Workforce: Trade School vs. College

An educated person can be trained, but a trained person is not necessarily educated. It is important that all receive a solid education that equips them to go on to college if they desire. A recent news report said that around 70% of students are not ready for college or universities. That’s been true of community colleges for some time.

My son went to a technical school, and a few years later he managed a large state government contract for his company. I remember him telling me how glad he was that he knew how to write, although he didn’t like it and never wanted a job that requires writing. He’s now vice president of his company and writes contracts. He did finish his degree online.

I can remember when people were ashamed that they only got an 8th grade education. I’ll bet that many graduating now don’t have what is equal to an 8th grade education years ago. I remember showing the McGuffy Readers to a college student years ago. I asked her what grade she though the 6th reader was. She said college level.

My other son taught his daughter to read at three. I would not have believed it had I not seen it. He is not a teacher, had no training in teaching reading, and didn’t use a curriculum. He taught her to identify letters, the sounds of letters, and the blends. I took her to the zoo and she sounded out “dwarf warthog” when she was three. She’s in Kindergarten now and read 4 books to her class the first few weeks of school. If he can do this, why aren’t kids learning to read in school?