Trump Wants Skills, Not Fluff Degrees

Finally! A President that understands skills are far more important that degrees.

Only in America do we demand someone get an $80,000 education for a job that pays $40k a year. It’s nonsense.

Especially considering the cesspool of leftism that invaded our universities long ago. Here’s the deal. If you’re smart, you’re smart. You don’t necessarily need a degree to prove it.

Sure, there are professions that require a specific type of education. No one wants a heart surgeon who dropped out of college. But there are also hundreds of thousands of employers that train their employees to do things the way their company wants them done. And for many of those, no $80k piece of paper is necessary.

Forty million Americans are carrying around student loan debt that exceeds $1 trillion. And even though AOC thinks we should just wipe the slates clean, that’s a lot of empty promise notes floating around.

There’s bad news for those “liberal arts” majors.

The question is getting louder and louder. Is college really worth it? The answer might surprise you.

According to Forbes Magazine, a degree doesn’t always guarantee higher earnings over a lifetime.

Foolishly pursue the arts, and you might be disappointed. An arts graduate from Murray State University in Kentucky, for instance, can expect to make $147,000 less over 20 years than a high school graduate, once the cost of education is factored in.

In fact, student loans can be a taxing burden on a person’s ability to prepare for their future.

Forbes continues:

When you examine the sacrifices college graduates must make in order to tackle their loans, it’s apparent the true cost of college is not the inflated tuition or decades’ worth of interest. It’s in the precious time that is lost and major milestones deferred thanks to that debt.

“People in their 30s are finding that they can’t qualify for a home because of the student loan debt they incurred,” noted Cheryl Fields, founder of the Lifestyle Wealth Group. “They’re graduating from college, and because of the economic woes in this country over the last eight years, are working for wages much less than the ones they had hoped when they got their degree.”

Futhermore, many student loan borrowers delay contributing to their retirement because they’re drowning in loan debt.

On the flip side, some trades pay way more than jobs requiring college degrees. Here in Texas, the average teacher starts at $35,000 a year. Whereas the average welder can easily pull in $50,000 as a beginner. But leftists want families to tell their kids ‘college is the only way.’

Where’s the common sense? Oh yeah, it’s sitting on Donald Trump’s desk! Obama never got around to using it. But seriously, how many times have you met someone with a college degree and asked yourself “how did this fool get through college?”

Trump’s Take

Obviously, Trump values education. But that doesn’t mean he can’t see the worth of good old fashioned skills. Which is why he wants the federal government to focus on abilities instead of degrees. Sure, a degree is an added bonus. But can you do the job? That’s the real question. As it should be.

According to Breitbart:

Trump is set to sign an executive order Friday outlining a new direction for the nation’s largest employer during a meeting of the board that advises the administration on worker policy.

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, is co-chair of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and has worked on improving job training to meet employers’ changing needs.

The federal government is the nation’s largest employer with 2.1 million civilian workers, excluding postal service employees.

Ivanka Trump predicted the change in federal government hiring would create a more inclusive and talented workforce. She encouraged the private sector to follow the administration’s lead.

“We are modernizing federal hiring to find candidates with the relevant competencies and knowledge, rather than simply recruiting based on degree requirements,” she told The Associated Press in a statement. “We encourage employers everywhere to take a look at their hiring practices and think critically about how initiatives like these can help diversify and strengthen their workforce.”

Not a Moment Too Soon

As usual, Trump’s timing in impeccable. We’re in a delicate position economically. The pandemic pushed unemployment up substantially. And many workers will be forced to rebrand themselves to regain employment.

Breitbart continues:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the board’s other co-chair, said the need for skills training and apprenticeships is as great as it was before the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of people out of work, pushing the national unemployment rate above 13% in May.

“Americans are eager to get to work but they need our help,” Ross told AP.
The White House isn’t eliminating degree requirements altogether but instead will stress skills in jobs where having a degree is less important.

Aides say the change will create more opportunities for Americans to work for the federal government by recognizing that some learning happens outside of classrooms.

Ivanka Trump and other administration officials have pushed to increase opportunities for apprenticeships. And they have promoted such training and vocational education as alternatives to traditional two-year or four-year college degree programs.

A Fresh Approach

Already, some of the nation’s largest employers are hiring with skillsets in mind. Take for example IBM.

IBM is among the companies that have moved in this direction. Last year, 15% of its new U.S. hires had nontraditional backgrounds because they were evaluated based on skills instead of looking only at their degrees, Ginni Rometty, the company’s executive chairman, said via the White House.

“We hired from new areas of the country, including under-served communities, and this promoted more diversity in the applications we received,” said Rometty, who is expected to participate in Friday’s meeting.

At the meeting, the workforce advisory board is also expected to announce details of a private-sector ad campaign led by Apple, IBM and the nonprofit Ad Council to promote alternate pathways to education.

 

 

 

 

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