Yup. Welders here are in very high demand as well, as are other trades. The trade school here is struggling to fill class rooms, while 10 years ago there was a 1-1.5 year waiting list to get in.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

First phase out all welfare programs. Don't let the Govt. pay anyone to stay home and/or have children. 2nd, Offer to pay women and men not to have children with the caveat that the payment will be sent directly to the College/Vocational school they are enrolled in so they get educated. You really want a child? Don't take this offer or adoption is always a choice. 3rd, make it public knowledge where the jobs will be in the coming decades. Notify by email, text or snail mail but make sure everyone under 30 understands the projected job market. 4th, we need a minimum level of competency for reading, writing and arithmetic in this country before someone can graduate HS and there has to be penalties enforced if people get passed without meeting minimum standards. We do ourselves a disfavor whenever we pass someone just get rid of them. 5, we need mandatory programs that send juvenile offenders, depending on their crimes, to the Armed Forces where they will get discipline and training that can help turn their life around. 6, Streamline the educational system. Not everyone needs college, or 4 years of college, to become a computer programmer, accountant, dentist...Let those that want a well rounded education stay in college for 4+ years but don't punish people that want to avoid English Lit. etc if it's not directly applicable to the job. 7, start internships in High School. Let kids get a feel for what business is really like. Maybe their dream job turns out to be more of a nightmare or they discover they don't want to sit at a desk all day.[/quote]



This is very well said but...It would require a major change to the charter of rights and freedoms, something that will never happen. Drug addicts have a right to refuse treatment, juvenile offenders have a right to refuse army, kids have a right to speak any language they want and if you complain you are racist/intolerant/anti immigrant. Everybody has rights and demands. We never talk about responsibilities. I read in the papers all the time about need for more and more education about drugs, about providing anti overdose something....nobody ever talks about removing the drug dealers because, they probably have a right to sell....whatever

Ad Muncher[/quote]
You are so right. It would take a major change and it's not going to happen until the shit really hits the fan. By then the working Joe will be screwed and wondering why they even tried.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

These are exactly the questions that need to be asked now. Fortunately, i see more and more people starting to discuss these issues, develop ideas and concepts to deal with what's inevitably ahead of us. Griping about how things were so much better in the seventies won't cut it, and I'm convinced that there's actually a lot of potential for the betterment of more than just the upper tenthousand to be discovered.

Cheers,
malte

Germany does a pretty good job with vocational jobs, getting well trained to be plumbers, electricians, etc. And a lot of Germans will choose this because, these jobs are valued, they pay well, and they're in high demand. I don't know how it is everywhere in the US, but often times, it's hard to find someone who knows what the hell they're doing. We've hired people for small contract jobs and they were just bad.

^^^^This.

Not everybody wants to go to college, and not everybody is cut out for college. That doesn't mean that there aren't still good jobs out there. My nephew, who could have easily gotten accepted at a 4-year school, opted to learn how to be a heavy equipment/diesel engine mechanic. And he's doing very well now, and has never had any issue getting a job just about anywhere he wants to live. There will always be a market for skilled labor in this country, and we should be providing loans for people to gain those skills just like we provide loans to people to go to college. If I were king, I'd stop giving federal loans to anyone going to one of those for-profit colleges/schools that just seem to exist to fleece that money from students and move it towards vocational schools/skilled trades.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Streamline the educational system. Not everyone needs college, or 4 years of college, to become a computer programmer, accountant, dentist.


I lived in the Philippines and they follow a system that you are suggesting. Their accountants for example, go to University and take nothing but accounting related courses. The result is they can do their job but know next to nothing about anything else. The other things like history, political science, philosophy, literature may not help them in their specific job but I think it's a big mistake if you head in that direction.


In Canada, our Colleges tend to be more career specific in terms of trades like mechanics or technicians. Universities is where you get a more well rounded education as well as the professions (medicine, dentistry, law, business etc.). Our medical schools require Arts credits because they want a more well rounded student and I think that is very important.


I have a history degree but also enjoyed accounting so I got a CPA here in Canada. Having a well rounded education is very important and something I stress with my daughter. I would hate to see streamlined professions.

Just throwing in an interesting article stating that they may not be as gone as folks think.

http://fortune.com/...manufacturing-china/

~18 years or so ago, our forward thinking Governor initiated what may have the first in state public schools -- provided middle school kids laptops to have through high school completion. He was chastised throughout the state with people telling him to buy the kids chainsaws if he really wanted to help him.

I agree with your points on the value of a well-rounded education, but shouldn't that be at the discretion of the customer (i.e. student)? If a student is already well-rounded when they enter, they are still obligated - in nearly all cases - to purchase a product that they don't need in order to acquire the desired credential. Still, others don't need to be well-rounded, and more beyond that don't care to be well-rounded.

As in all markets, the value of the product must be considered against the cost(s) of the product, but let's not pretend that universities mandate off-topic subjects primarily for the good of the student. It's padding the bottom line. Get a student locked in for four years to accomplish what may otherwise take two to three years.

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"The right to party is a battle we have fought, but we'll surrender and go Amish... NOT!" -Wayne Campbell

If they can test out of said topic then I agree they shouldn't be forced to "purchase". However if they cannot, then they should go through it.