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Comment by jswinghammer | Hacker News Reader

This is a very interesting article. I've seen a few families I know push kids into college who were clearly better suited for blue collar work. That just frustrates the kids and the parents who don't understand why their kid just doesn't fit into the college mold. I'm hoping to encourage my children to take whatever path makes sense for them and not force them to be anything that doesn't work for them. I hope that the US starts producing things again and thus blue collar labor is valued more so that kids who aren't really meant for college always have a respected, valued place in society.

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What the US needs is a really good vocational-level school system. We have a huge gap between universities and trade schools. If we were to formalize vocational/trade schools it would bring much more legitimacy to those careers.

Being a resident of Québec, Canada, I find that the CEGEP ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEGEP ) system employed here is something that other provinces and perhaps even the United States should take a closer look at.

The wiki page can describe the benefits of such a system in much more detail than I can, but I can offer one salient piece of information: the system works, and it works quite well.

I'm hoping to encourage my children to take whatever path makes sense for them and not force them to be anything that doesn't work for them.

I think you'll be a good parent if this is your attitude. I hate to say it though, but in the words of the Boss:

Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they aint coming back; to your hometown

While there is a demand - and I believe always will be - for tradespeople and skilled professionals (i.e. Electricians and Mechanics) the blue collar labour that we've known from the 20th century is dead and gone. It's good to understand this - High School and continued education matter, because nobody is getting a good union job at the factory any more.

>It's good to understand this - High School and continued education matter, because nobody is getting a good union job at the factory any more.

I think that's a very important distinction that you have mentioned.

There will always be positions for skilled professionals. I'd go one step beyond that and say that there will also always be positions for unskilled workers in fields that must remain local - construction, food preparation, etc.

Other unskilled workers need to be careful -- white or blue collar.

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