I want to share a personal story about my husband and some of my many years of insight on this subject of accredited degrees. I'm sure it will fall on deaf ears of those who are easily persuaded by the promises of fame and fortune. Those who will be just as easily disappointed when they realize they've been duped, or they don't have the ability to keep moving forward, but are now facing tuition loans.
I believe, instead of promoting free education (nothing's ever free), we should have more emphasis towards trades. Pushing university degrees needs to stop because it floods the market with lawyers, scientists, teachers, accountants, doctors, engineers etc., etc., who don't always find a job in their career and still have to pay back sinfully huge loans for their education - unless their parents hocked everything to do it for them.
I cannot begin to tell you the people I've met in my life who are working at jobs that are not in their field of education but they were still paying on their tuition loans. I've even heard of people who left the legal and medical fields due to numerous reasons. We may be putting too much emphasis on the wrong thing. We still need carpenters, electricians, street sweepers, janitors, maids, trash collectors and not just scientist, engineers and any other accredited degreed field. Not to say that we don't need those too, that's not the point I wish to make.
Instead of getting caught up in that often deceitful web of higher education and riches, you may want to consider a trade school but only after you check the market and make sure it's not already flooded with others wanting the same trade. Look to see what jobs are needed, as they may often pay you more. When a trade is saturated with people, it becomes an employer's market. They can hire anyone for less. This includes degreed jobs too. I discovered this in the late eighties when I lost my job in accounting, due to the recession. I was told that people, with an accounting degree and recently getting out of universities, were being hired at less then I was making, because the accounting market was flooded.
Anyway, I know my husband may not appreciate me saying this but I'm going to toot his horn for him. After he put his time in with the Army, he worked a full time job as a city street sweeper at night. He, eventually, started his own part-time carpet cleaning business and did this in the mornings after he got off of work from the city. In time, he retired from the city and went full-time in his carpet cleaning business, which also included upholstery and tile cleaning. They didn't have trade schools for either of those jobs. He learned by on-the-job training, books, conventions and the internet but mostly by dedication and hard work. He rarely told anyone he couldn't do anything. He learned. He rarely turned down a job. He did whatever he could to make a living. He cared about what he did and never had to advertise. Word-of-mouth advertising kept him busy. He didn't have time to be jealous over another's success, he was too busy concentrating on his own. After selling his business in 2013, retiring for a second time, he still gets customers calling him and telling him they wish he was still in business. This blog picture is when he decided to go full time into his business, after he retired from the city. You can see how excited he was. Some people thought he'd fall on his face after leaving a regular paying job and investing into a new van and the professional equipment he needed. He proved them wrong.
Maybe some may looked down on him because he wasn't a doctor or lawyer, for instance, but he was successful in both his job and business without being either. He didn't have tuition loans to pay but he had supplies and equipment maintenance. He was frugal and saved whenever he could. At the beginning, when he was still working for the city, that helped pay for his business supplies until his business could support itself. He made decent wages with the city and charged reasonable fees for his business services. He never once thought a degree would make him more successful in what he was doing.
Thankfully, by the grace of God and planning ahead during our working years, we can pay our bills in full every month with our retirement incomes. I can remember times, in my younger years, that I couldn't. I lived paycheck to paycheck, so I know how it feels. Today, we both live with the philosophy that if we don't need it, we don't get it; if we can't afford it, we don't buy it. We also save for any emergency that may occur or vacations before we take them. He's always thinking ahead; saving for home or car repairs, medical or dental expenses, because we know they're inevitable.
I've learned a lot by being in his life which is why I wanted to share this about him. His success story didn't happen overnight. It is one of a laborer, one whose body took a beating and sometimes he wishes it could have been different or easier, but who can enjoy life now because of it. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate me telling him how "lucky" he was to be able to do what he did, especially when he's feeling the physical pains of his laborious years, but he knows I mean well. I'm very proud of him and his accomplishments, his successes, none of which took an accredited degree.
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