grades or a degree in a field with very limited demand. [/li][li]The only reason people don’t go to college is because they are unable to do so, either because they aren’t smart enough or they aren’t wealthy/resourceful enough. Parents who subscribe to this sentiment will push their kids toward college out of a fear that others will think less of their kids (or the kids’ parents). [/ul]If you know college isn’t for you, then it’s wise to resist external pressure to attend. Example, I once met a woman in college who was a farmer’s daughter. Her brother chose not go to college; he was miserable in high school, and rather than college, he looked forward to helping run (and eventually take over) the family farm. AFAIK, he’s happy these days.[/li]
One’s post-high school educational choices should be driven by the pursuit of happiness. That said, having to routinely eat for less than $3 a day is often detrimental to one’s happiness; if college isn’t in your future, some other educational choice ought to be, so that you can at least earn an adequate income.
This. I knew a fellow who completed a Ph.D. in engineering, and then realized that he actually wanted to be a doctor. So he went to med school. He was certainly older than the average doctor before he started making good money, but he was doing what he wanted to do, and I don’t think he had any regrets. If you know you want to go to trade school, then go for it, never mind the fact that you just finished college.
Before taking on more schooling, try to get a job in a trade you find interesting. Obviously you’re not skilled for the trade, but there are many types of jobs available at the shop which you can do now. For example, if you like woodworking, get any job you can at a woodworking shop. Even if it’s sweeping the floor, you’ll get a good look at what it means to work in that trade. And quite often, you can learn a lot just being in the shop. The skilled workers will likely teach you if you want to learn.
There’s no magic knowledge you’ll get from school. You can become a skilled woodworker just by working in a woodworking shop. Or you may return to school later. Either way, I think it would be best for you to start getting some real-world experience. I think that will help more than jumping back into school.
I agree completely. It’s too late to go back seven years or five years and have a different education path under your belt. But you can still figure out what you want to do and get there. Based on what I’ve been told by various plumbers, electricians, HVAC installers, carpenters, etc., they’d rather have a novice eager and able to learn than someone who completed a trade school and thinks they are completely trained. You will have to start at the beginning, obviously, and choosing the right company to start with is crucial. There are also union training centers, for the Carpenters Union or Plumbing Union, etc. They train novices and help find them union jobs.
There’s nothing wrong with bus or truck driving if you want to be a driver, but it would be miserable if you don’t. There are lots of opportunities out there for tradespeople. I agree with your basic gripe that you were pressured/steered into a college path and should have chose differently. But that’s water under the bridge, man. And you might be surprised in a decade that the college education actually has helped you.
I went right from high school to college, and almost immediately realized what a mistake it was for me. I barely lasted a year before enlisting in the Navy. There I received training as an electronics technician, then maintained Navy aircraft as my first assignment. I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty… most of the time.
Eventually, I did go back to college, got an engineering degree, and worked as an engineer for 26 years. But it took those years of working to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I never understood why people look down on those who choose to work with their hands. There’s nothing wrong with being a plumber or a carpenter or an electrician or the guy who shovels up roadkill. Nor is there anything wrong with choosing a job you like rather than pursuing a path just because the pay is better. If you have a job that you enjoy, that you do well, and that supports the lifestyle you prefer, what more can you ask? I’d never want to be the guy who cleans septic tanks, but I’m sure glad to know that there are folks who will do that and I gladly write them a check every time!
Is the problem really that society thinks a degree is the best path to success? Or is the problem you followed societal norms instead of pursuing an independent course?
Based on what you’ve said, it seems like you overlooked your own strong feelings/intuition about your future, in favour of doing what was expected of you. I can’t help feeling that you won’t find any resolution until you own your part in it. Trying to push responsibility for your educational choices onto society or your parents, seems a little disingenuous, to me. You weren’t a helpless child, after all.
At any rate, it’s never too late. Truly. You only get one life. One. You should spend it running like you’re hair’s on fire toward your wildest dreams, in my opinion.
Welcome to adulthood, decades of saying “If only I knew then what I know now”. A lot of adulting is like tacking a sailboat into the wind - adjust adjust adjust.
I’ll echo previous posters - you can’t go back in time, all you can do is go forward with the knowledge you have today. Ignore how much time you’ve already spent (the sunk cost fallacy) and take steps toward what will make you happy.
The great thing is the more you do this the more flexible you get. You start to recognize the signs of impending unhappiness earlier, when changes are easier to make, and can tweak things rather than overhaul everything.
I kind of think that one problem we face as a society is that young people often don’t really have ANY conception of what the various white collar careers are, what they actually DO, and what having one of these careers actually entails.
We all have some notion of what a lot of blue collar careers are and what they entail, but how many of us had a good handle on what white collar workers actually do? I mean, I remember my dad being a cost analyst at an insurance company and not having the least clue what that actually meant.
So we get messages like “you have to go to college!” and then try and choose based on what we think those fields are like, when they’re often nothing like that.
As an example, Norm Abram majored in mechanical engineering and business at UMass. For those unfamiliar with him, he’s a carpenter/craftsman on the American public television program This Old House.
But I question the idea that a tradesman doesn’t need college. For example, if you’re going to own your own business (e.g., plumbing, HVAC, construction, etc), it would help to know something about accounting and finance. (Should I buy this expensive piece of equipment, lease it or just rent it when needed?) If you’re a plumber who just clears clogged drains all day, perhaps you don’t need college. But if you need to design and spec out the entire HVAC system for a house or commercial building, things get complicated.
Forestry, Wildlife biology, nursing, construction management. There are a lot of college degrees that funnel you into a specific trade. Not everything is art and psychology.
I started college but dropped out when it became apparent that I didn’t have the chops to pursue a four-year degree. I then went to community college to learn a trade, and did well. My two-year degree in business administration has served me well and I earn a tidy bit of money on it. Not a fortune, but ample for me.
I’m glad I didn’t struggle along at the university just to keep up appearances; I’d have been miserable and discouraged. And there were scads of jobs waiting for me and my two-year degree.
Sure, but there’s a huge difference between getting a construction management degree and working for a construction company and literally being a tradesman working as a subcontractor for that same company.
Lots of college degrees funnel you into specific careers, but few that I’m aware of prepare you for blue collar careers. As a matter of fact, the only ones I can think of are some of the agricultural degrees like say… poultry science, dairy science or animal science are the ones that come to mind. There are some, I suppose where there’s not a blue/white collar divide within the industry, but I don’t know what those are.
Most degrees vs. trades are more along the lines of getting a degree in mechanical engineering and going to work for Ford designing pickup trucks vs. going into the trades and becoming a mechanic and working at at Ford repair facility of some kind.
Well the OP doesn’t mention the degree he for forced to get but I don’t think the trades are a good place for someone who blames others for poor decisions. If you want to work outdoors or you want to work with your hands or do manual labor, get a degree that supports that goal.
I can’t think of a place that would be good for that type of person. Except maybe government.
Seriously though. Tradesmen personalitys tend towards type A. Standing up for yourself, motivating yourself and a having a real drive to learn is requisite. Green hands are allowed some time to learn the first two on the job.
My impression is that all this is very recent for the OP, and that they are very young, probably 25 or younger.
At this age, one could have screwed up absolutely everything and still turn things around. I can sympathize with an educational path that doesn’t seem to live up to its billing, but take a step back. There is the coursework, and there is the educational experience.
OP, you may have not done things perfectly, but going through HS and then college is not exactly the worst thing that could have happened. You are going to have to move forward from this point whether you like it or not, so you might as well get used to the idea of starting from where you’re at and charting a course to where you want to go. If you haven’t sworn any solemn oaths or anything like that, you can just change your mind, pick up stakes and start a whole new game, any time you like!
Echoing what many have said. I empathize with the op, I went through it, I think we all have really. I rebelled and went to work in a kitchen instead of going to college and becoming an attorney or physician (those were the choices my mother had in mind for me). Been working physical labor and skilled trades my whole adult life. Now, I have some regret at not going to college, but over all I’m happy even if I’m not rich and don’t have an over-abundance of wealth. By all means, pick a trade, find a job or get an apprenticeship in that trade, make it your vocation if you like, but I would tell you to never regret college.