I'm In A Jam...
- Thread starter pipenscotch
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My son graduated high school this past June. He was accepted to the University of West Virginia. In August he told me he didnt think colleg was for him.
I told him that was fine and to think about a trade instead. With a trade you learn a something very valuable. You dont necessarily have to spend the rest of your life working in that trade but once you have the training it's yours and no one can ever take that knowledge away from you. It's yours to use at your own will. To work for someone else or for yourself. This country was built buy trades.
So long story short he chose to attend MMI the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix, AZ. I literally just flew out there on the 16th with him to sign in. 1.They set them up in apartments. 2. They help them get jobs to pay for these apartments and all of their living expenses. 3. When he graduates all of his class time will be considered as job time. So if he stays for a year his time there will be looked at as a year of on the job experience by employers.
A trade is very respectable. If it makes you happy go for it. I wish you all the luck in the world!!
I told him that was fine and to think about a trade instead. With a trade you learn a something very valuable. You dont necessarily have to spend the rest of your life working in that trade but once you have the training it's yours and no one can ever take that knowledge away from you. It's yours to use at your own will. To work for someone else or for yourself. This country was built buy trades.
So long story short he chose to attend MMI the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix, AZ. I literally just flew out there on the 16th with him to sign in. 1.They set them up in apartments. 2. They help them get jobs to pay for these apartments and all of their living expenses. 3. When he graduates all of his class time will be considered as job time. So if he stays for a year his time there will be looked at as a year of on the job experience by employers.
A trade is very respectable. If it makes you happy go for it. I wish you all the luck in the world!!
I'd just like to say a big thank you for all the comments and advice guys and gals, it's gonna help a lot!
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If you think you can put up with it, get as advanced an education as possible. Without at least a bachelors degree your options later in life will be limited. Besides, think of all the great partying you will miss if you do a 2 year program.
All I can say is go where your heart tells you. I went back to college in my late 40's and it really didn't get me anywhere. I do a job I love and I haven't used my degree yet. Completing college was for me. My dad wanted me to go to Harvard but I had other plans, the military. I'm glad I did it my way, I can't live my life for someone else, I have to live it for me. Just my 2 cents worth. :
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You should go with what makes you the happiest. It's far too easy to live life for someone else. I personally went to a trade school and I take online courses to further my education.
Now I do the trade(Cosmetology)on the side and follow my passion (Writing) full time; with a bit of fine art and jewelry making to brighten things up. You should figure out what you love, make a plan, and go for it.
Good luck!
Now I do the trade(Cosmetology)on the side and follow my passion (Writing) full time; with a bit of fine art and jewelry making to brighten things up. You should figure out what you love, make a plan, and go for it.
Good luck!
pipenscotch:
I wrote a book on careers ("Your Perfect Job"), which may or may not be helpful for you. But one of the resources I recommend is a book called "Discover What You're Best At." It's essentially a series of self-tests that highlight your specific talents and interests and then suggests a wide range of possible careers that take advantage of those skills and passions. You might be surprised at where your passions can lead you. For instance, I profiled a woman who studied voice, intending to be a professional opera singer. But she found that while she loved singing, she didn't like public performance. So after talking with a career counselor, she went back to school and got a degree in speech pathology. Today, she works with people who have lost the use of their voice -- through illness, injury, even suicide attempts -- and helps them to start communicating again. Opera singer to speech pathologist. It doesn't make sense unless you see that it wasn't performing opera that she loved; it was using her voice to communicate. Once she tapped into that, doors opened.
All of that to say: Follow your passions. And be willing to take a look beyond the obvious.
Bob
I wrote a book on careers ("Your Perfect Job"), which may or may not be helpful for you. But one of the resources I recommend is a book called "Discover What You're Best At." It's essentially a series of self-tests that highlight your specific talents and interests and then suggests a wide range of possible careers that take advantage of those skills and passions. You might be surprised at where your passions can lead you. For instance, I profiled a woman who studied voice, intending to be a professional opera singer. But she found that while she loved singing, she didn't like public performance. So after talking with a career counselor, she went back to school and got a degree in speech pathology. Today, she works with people who have lost the use of their voice -- through illness, injury, even suicide attempts -- and helps them to start communicating again. Opera singer to speech pathologist. It doesn't make sense unless you see that it wasn't performing opera that she loved; it was using her voice to communicate. Once she tapped into that, doors opened.
All of that to say: Follow your passions. And be willing to take a look beyond the obvious.
Bob
simenon,
You are correct, one can always go back for more education or otherwise get training later in life. You put it well, when you invest time money and effort into an education you should at least be able to tolerate if not enjoy your profession.
You are correct, one can always go back for more education or otherwise get training later in life. You put it well, when you invest time money and effort into an education you should at least be able to tolerate if not enjoy your profession.
I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up, still don't. So going to college would have been a waste of time for me and a waste of money for my folks. So I got a good job after pounding the pavement. It sure beat the old folks home I worked in washing shitty laundry all day. I would have said not too long ago that if you can figure out what you want to do then go to college and get the degree that would benefit you the most. Today I can't say that anymore. The college system is so rigged by the government, which controls student loan debt, and the universities that try to sell you an education and a job. But the job never seems to be realized by many kids today and so they are left with 50K+ in debt and no job prospects. As a matter of necessity get the trade. If you become an instrument tech or an electrician that skill will put food on the table and clothes on your back anywhere in the world. It's great to be able to get a job that will make you very happy. If you do you will be very blessed. But if not it will be great to get a trade and not burden yourself, at such a young age, with a crushing load of debt. If you got the trade you'd have a huge leg up in earning potential than someone after 4-6 years in school. You would be ahead of the curve on less debt, more work history and be in a better financial situation than them. Once government sticks their nose into something it screws it up royal and makes it way more expensive.
I think that a trade with employment prospects is the best direction for youth without a definite professional career in mind.
If you have the intelligence and the temperament, you can always go back and study whatever you want.
I presume you are only 18 years old. You will be a completely different individual when you are 25.
If you have the skills, you could go on to be a doctor or lawyer or teacher or engineer from that age.
The difference is that you will probably be able to finance your own education a little better, and you will have a lot of life experience under your belt.
(A lot of people don't go back, because they can't suffer the drop in income or because their family situation has changed, but it doesn't mean that they weren't necessarily ABLE to go back)
As they say, youth is wasted on the youth. Most of us don't know shit about what we want to be when we are at that age. It takes time to figure it all out, and maybe you will stumble upon a different career by taking this path...
If you have the intelligence and the temperament, you can always go back and study whatever you want.
I presume you are only 18 years old. You will be a completely different individual when you are 25.
If you have the skills, you could go on to be a doctor or lawyer or teacher or engineer from that age.
The difference is that you will probably be able to finance your own education a little better, and you will have a lot of life experience under your belt.
(A lot of people don't go back, because they can't suffer the drop in income or because their family situation has changed, but it doesn't mean that they weren't necessarily ABLE to go back)
As they say, youth is wasted on the youth. Most of us don't know shit about what we want to be when we are at that age. It takes time to figure it all out, and maybe you will stumble upon a different career by taking this path...
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