Maggie's Farm

Sorry charlie, the "College Ain't for Everyone" does not fit the narrative. The educated elite teachers drum that incessantly into the fawning parents and children. The elite have successfully killed off most vo-tech classes and programs.

The High School (Jacksonville, Illinois) I attended in my youth once had a first class vocational program that taught auto/farm mechanics, welding, drafting, electronics, woodshop, electrical, agriculture and 'home' economics all contained in a separate building across the street from the school. FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H (Heart, Hands, Head, Health - IIRC) were celebrated programs, fostered and supported by the school district. Today those programs are distant memories for the students who attended there... for when the 'new' high school was built, no money could be found to house such bourgeois studies. Now the school district has "Advance Placement" studies of all types to replace practical life skills.

My teacher friend relates that everyone who wants into AP classes can get into AP classes. She has 'mainstreamed' mentally deficient individuals that have to be reminded to breathe in one of her "AP" classes. I am reminded of that line from "The Incredibles" that said "When everyone is special, then no one will be" that we now experience. For in an effort to 'mainstream' everyone in a fruitless pursuit of equal outcomes, we have lowered the standard to the least common denominator to the detriment of any achievement whatsoever.

So now if one achieves some small success in spite of no Fourex issued by Harvard, I hear that (partial) line from that Janis Ian song "At Seventeen"

"Their small-town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise ........"

Blackdog, I don't think I am arguing your point, because I do agree, for a better paying more 'prestigious' position, having a degree is a must.

(brings up that old joke about the guy with the master's degree applying for a job at McDonald's. The manager was hesitating. The guy says I know I am overqualified, but I am reliable and will show up. The manager says, that's not the point. Its just our usual applicant has a Phd.....)

And that joke brings up a dichotomy of two different world views, both of them sad. A hamburger flipper would be better served by having the home economics classes in high school to learn about preparation, cleanliness, organization, and cooking skills (classes no longer offered by more progressive thinking school districts), the current model is the job requires a two year degree (a degree offered by the local junior college in preparation, cleanliness, organization, and cooking skills).

The basics one used to learn as part of a well rounded education in high school (or even middle school, I took home Ec. in 8th grade) is now shoved UP into junior college as a specialization course called, oh, I dunno, Culinary Arts or some such.


The sad truth is High Schools are NOT preparing students for real life (home/life management skills). Those programs have been sacrificed to push the progressive think that EVERYONE MUST GO TO COLLEGE (the drumbeat) where sadly, most will fail for a variety of reasons.... the biggest being unsuitability. (which is not a politically correct assessment. For the progressive think is everyone is the same so there must be equality of outcome.)

And for your Toyota example? See the McDonald's joke. The H.S. student that would have learned manufacturing skills in a Vo-tech class, can't now (the classes have been eliminated). Whereas in the past, a H.S. would have prepped the more blue collar inclined student for that job, that same student today MUST attend a junior college (and spend another two years of life) in a specialization program.
So companies have been forced to up the education requirements in self defense to eliminate the underachievers and poorly trained.... something a H.S. diploma did for them in the past. The progressive H.S. thinking is 'everyone MUST graduate', suited or not (equality of outcome).

A final thought on this. Some fallout from the drumbeat is the management, having been indoctrinated by that drumbeat, now specify by default "two year degree or higher". I call this requirements escalation... the need to establish a higher requirement justified or not. A partial fallout of THAT is you get a graduate with high expectations performing a mindless job, becoming unhappy, performing poorly and leaving. Another fallout, is those unsuited students, who would have learned life skills in H.S., haven't, cannot find a job because they have no skills at all, to become a burden on society. They have been sacrificed in the name of progress. Equality of Outcome! It is your right!