Summary Of Maybe You Should Have Gone To Trade School By Rachel Ryan

The article "Maybe You Should Have Gone to Trade School" by Rachel Ryan argues that vocational schools offer more benefits than traditional colleges, highlighting a decline in college enrollment. Degrees over education and skills form the crux of Ryan's criticism of higher ed institutions, which she believes are essential for societal improvement. "With a whopping 40 percent of recent graduates unemployed, that diploma isn't much of a guarantee you'll get anywhere worthwhile with it either," she asserts, revealing the poor career preparation colleges often provide despite years of study and financial investment by students. Ryan contends that supplementing academic achievements with practical skills and relevant experiences increases one's chances of career success.

Furthermore, jobs in the trade industry are a cheaper and faster path to a high salary, stable employment, and greater success. Contradicting myths of poor compensation, Ryan cites "A 2012 salary survey by Industry Week [which] found that manufacturing managers earned an average salary of $99,643, while the median was $86,000." These nearly six-figure salaries for highly skilled trade roles put them on par with prestigious white-collar careers. Likewise, Skorup acknowledged that post-Recession, fields like "construction, transportation, excavation, the automotive industry, and manufacturing" saw job increases, underscoring trades' economic importance and resilience. Rather than overlooking these occupations, their lucrative pay and role in driving economic growth position them as serious paths to stability. Skorup and Coleman highlight the challenges of college admissions, given the sacrifices involved in pursuing higher education. Even if college were free, Skorup argues students may still not "gain the skills for their degree, resulting in taxpayer money wasted — a pure deadweight