Kid seems to have a good head on his shoulders and a will to think with the brain he was given. I hope his next handful of formative years sculpts him with the tools to get wherever he wants. Teenage spirit with a challenging attitude backed up with enough brains to establish support for his anti-authority arguments. I like it
He has many good points. I'm a result of a family that thought "You have to have a degree to win in the world" but was lucky enough to not be of a recent age where degrees can actually drown you before you learn to swim in the world, sometimes becoming an anchor rather than a life-preserver.
There is a whole lot wrong with the academic world in the USA. It's become more and more of an uphill struggle for the most vulnerable and formative times in our (as people) young lives. Core curriculum fades as general-education requirements rise. Prices rise dramatically. The universities and colleges are becoming a predatory institution rather than a next-level greenhouse for growing specimen.
Our culture still maintains the attitude that "vocations" and "technical fields" are a lesser-class industry. It isn't until people are in their mid 20s to 30s, I find, that people start to notice how NOT inferior those in the technical and vocational fields are. Younger engineers who got into the field for money/status inhumanly shun plumbers and electricians are finding that with 5 years experience that the man who just snaked their toilet and plumbed a new half-bath made more money per hour than their equivalent salary.
In high school "vocational school" and alternate programs for welding/machining/automotive-tech/carpentry/plumbing/electricity are all treated like "special ed" or at least the "not smart enough for 'real' classes" students.
I hope it's changed, there there is confirmation-bias in my view that makes me blind to the change, but I still perceive this as being the truth. I hope it's changed.
When no one wants to be a plumber/electrician, we'll all sit in a hot, dark summer house, with a toilet that won't flush.
Our schools are not tailored toward the real world and are not tailored toward serving the people they are cultivating. Our culture does not support the change required. Some people are speaking/lobbying for these changes and I hope they come soon.
Most of all, relevant to this crowd, I would love to see a bachelor's degree be worth more than it currently is. I'd like to see less "general education" requirements and more core-curriculum classes. I appreciate the education of people on politics, geography, history, literature, etc, but to /require/ it at great expense in order to get a career-required degree is almost extortion. More importantly, it waters down our degree programs which have a limitation on credit-hour requirements to get a Bachelor or Master degree.
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Engineer, Precision Manufacturing Job Shop
Tool & Die, Aerospace, Defense, Medical, Agricultural, Firearms
NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD LT, Autocad Plant 3D 2013, Enovia DMUv5
