When I was in school, I was always told “If you get a college degree you’ll on average make 500k more over the life time of your career regardless of what you get your degree in!”

Then as I finishing school, it was all about “If you get into tech you’ll make big bucks and always have jobs!”

Both of those have turned out not great for a lot of people.

Then whenever women say they’re struggling with money online, they get pointed to OF… which pays nothing to 99% of creators. Also very presumptive to suggest that, but we don’t even need to get into that.

So is there a field/career strategy that you feel like is currently being over pushed?

(My examples are USA, Nevada/Utah is where I grew up, if maybe it’s different in other parts of USA even.)

  • Subtracty@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    I haven’t met any parents telling their kids to go into the trades aside from one dad who is already in the trades and knows the life.

    Most of the parents of high/middle schoolers I speak to are pushing STEM and entrepreneurship. I coach this age group, and the parents still want their kid to go on to higher education. They just are more aggressive about it being a meaningful degree.

    There is also more discussion of the cost of schools. A degree from a local school with in state tuition or a community college transfer is looked upon more favorably now. Frankly, a lot of the elite schools are bullshit and the general public is waking up to that now. The work a student is willing to put into learning is much more important than if the school has a high rank.

    • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      I have definitely heard parents encouraging kids to go into the trades. Could be a regional thing. Anecdotal either way.

      I agree elite schools are bullshit for the vast majority. There are some PhD and medical programs that aren’t. But that’s a tiny percentage of students who would benefit.

      • Subtracty@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Yeah, it is definitely dependent on region and lots of other factors. Plus, I fully admit it is a small sample size. But I just wanted to say my part because suggesting the trades certainly isn’t as universal as advising kids to go to college was a generation ago.

        Also, I agree with the elite schools for grad programs. But so few kids get to that point and would have to get through undergrad (and likely crippling students loans) to even apply to for the good grad schools.