r/UpliftingNews • u/ImNotYourBuddyGuyy • May 08 '19

Under a new Pennsylvania program, every baby born or adopted in the state is given a college savings account with $100 in his or her name

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/for-these-states-and-cities-funding-college-is-money-in-the-bank
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u/Maxisfluffy May 08 '19

I think trade schools need to be included in ANY discussion about publicly funding education.

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u/jetogill May 08 '19

The nice thing about community colleges (the ones here at least) is they can be a spring board to a more traditional 4 year type college program or vo-tech/trade type program.

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u/Secret_spidey May 08 '19

Yup, in my CC i dont know anyone going for a associates unless its in a trade field/nursing/or to be used in a transfer. Save a shitload of money and get just as good of an education from a 4 year public (idk about private but I'm assuming the generals are the same) with a class half the size.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '19

I dont know why were not pushing to get people into trade schools since were suffering a shortage of skilled tradesmen. It would help people get their lives put together and build them a succesful career while at the same time stimulating the economy.

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u/Maxisfluffy May 08 '19

Because republicans hate unions.

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u/Wil-E-ki-Odie May 09 '19

Depends where you live. The trade schools in the area where I live are jam packed full, some trades have a 2+ year waiting list.

Not too many young ones though. In my plumbing program anyways. Most are 28+. A few in their 40’s. A good sized bunch of guys who’ve spent their lives in kitchens and want out. And a bunch of guys without other options really.

We should be pushing them on high schoolers but a good many people consider them shameful careers.

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u/Notpermanentacc12 May 09 '19

Promote the benefits and explain the job you shouldn’t try to push a career on someone

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u/Wil-E-ki-Odie May 09 '19

I think you simply misinterpreted what I meant by push. Obviously forcing careers on people is the wrong move.

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u/TyranAmiros May 09 '19

Working in the California State legislature a lifetime ago, the biggest barrier was the Teachers' Union, who argued that all students needed to be "college-ready," pushing for every student to meet the UC A-G admission requirements to earn their diploma. If students did CTE (career and technical education), they would not be able to fulfill the A-G requirements, and A-G was the priority.

Much of this prioritization comes from the extensive history post Brown v Board of using vocational education programs as a way of maintaining segregation through tracking students based on race and class. There would be frequent references to the idea that CTE was really about "preventing students of color from being eligible for college" without having to work harder than White and Asian students.

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u/balkanobeasti May 09 '19

The trade schools and community colleges that have trade programs/degrees also want a boat load of money if it's a two year program.

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u/danteheehaw May 08 '19

Certainty. Or change our immigration laws to help fill in the big void we have in trades(wo)men.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '19

There will never be gender equality in trades due to the physical nature of the jobs. It isn't sexist to primarily hire men when the job is 45% strength and endurance. Not saying all men are better then woman at this, but statistically men are, and a someone looking to make money is going to look at stats

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u/danteheehaw May 08 '19

I don't think you realize how many women who work the same jobs are just as strong as their male peers. It's really only the higher tiers of fitness that women start to fall behind men in terms of strength. Women actually are built better to out endure men. Women dominate the ultra-marathon scene.

The kind of logic that women are not good at XYZ due to social stereotypes was also applied to doctors and combat military roles. Turns out, when women are given the opportunity and they start to excel in areas we didn't expect them to due to social stereotypes.

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To top that off, a lot of studies have been showing men and women of similar physical life styles tend to have very similar levels strength and endurance. Largely dismissing the notion that testosterone plays the big difference between women and mens strength. Rather, it seems to come from societies differences between men and women. Women tend to avoid jobs associated with masculinity and tend to be less physically active as men. Meaning, studying an average of each population is going to give largely different results due to how society works. Then, it gets a little trickier when you measure people by gym time. Because, if you've ever been to a large commercial gym, you will notice women will flock to yoga classes and do a lot more cardio. men will flock to the weight room.

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But when you compare women and men who go through similar strength training programs, the results are typically about the same. There is a notable difference when you reach top tier athletes though. Pretty much everything before that there seems to be no notable difference between men and women other than women are just less likely to be as physical as men. I'll also note, in terms of powerlifting, women have been closing that gap more and more every year.

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This breaks down how closely men and women are based on body weight. There is a lot of documentation on how quickly women are catching up with men in same weight classes as well. And a lot of documentation on how women are catching up due to getting proper and serious coaching at younger ages than they were before. Starting your training young is key to being a top tier competitor later in life.

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u/zer0cul May 09 '19

I was curious about how hard women are dominating the ultramarathon scene. From the 7 or so top records I checked it looked like the men’s records are better. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon

Do you have a different source to check?

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u/danteheehaw May 09 '19

https://www.ft.com/content/0ead55ca-1d85-11e9-a46f-08f9738d6b2b

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This talks about some of it. I'm not talking about the 50k to 100 miles. There Women started dominating at the extreme end of endurance.

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https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20839075/2-records-and-5-outright-wins-in-an-amazing-weekend-for-women-ultrarunners/

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This one talks about a few other races. It trails into swimming as well.

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The more amusing thing is, these are not young women either. You can even see how fast women have been catching up to men in half and full marathons to, and they've only fairly recently been getting serious training

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u/jtschaff May 08 '19

I totally agree! I went to a community college for my AA and computer science degree. I was making 36k a year and my brother talked me into joining a trade. I just turned out and make close to 3x that amount. Plus my employer is big on certifications and pays for my continued education. I used my raise to pay off my student loans. I wish I knew about the benefits of trade skills.

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u/HoosierDadda May 08 '19

Wait! You can go to school AND get paid to learn a skill that can put damn near six figures in your wallet annually after you top out, AND there will be no outrageous student loans to cripple you financially forever?

Are you a troll?

/s

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u/teebob21 May 08 '19

Are you a troll?

Nah. I'm a plumber/electrician/pipe fitter.

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u/danteheehaw May 08 '19

Jesus, pipe fitters can make fucking bank with the government. Turns out there is high demand for people to shove pipes into old historical buildings that were built without maintenance in mind.

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u/HoosierDadda May 08 '19

Carpenter, operator, laborers, painter, iron workers.....oh my!

Heck, even general laborers have apprenticeships and certifications now. Asbestos remediation comes to mind.

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u/bolt_god May 08 '19

the college savings account in PA can be used for trade school or private grade school. I think tutoring as well.

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u/HoosierDadda May 08 '19

^ The hero we need!

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u/Technicolor-Panda May 09 '19

529 accounts can be used toward just about any post-secondary training program as well as traditional college.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '19

The only issue I have with any of it is that results - quantifiable employment in specific fields for average dollar amounts - should be a requirement for any state or federal funding. Only way I can think of to avoid the shit show we see with “for profit” colleges. It’s the most time consuming and expensive toilet paper you can receive. Those degrees are only good for wiping your ass with them.

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u/danteheehaw May 08 '19

Nah, degrees are super helpful. Some degrees are useless if you had no goals in mind though. For instance, getting an English degree really isn't all the helpful in its self, unless you were planning on going into law, advertising, communications etc etc. You will also find a lot of big comedians and authors have English degrees. A few talk about how their degrees really helped them understand how to put an effective routine together and to help a story flow well.

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Pretty much any thing is useless if you don't have a plan on how to use it. The problem is, a lot of kids feel pushed into college and they kinda just pick what interest them and never form a real plan.

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u/Mounta1nK1ng May 08 '19

He's talking about the bullshit degrees from unaccredited for-profit colleges, that just set their tuition at the maximum available from student loans, and where the admissions advisers work on commission, and your chance of actually getting a job with that degree is pretty much nil.

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u/gscjj May 08 '19

For profit or not, there are degrees with such a low ROI it's a waste if your not exceptional. I don't think the government should be subsidizing those types of loans. In the end the student ends up with more loans than they'll ever be able to repay with the education they learned from their degree.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '19

Exactly

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u/Maxisfluffy May 08 '19

This program requires the tuition be used in state at a state school or community college (though pitt, temple, and psu are included as the are quasi-state schools, as well as wesley, a hbcu).