When I was young, the answer was unambiguously yes. And, indeed, in terms of future employment, as recorded here, with one you have been much more likely to be employed and remain so since 1992. Leaving aside how long it took you to recoup the money spent on getting one in the first place.
Now, ideally, education teaches you how to think. But if you haven’t picked that process up in twelve years, you’re not likely to do it in four more. Or five more, as is the average nowadays.
Why shouldn’t we, instead, I said the other day to Mrs. C., encourage Mr. B. to become, say, an electrician. Every time we’ve tried to get an electrician to come fix something, it’s been hard, they’re all so busy. Most people (including me, to a certain extent) are afraid of electricity and so will hire even the relatively simple installation of a ceiling fan, rather than try it themselves. So why not do it Ace’s way:
“…if a kid a started an electrician’s apprentice program at 18, he could get his full Electrician’s license within 5 years. And if his parents had saved even half the money that would have gone for tuition, they would have enough to bankroll the kid setting up his own electrical business. For a lot of kids that’s a much better start to life than getting a bachelors degree in sociology or art history and wondering what now.”
No kidding.
















Oh well, it’s a tough one. On one hand, I know (or, rather, knew) a cobbler who was wiser than many a professor I happened to encounter. On the other, the same cobbler, had he been given a chance to go to university, could have been a leading scientist by now easily.
On yet another hand, who needs too many scientists?
Indeed, too many of them are sheep. Witness the global warming fiasco.
This may be primarily a concern of liberal arts majors for other, future liberal arts majors. When you major in something useful, like one of the sciences, you’ve stepped beyond our normally muddled state of affairs.