March 15th, 2024
I have been reading articles about how young men are currently choosing to forego a college education. Actually, the number of men going to four-year colleges and universities has been declining ever since 2011, so this is not a new trend. The authors of these articles see the declining number of male college students as being a crisis for the United States. I’m not sure that it is.
Back when I was in high school, fifty years ago, I made plans to go to college. There was never really any doubt that I would go. It was a given at that time that if a person wanted to get ahead in the world, they had to have a college degree. The only question I had was how I was going to pay for college. My parents had no money, so I would need a loan and/or a scholarship. Somehow, I managed to score an appointment to West Point, so money was no longer a factor. Instead of paying for my education with dollars, I paid for it with six years of my life.
Now, a half century later, the cost of higher education is astronomical, and the time needed to pay back student loans is measured in decades. The extreme price tag attached to a college education would be tolerable if there was some certainty that a graduate would find employment that could make the expenditure of money and effort worthwhile. However, that is not the case. There are young guys with bachelor’s degrees who are slinging coffee at Starbucks. The college degree, by itself, does not open doors like it did a generation ago.
So, young men have to find other paths in life. There are careers available to them that do not require a four-year degree. I am thinking about working in the trades. This country is chronically short of electricians, plumbers, ironworkers, mason, and carpenters. These are usually skilled positions, and they have good pay and benefits. Compensation depends on a number of factors, such as geographical location, union membership, and specialization of skills.
My two sons are both in the trades. Hans, my eldest son, pumps concrete for a living. He operates a pump truck with a 58-meter boom. It’s a job that requires planning skills, mechanical ability, and an intuitive sense of three-dimensional space. It is also physically demanding. My youngest son, Stefan, is in the Ironworkers Union. He is a journeyman and mostly does welding high up on tall buildings. He is also the welding instructor for his union local. He trains the new apprentices.
Hans and Stefan both have excellent pay and good benefits. They have no student debt. On the other hand, they both work their asses off. They often work outside in unpleasant weather, and they put in long hours. They earn their money, every nickel of it.
When Stefan teaches the fresh-faced apprentices how to weld, he also gives them the lowdown on what their career will be like. He explains to all of his students what benefits they can expect as an Ironworker. They are generally impressed by those. Then Stefan asks them some pointed questions.
“Are you afraid of heights? At the jobsites, they will be putting you up on the steel the first week. Do you mind being on top of a beam 100 feet up?”
“Do you have clothes for working outside in cold weather? Do you mind welding when the temperature is zero degrees, not counting the wind chill?”
At that point, some of the apprentices choose another line of work. They want the big money, but they want the pain that goes with it.
Hans and Stefan both have solid work ethics. They expect to be well compensated, but they are willing to work hard for that. Some of their contemporaries do not have a work ethic. These other young men somehow expect to make good money without actually earning it. In fairness, I knew plenty of guys in my generation who also lacked a work ethic. They wound up poor.
There are plenty of jobs out there for young guys who are willing to hustle. They don’t need a fancy degree. They just need courage, ambition, and resilience.
Frank is Emptiness 