Mother Nature & The Trades
First, the bad news: In August Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath created misery throughout the city of Houston and Texas’ Gulf Coast, delivering unprecedented flooding and property damage. Scores of people lost their lives and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or severely damaged in Houston alone, more than were expected to be built […]
Reason #6 Why College Is A Lousy Deal
My past five blogs have explained why I think college is not a good idea for many of you reading this. A short summary of those reasons are: 1. The market for college graduates is saturated. 2. Grade inflation has diminished the quality of a college degree. 3. College education has morphed into indoctrination. 4. […]
Reason #5 Why College Is A Lousy Deal
This reason escapes a lot of peoples’ notice. Most folks make a distinction between college and vocational education. They think of them as separate entities, i.e., higher education versus learning a trade. Even worse is the widespread conviction among the general public and high school advisory counselors that college is for smart kids while the […]
Reason #3 Why College Is A Lousy Deal
In my last blog, I identified grade inflation as Reason #2 why a college degree doesn’t mean what it used to. I explained that grade inflation started with the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s, when college students were exempt from the military draft and sympathetic professors inflated grades to keep their students from flunking […]
Reason #2 Why College Is A Lousy Deal
A college degree doesn’t mean what it used to. In my last blog I explained that one reason is because so many people have college degrees nowadays (33% of American adults, vs. just 5% in 1940). As a result, some 37% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. […]
Apprenticeships Get A Boost
Last week President Trump took aim at expanding apprenticeship programs for the manual trades, which has been applauded by the Business Roundtable, consisting of major employers. It’s about time apprenticeship has gotten a boost! Apprenticeship is a training system that dates back more than 500 years when European guilds were formed to pass along knowledge […]
Debt Till Death
Do you love your Mom and Dad? There are exceptions, but I suspect most people reading this would answer yes. If you do, do them a favor. Don’t put them in such a hole supporting your college education that they have to struggle in retirement. Unfortunately, millions of America parents are facing a miserable time […]
Bad Driving Is A Killer – Of Careers Too
In recent years road signs have popped up warning against texting while driving. This has become an epidemic among young people in particular. I know many of you reading this are teens and twenty-somethings. To you, I want to say … STOP IT! TEXTING WHILE DRIVING IS MONUMENTALLY STUPID! End of rant. What’s this have […]
The Power of Positive Thinking
April 25, 2017 Are you a grouchy person, always complaining about something? If so, please stay away from me. Not just me. Nobody likes to hang around with a grouch. The Power of Positive Thinking was a best-selling book from the 1960s that is still on sale. Its title pretty much describes what the book […]
Earth Day 2017
April 11, 2017 Something’s missing April 22 has in recent times come into its own as a pseudo-holiday when organizers try to turn the country’s attention to environmental concerns. I’m all for keeping the environment clean – who isn’t? It’s like being for motherhood and apple pie. Yet I take a pass on all the […]