Agreed.
When the excrement hits the air circulation device, nobody's clamoring for a PhD in English Lit.
But when the excrement hits the air circulation device, that PhD of English Lit will pay the plumber a mint to fix the problem.
The skilled trades is a great career choice for a lot of people who today probably think they "need" to go to college.
I'll add a great example of this:
In HS Geometry I learned the Pythagorean Theorem. If you don't remember it, it is the mathematical rule that states that:
A^2+B^2 = C^2
Where:
- A and B are the sides of a right triangle that make the right angle, and
- C is the side of a right triangle that does not contact the right angle.
If you are in college prep or going to be an engineer or mathematician it is probably important to learn this. If you aren't, it isn't.
Now, when I learned it, I immediately recognized it as something that, in the building trades, is often simplified as the "Rule of 3, 4, 5".
The way the "Rule of 3, 4, 5" works is that when you are building something, you can check that your corner is square by measuring three feet down one side, four feet down another side, and the distance between your 3' mark and your 4' mark will be 5' if your corner is square. If you do the math, sure enough:
3^2+4^2 = 5^2
9+16 = 25
25 = 25
Here is my point: If you try to teach the Pythagorean Theorem to a bunch of non-college-material guys they are probably going to stare out the window, throw paper airplanes, or basically anything else other than learn Pythagoras' Theorem. However, if you taught them the rule of 3, 4, 5 there is a decent chance that they might see the practical application. If you aren't going to go to college then you have no need to know that Pythagoras was a greek dude who lived in Samos 2,500 years ago and figured this out. That knowledge is unlikely to ever be useful to you. However, there is a decent chance that you could use the knowledge that if you are building a deck behind your house the corner is square when the distance between your 3' mark and your 4' mark is exactly 5'. Hopefully someone reading this will use that when building a deck behind their own house. I've built lots of decks and used that lots of times.