Comments by "Cross Link" (@crosslink1493) on "Things I (Do) Worry About: Higher Education in the US || Peter Zeihan" video.

I'm glad you mentioned middle school, but wish you would have mentioned it earlier. The ones in my area (along with the high schools) used to have shop classes teaching those 'blue collar' skills you mentioned will be in high demand - woodworking, metalworking, machinery, auto, welding, printing, etc. Those classes have long disappeared as the instructors retired and no one was available to take their place. Unless a kid gets exposed to those types of fields outside of the youth education system there isn't much to pique their interest in them.
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Good call. I got lucky and worked for an electrician neighbor while in college, got my e-contractor's license about 6 months after graduating from college. Slow economy back then and the contractor's license saved my financial "backside" until I got a job. I still kept doing the e-contracting on weekends, and a few times when I got laid off from white collar jobs, so the extra $$$ came in handy. I still do it now in retirement (simpler stuff).
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@TheLucanicLord I'm not an engineer, I got a chemistry degree many years ago, made a good living selling chemicals since I had that chemical knowledge and could work with a customer to find what they needed based on what they wanted to achieve. Customers really appreciated the help and the residuals I got from ongoing orders were quite substantial, not to mention follow-on orders for other chemicals.
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