HomeSchooling Home Education Blog

The Ascendant Blue Collar

[Wednesday 2 August 20237]

One interesting article we came across put a very up-to-date confirmation to the HomeLearn Launchpad approach.

The article was from a 'blog' called 'Slope of Hope' (a Stock Traders website) and entitled "The Ascendant Blue Collar". You need a login to access the original, but the copy can be found on another blog called 'Zero Hedge' at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-07-31/ascendant-blue-collar

The author speaks to students with a strongest possible word of advice:

"To those in America in their late teens or early 20s. To those graduating high school. To those in college. To those considering a career. I have one simple, plain thing to say………….

Learn to be a plumber. Or an electrician. Or a carpenter. Learn a trade. Dial the clock back to the 1950s when being a tradesman of some kind was an honorable, solidly middle-class profession with which you could support a family. You could be proud at the end of the day of what you did and whom you helped."

"Why would I say such a thing? Why would I, who has made his living with computers since the age of 14, suggest the equivalent of going to trade school and becoming an apprentice?"

"My view is that the millions of kids getting Computer Science degrees in colleges are, except for the top 1% of them, absolute suckers. They are going to find themselves virtually indistinguishable from the zillions of other CS engineers, and theyre going to be in jobs doing work that they find neither inspiring nor rewarding.
Worse yet, theyre going to get squeezed out of work by two forces:
(1) The natural law that, once youre age 30, you’re already a relic in the CS biz, and
(2) Artificial intelligence
"

But isnt AI the *FUTURE happening NOW* as all the hype is saying?

The authors answer: "Those who can actually do things with their hands that require knowledge are going to absolutely be able to write their own ticket. They will find high-paying jobs wherever they go. They can pick up stakes and find strong markets wherever they like. And there ain’t no AI gonna push an electrician or a plumber out of a job. Promise.":

So ... do you really want to slog through high-pressure study and exams, only to find out that it put you on the queue for a career that AI had taken over?

The HomeLearn Launchpad program emphasises the need to get out into the workforce to gain experience in real practical skills that gives a much BETTER way to a future career.
Why not take a look?