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I agree. My late husband and I were both college grads, but by the time our 2 boys were teens in the late 1980s, we realized times had changed. Our older boy was the athletic type, joined the military, fought in Gulf War 1, tried a short stint in civilian work, reenlisted and now has more than 20 year, mostly in Special Forces. He plans to retire soon with half pension and he and wife are just opening their own business. Had they not done that, he figures he picked up a lot of useful skills for various civilian work choices. My younger soon was severely dyslexic and dropped out in the 10th grade. He was depressed and doing nothing. When he turned 18 I told him he needed to start paying $200 a month room and board like his brother said his friends in similar situations were doing. He said, OK, I’ll move out. He moved into a wreck of a house with several friends where they each paid $80 a month rent. I asked a young friend who I had helped if he could give him work and an occasional kick in the asx. This work was a combination graphic and electrical. He met his future wife in his group house. Now, 25 years later he has a fine wife, children, and his own successful small construction/maintenance business. One other important detail. After a few years of marriage there was only 1 grandchild between them. I got an equity line of credit and gave them each $10,000 to buy a house. They each bought a 3 bedroom fixer-upper in the early 2000s, and now I have 4 grandchildren.

So it seems clear that a college education is not essential, but one must gain skills, and parents can play an important role in helping their kids exercise other options. It is a shame the Betsy DeVos only seems to consider the college option as the important education for our young. If more technical and mechanical skills were taught in our schools, we would not have such a welcoming business environment for illegal immigrants.