I can tell there's some momentum building for trades, but this is the unfortunate generation that got the wrong old advice instead of the new advice. By the time the new "trades" message is clear I'm sure it'll be useless advice as well.
I thought the other option was obvious: Colleges should prepare people for jobs rather than hiding behind excuses like "We're creating well-rounded citizens!"
Unfortunately, that would mean they'd need to replace all the TAs and adjunct professors with people who are actually qualified and have real world experience in their field, so it will probably never happen.
Why would you be disadvantaged? Not going to college isn't going to give you down syndrome to limit your career advancement. However, it is true if you already have down syndrome, you are going to really struggle to get into a college and are very likely to struggle in the workplace. We need to be careful to not conflate the two.
It is true that people with higher levels of scholastic attainment are statistically more likely to be successful in the workplace. However, more interesting is the change over time. With a substantial increase in post secondary attainment over the last several decades, what hasn't changed is the level of success in the workplace. Incomes are stagnant. Job quality is in decline. If education gave advantages, the more and more people being formally educated to a higher degree should result in rising incomes and/or job quality should be increasing, not the opposite.
Which brings me back to my opening paragraph. Post secondary schooling appears to provide an advantage only because it has already filtered out anyone who is inherently disadvantaged. It does not create advantages and disadvantages, it only reflects the advantages and disadvantages which are already present.
University takes an incredible amount of time and money. If people put their resources into more independent endeavours, they'd certainly see a return on the investment greater than most college degrees.
If you've done something interesting (and really having a degree isn't all that interesting), then large companies will be happy to talk to you.
Any giant tech company will all happily interview you if you have a good portfolio without a degree.
All of this takes work of course, but not more work than getting a degree. It does take a lot of independent thought and strength to do what you think is right even when others are telling you it's wrong though.
I'm not saying the current situation doesn't suck - but these are people trying to make the most of it by doing what they think is the best move for their situation.
That's simply not true. Despite a sharp rise in post secondary attainment, workplace success has not meaningfully changed in many decades. Incomes are stagnant. Job quality is reportedly in decline. Where are you seeing the gain in workplace success with the rise of post secondary attainment?
I expect what you are really referring to is that those with higher levels of scholastic attainment are statistically more likely to have a higher income than those with lesser levels, but like I said before, that is because people with down syndrome (to stick with the example), who will statistically struggle in the workplace, never had a chance to go to college in the first place.
Not all people are equal. A lot of people simply do not have what it takes to be accepted into college, and if they manage to be accepted, they fail under the academic rigour. The same qualities that see them struggle in school are what also result in struggles in the workplace. If you could theoretically graduate from college with flying colours, you're already destined to be successful in the workplace, even if you never go to college.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_...
However, the post secondary attainment rate is quite a bit higher. Bachelor degrees are not the only type of post secondary attainment.
I will add that, statistically, even those with high school attainment will do better in the workplace than high school dropouts, but that is for the same reason: Those who drop out of high school have deeper issues that limit their success in the workplace. It is not because of the lack of a diploma. Each successive level of schooling filters out more and more people who are not born successful, which is why the more successful people, statistically, have higher levels of schooling.
What is not changing over time, as more and more people attain a post secondary education, is workplace success. Incomes are stagnant. Job quality is reportedly in decline. This invalidates the idea that post secondary schooling increases workplace success.
> Are you implying that the other 73% would be simply unable to attain the degree?
Bachelor's degree? Quite possibly. ~30% bachelor attainment seems to be a fairly consistent limit across the world, even where general post secondary attainment is much higher. In Canada, over 60% of the population have a post secondary education, but university attainment also tops out at approximately 25%. Which should be surprising given that Canada more than anywhere else has an extreme culture of "If you don't go to university, you will be forever stuck working at McDonalds".