Somewhere along the way, America decided that a four-year degree was the only respectable answer to the question of what comes after high school. The plumber who just handed you a $250 bill to replace a faucet cartridge never got that message. He also doesn't have $50,000 in student loan debt. The joke, it turns out, was on the rest of us.
America didn't stop needing tradesmen. It spent thirty years telling young people not to become one.
Starting in the 1980s and accelerating hard through the 1990s and 2000s, schools measured themselves by college acceptance rates. Guidance counselors steered students toward university applications. Politicians competed to expand college access. The message, delivered with total consistency by educators, parents, and policymakers: a degree is the path. Everything else is settling.
It was a cultural shift as much as an institutional one. Wood shop, auto shop, welding, drafting — hands-on courses that had once introduced students to skilled trades — were quietly phased out. Budget pressures helped, but so did the attitude. Vocational education started to carry a stigma. If you were heading to the trades, the unspoken message was that you hadn't made the cut. Capable students were pointed toward college almost reflexively, regardless of whether a four-year degree made sense for them.
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