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Mayor Bloomberg: Skip College and Become Plumbers
Townhall ^ | 05/18/2013 | Heather Ginsberg

Posted on 05/19/2013 6:23:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

At an event on Friday the Mayor of New York City put his foot in his mouth…again. Michael Bloomberg attempted to give mediocre high school students some advice: skip college and become plumbers. He said students who were not above average should learn how to be plumbers instead of reaching for a career that would involve going to a prestigious college and obtaining a degree.

The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class. Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College — being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal. You don’t spend ... four years spending $40,000, $50,000 in tuition without earning income.

Not only does Bloomberg think that skipping college is a good plan, but he also went on to give some advice about finding jobs that won’t be outsourced. “It’s hard to farm that out ... and it’s hard to automate that,” he said. He went on to say that a number of studies indicate that people who learn plumbing skills have less debt and make more money than those who get college degrees.

An advisor who helps students with college financial planning who was also at the event was not completely supportive of Bloomberg’s comments. He said, “College is a good investment,” and continued, “The only schools that cost $40,000 or $50,000 like the mayor said are elite schools”.

So maybe it is time for Michael Bloomberg to lower his elitist standards. College degrees are a good investment and should be sought after. Not everyone has the ability to afford these elite schools, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options for them to be able to attend college.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloomberg; brokenclock; college; right4once
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1 posted on 05/19/2013 6:23:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

A self-serving, egotistic controlling meddlesome billionaire telling the people he’s sworn to help educate and live their lives to the fullest tells them to “f@ck college” and become a plumber....imagine that.


2 posted on 05/19/2013 6:25:39 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: SeekAndFind

Nah - just get a job working for the government


3 posted on 05/19/2013 6:26:45 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: SeekAndFind

He’s actually at least partially right for once.

Our colleges are full of students who don’t belong there and only provide the raw materials of marxist indoctrination while hindering the best and brightest.


4 posted on 05/19/2013 6:27:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Welder/Pipe Fitter/Mechanic non union $80,000 a year...screw college


5 posted on 05/19/2013 6:27:58 AM PDT by RIGHTWING WACKO FROM MASS. (Better to have and not need than to need and not have...my theory on gun control)
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To: RIGHTWING WACKO FROM MASS.

Yup. We need more trade schools and apprenticeship programs.


6 posted on 05/19/2013 6:30:07 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Is he nuts? Much more money in drugs...


7 posted on 05/19/2013 6:32:20 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: cripplecreek

Absolutely...But of course...that means work and ethics and honesty and .....


8 posted on 05/19/2013 6:34:21 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: SeekAndFind

He is right.


9 posted on 05/19/2013 6:35:48 AM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
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To: SeekAndFind
He said students who were not above average should learn how to be plumbers instead of reaching for a career that would involve going to a prestigious college and obtaining a degree.

ROFLMAO!

Hubby's a plumber Mr. Bloombutt, and I've seen him calculate fall and do volume/mass calculations without even using so much as piece of paper! Can YOU do calculus equations in YOUR head, Mr. Mayor?

-----

What IS it about these liberal, elitist pricks that think jobs requiring manual labor are somehow of lesser value and the people that do them must be correspondingly of lesser intelligence??

ARGH! It just makes me want to smack them so hard their grand-kids will have bumps!

10 posted on 05/19/2013 6:35:58 AM PDT by MamaTexan (A government that will not defend it's military will also not bother to protect its People.)
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To: cripplecreek

If the kid is smart, he or she should simply use college as a high-end trade school. My son graduated last year as a civil engineer. He already makes more than my wife and I combined. Plus, on his own, he now reads all the literary “classics” he missed in college — without the disadvantage of a left-wing, America-hating grad student interpreting the classics for him.


11 posted on 05/19/2013 6:40:07 AM PDT by duckworth (Perhaps instant karma's going to get you. Perhaps not.)
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To: SeekAndFind

After all - there are only a limited number of mayoral jobs for arrogant Nanny State politicians.


12 posted on 05/19/2013 6:40:38 AM PDT by Iron Munro (Obama-Ville - Land of The Freebies, Home of the Enslaved)
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To: SeekAndFind

Now, he says it. Like the liberal arts folks, gotta chance in the trades. I’d love to see Bloomie, bend an elbow, breakin’ a wrench. Yeah, right.


13 posted on 05/19/2013 6:41:27 AM PDT by RedHeeler
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To: RIGHTWING WACKO FROM MASS.; cripplecreek

Yep, family’s done pretty good being gear heads. My youngest son was hired right out of welding school.
Young craftsman are hard to find.


14 posted on 05/19/2013 6:46:44 AM PDT by twistedwrench
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To: cripplecreek

I think Bloomberg is an *ss, but I completely agree w/ you on this. College has been opened to people who have no business going there. Not to mention that they will have a much better chance of finding a job w/ a technical skill.

Sorry, but ever since PC invaded the country everyone is going to college. Frankly w/ my grades I probably should not have gone, but I came from a college educated family & it was a given that I would go.


15 posted on 05/19/2013 6:48:29 AM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

So this sawed-off kcirp levels with them and lets them know being a tradesman is a job for a dolt... I’m surprised he didn’t warn them against the military like Lurch did.


16 posted on 05/19/2013 6:49:30 AM PDT by 4buttons
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To: MamaTexan
“What IS it about these liberal, elitist pricks that think jobs requiring manual labor are somehow of lesser value and the people that do them must be correspondingly of lesser intelligence??”

You are absolutely correct, and he showcases the problem with his own comment. “..graduates who aren’t rocket scientists..”. One of the reasons why so many avoided trades and skilled labor types of jobs is because people like Bloomberg perpetuated the conception that these jobs were for those who couldn't do much else. That's incredibly insulting, and totally inaccurate. What he should have said is ‘if you can't excel at other things, academic or otherwise, you can always become a politician - where the bar is a lot lower’.

17 posted on 05/19/2013 6:51:18 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: pieceofthepuzzle
Bloomberg perpetuated the conception that these jobs were for those who couldn't do much else.

I'd bet that most American college students would flunk out of a German or Swiss vocational school.

18 posted on 05/19/2013 6:54:57 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (All that is required for evil to advance is for government to do "something")
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To: SeekAndFind

What an insufferable snobbish dolt. It takes intelligence, technical skill and practical sense to be a tradesman...way more than some useless educated idiot.


19 posted on 05/19/2013 6:56:18 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: duckworth
He already makes more than my wife and I combined.

Isn't that what we all want for our kids? (rhetorical).

I have 4 adult children and two minor children....so far, so good.

20 posted on 05/19/2013 6:57:06 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (_.. ._. .. _. _._ __ ___ ._. . ___ ..._ ._ ._.. _ .. _. .)
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