PerplexedPlumber
Well-Known Member
Mitchell makes a good point - some basic life skills education are important for everyone IMO, not just for those planning to continue their education. Without learning what should be basic, it leaves people vulnerable. And it brings up a memory from conversations with my sister, a retired educator, about "teaching to the test". To be globally competitive, the US needs to improve math skills or at least math test-taking skills. And here goes another opinion: take away the cell phones and calculators!! I expect that doing math "the hard way" increased our skills more broadly, in developing concepts/models, in logical skills, in many ways.
Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, mathematicians and scientists have an underlying common interest: problem-solving. People who enjoy a challenge don't have to become programmers, but there is probably a lot of competition by Big Tech for developing interest among students in this area, as this is also their "resource pool".
It also occurs to me that there is less personal injury risk in that field of work, where you can enjoy problem-solving without say, taking a photo of your leg after an injury (TwoWaxHack and (Zanne?) - see Random Plumbing Pics) or worse.
And then there's the random reward factor. If you've trained dogs, you've probably heard that random reward is a powerful motivator. That is also clear by the number of casinos and lotteries in the past few decades. So, if you have a potential for a high reward in tech vs long-term employment in a trade, the person driven by random reward will probably choose tech more often. Or maybe I'm just spouting too much opinion. JG makes trade sound significantly more lucrative. [$120/hr is approx. 250k/year, without overtime]
Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, mathematicians and scientists have an underlying common interest: problem-solving. People who enjoy a challenge don't have to become programmers, but there is probably a lot of competition by Big Tech for developing interest among students in this area, as this is also their "resource pool".
It also occurs to me that there is less personal injury risk in that field of work, where you can enjoy problem-solving without say, taking a photo of your leg after an injury (TwoWaxHack and (Zanne?) - see Random Plumbing Pics) or worse.
And then there's the random reward factor. If you've trained dogs, you've probably heard that random reward is a powerful motivator. That is also clear by the number of casinos and lotteries in the past few decades. So, if you have a potential for a high reward in tech vs long-term employment in a trade, the person driven by random reward will probably choose tech more often. Or maybe I'm just spouting too much opinion. JG makes trade sound significantly more lucrative. [$120/hr is approx. 250k/year, without overtime]