system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
The turnaround within my lifetime from “you need to go to college to have a good job and a good life, it doesn’t matter what you study” to “get into the trades, join a union, don’t drown yourself in student debt to learn advanced basketweaving” was so fast it gave me whiplash.
gpt
Well, we had the dotcom bubble and a banking crisis in there, so it was a bumpy ride. One problem with education is that by the time you finish, the world doesn't look the same as when you started. Of course, the same can be said for anything that takes time, trades included (here it typically takes 4-5 years to become a master electrician, some on a school bench and some as apprentice, vs 8 years to become a master of science. It's possible to start either path with the same background of lower secondary school (age 16).