In late April I posted in “notes” on Substack, a meme concerning Adam and Chris. Adam went to college, got a degree in Philosophy along with $100k in student debt. The meme states Adam believes people without college degrees are stupid.
Chris did a 4 year paid apprenticeship, has no student debt, earns about $80k a year and recently disconnected Adam’s electricity.
I didn’t create the meme but I thought it was funny and it contains multiple points for discussion.
Full disclosure I graduated from a 4 year college and you paid for it. I repaid you by serving our country for 8 years. I received a Bachelor of Science degree and a degree in International Affairs. I have never used either degree in any job I have had.
I have an associates degree and a masters degree in Paralegal Studies. I had student loans and I paid them off.
I’ve posted other memes in notes and got some good responses but not like the ones I’ve received concerning Adam and Chris. I’ve also posted, what I thought to be intellectual notes (quotes from Ayn Rand’s book “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”) which got no response from anyone.
So why has the “Adam and Chris” meme gotten everyone so excited? I told someone this meme has been going strong since April and it appears the restacks have been restacked, if that’s possible. We’re now into the month of May and I’m still getting comments concerning this meme. I was asked, why, with so many other major issues occurring in the world did I feel this was important.
I have no idea.
You’d have to ask the 845 people who liked the meme and the 72 people who restacked it.
When I received the meme, Biden was pushing forward with cancelling student loans. As I’ve aged, I have begun to look at education, especially college differently. College is losing it’s prestige. High schoolers are graduating with college degrees (associates degrees). Colleges are creating majors and minors that seem fun and may provide you with information you personally find interesting, but that have no redeeming qualities in the workplace. Students have no idea why they are in college other than that’s what they’ve been groomed for their whole life.
What’s the rush concerning college? Why does Mary have to go to college as soon as she graduates from high school? We live in a time where people are expected to live past the age of 80, so why the rush to get a degree, get in debt because of student loans, get a job that you don’t really like but need so you can pay your loan, and then work until your 65 so you can retire and enjoy 11-20 more years of life if you are in good health? Add to this probably having to take care of aging family members during your “golden years” and it starts to seem you may have wasted your life. In the future I plan to write more about school, our education system and address why I believe we start pushing Mary to go to college as soon as she is born.
Why not join the military and learn a skill or a trade? Why not work and travel the country or if you can the world? Why not allow our children to decompress from 12 years of school and figure out what they want to do with the rest of their time on earth. Help them get a sales job so they can learn to speak to and deal with all sorts of people and how to think quickly on their feet.
I had a plumber come to the house the other day. He said he and others in the trades notice students don’t know anything about trades and although he is very busy, he isn’t seeing many people who could take his place when he moves on. While everyone is going to college and basically making a college degree worthless, not many people are even exploring the trades. Even those who do, according to the plumber, don’t have the work ethic needed to do the work. The plumber also shared he was not a good high school student and college was not for him.
Please look at this meme and see the other messages that are imbedded in it before getting mad at me.
A comment I received stated that students aren’t being giving all the information they need concerning trade schools. I countered with students aren’t being giving all the information they need concerning college.
The trades and the careers they offer can be hard and take a toil on you physically and mentally. The careers one can get after getting a degree can be hard and take a toil on you physically and mentally as well. For example, lawyers tend to get TMJ and most insurance companies won’t cover this ailment. This is a stress related injury.
You can find alcoholics and drug users in business, the legal field and everything in between, just like you can find in the trades.
Instead of searching for what’s easy, students need to learn to choose their hard.
The good news is Adam is free to pursue a degree in whatever he wants, as long as he pays the bill when it comes due. Adam may not be bent towards working with his hands or working outdoors.
Chris is free to get into the trades. College may not be something Chris wants to do at this time. If part of his job is to turn off someones electricity who can’t pay their power bill, then so be it.
It’s incumbent on “Adam and Chris” and their parents to research the college or trade their child is considering. Whatever career path they take is on them and if either has to get a loan to do what they want to do they need to be responsible for repaying the loan.
Excellent post. Great meme! 😅We are third generation electricians and my husband and his brother wondered ten years ago who? might be there to hire in the future. My husband has to carry the weight of our business naturally, and has physically put in 40 years pulling wire, digging, you name it. Why on earth he thought sweating it out in ditches to pay for our three kid's college dreams was important we will never know now. Their educations have not only forced retirement for him to 70, (he's 62), it tore our family apart. He knew they were indoctrination institutions. All three are successful thank God.
I admire you Cecil. Thank you for your service too 🙏🏻
When you learn a trade you will never be without a job. My husband went to the same college as you which he refers to as trade school. The military provides so many opportunities to mature, learn a skill, learn leadership skills. Learn to take orders as well as lead. We certainly would benefit from high schools across this great nation allowing military recruiters to go into HS’s.