Maybe, but you probably don’t know a lot of people in the trades. This article is bad, sure, but I know a lot of college grads in “respected” professions earning way less than people that went into trades. I wouldn’t have met most of these tradespeople had my life not taken me in a circuitous path, and I’d be comparing my college grad friends to my couldn’t get into college/did poorly in college friends. I know people who should have been in a trade and instead went to college and did poorly and now can’t get work. Their family was doing what they thought was right but they were failed by this idea that they needed college. College isn’t for everyone and we should do a better job of making robust education to employment opportunities funnels that don’t just amount to college and networking.

We also need better employment laws so that working as a cashier or stocking shelves can still pay the bills for your family.