Part IV - The Scarecrow Syndrome

     There are two or three more topics I'd like to discuss as middle/pre high school segments.  I had inititally planned to move on to use of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CareerOneStop this week.  However, I think it would be beneficial to discuss/explain a statement I made in Part III that not everyone need or should go to college.
     Now that, hopefully, you/your child have used some of the tools discussed to discover general interests, I'd like to caution you not to fall into the trap of believing someone can't be happy in a job unless it requires a college degree.  While more and more employers might favor applicants with post-secondary education, that's largely due to the current unemployment rate and economy.  There are just that many more job applicants. 
     Another factor is that parents feel there's a sense of prestige in saying their kid is going to such and such college, the pricier, often times, the better.  Ivy League names seem to garner the most respect. ( A lot of people responsible for this economy went to these schools.  Enough said!)  I call this the Scarecrow Syndrome.  In the Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow mistakenly thinks the showy diploma that declared him a Doctor of Thinkology made him smart.  It should be so easy!  It's a lesson as to how so much of what we hold true can be a matter of perception.
     People seem to deliberate more about the cost of a car and what they get for it than they do the cost and worth of a specific college, or even college in general.  A colleague of mine and I were discussing what our children were planning to do after high school.  Naturally, the discussion turned to college.  I said that I really wished my kid wanted to be a plumber.  The other teacher couldn't believe I was serious.  Another colleague chimed in, "My plumber is a millionaire and only takes the jobs that he wants".  Who's the "thinkologist" here?
     The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a great site which we will get to next week.  Their studies show:


While the general trend is that more education leads to higher wages,
the level of education is not the only determinant of wage.  For example, elevator installers and repairers, who are classified in the long-term-on-the-job category, had a median annual wage of $69,380 in May 2008, which is higher than the median annual wages for occupations in the bachelor's degree category, which was $57,770.

They say, in summation, that "occupations categorized in postsecondary categories are projected to have the fastest growth from 2008-18."  However, "on-the-job training and work experience categories still are projected to comprise the majority share of 2018 employment".
     The point of this post is that in helping someone decide what career path they should take, options should be considered that include training in addition to or in lieu of formal postsecondary education.