The new high school superstars

If you could graduate from high school and – right off the bat – get a job that was guaranteed to pay anywhere from $70,000 to $100,000 per year, would you skip college?

This is not hyperbole. This is the question many young people are asking themselves as they approach the end of their compulsory education and contemplate their future.

In the culture of high school, certain groups of students have always shone as superstars. It might be the athletes. It might be the cheerleaders. It might be the computer nerds. It might be the science brains.

But in the last few years, one group of previously overlooked students has stepped into the limelight. In fact, despite achieving what some might view as academic mediocrity, these students have become the new high-school superstars, courted by numerous employers jostling for the privilege of hiring them at jaw-dropping wages.

I refer to kids who are learning skilled trades such as welding, carpentry, construction, roofing, plumbing, electrical wiring and other specialties. Suddenly, these students are in extraordinarily high demand.

Consider 17-year-old Elijah Rios, a high-school junior from an inner-city neighborhood in Philadelphia rife with homelessness and drug addiction. He’s been taking welding classes at his high school and now, a full year before graduation, he’s been offered a future position as a fabricator at a local equipment maker for nuclear, recycling and other sectors with a starting salary of $70,000. “Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming – like, this company wants you, that company wants you,” he says. “It honestly feels like I’m an athlete getting all this attention from all these pro teams.”

There is such a shortage in the skilled trades that employers are recruiting kids who haven’t even graduated yet, making tempting offers of solid work and – especially for teens – astounding salaries.

For decades, even generations, high schoolers were prompted to go to college no matter what. A college degree was supposed to be the golden key to success, the ultimate status symbol, and the path to financial freedom. For many students – notably those studying STEM subjects – this prediction came true. Meanwhile the trades were looked down upon, derided, even mocked as lowly and unworthy. As a result, a massive imbalance opened up between the demand for the skilled trades and the number of young people entering those fields.

But more and more college students – particularly those studying anything in the liberal arts – have discovered their degrees did little but put them in massive student loan debt and few job prospects beyond the proverbial Starbucks barista. Their crippling debt prevents them from achieving the normal milestones of adulthood, including marriage and raising children.

“For years, would-be higher-education reformers have warned that America’s higher education crisis – soaring tuition, crippling student debt, and weak learning – was rooted ina dangerous myth: Every high school graduate should go to college,” notes this article. “In 2025, the proof is glaring. Public confidencein colleges has crashed to 36%, down from 57% in 2015. The college-for-all dream, though well-intentioned, has inflated costs, buried millions in debt, and watered down education. Built on sand, its reputation is collapsing before us. … Adding academic insult to financial injury, too many universities have abandoned the quest for wisdom, focusing instead on political activism.”

Even left-leaning Forbes acknowledges the issue: “One major catalyst for the labor shortage in this sector is the perception that in order to be successful in America, you must pursue a college degree. This has led to a de-emphasis on vocational trade education and a lack of respect for blue-collar jobs. … 59% of skilled tradespeople felt influenced to attend a four-year college, due to family or societal pressure, while 89% of the survey respondents believe that kids are wrongfully taught that receiving a bachelor’s or master’s degree is the only path to success.”

We still hear all the talking points about how those with college degrees will (eventually) out-earn their skilled-trade peers, but how long will that take? Five years after graduating high school, Elijah Rios will have earned about $350,000 and developed a certain level of seniority. Five years after graduating high school, many college grads (particularly those NOT majoring STEM subjects) will OWE about that much and are starting at the beginning of their career trajectories. Tell me which is the better route for lifelong success? (As an added benefit, Mr. Rios is highly unlikely to fall into drugs or crime, as so many in his neighborhood have done.)

Buyer’s remorse is high among college grads. “New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds college ‘may not be worth it’ for about a quarter of college graduates,” notes this article. Additionally, about 51% of Gen Z views their college degrees as a waste of money. That is a staggering statistic.

In addition to on-the-job training, trade schools are doing a brisk business training both men and women on the finer points of roofing, wiring, welding, plumbing, masonry, general construction and other critical skills. Often the cost of these schools is subsidized by employers desperate to hire the graduates.

Additionally, many skilled tradespeople have better negotiating powers. “Everybody needs welders, so if a company isn’t treating me how I feel like I should be treated, whether that be pay or anything, I can leave,” says one young man. “Whereas some of my buddies with engineering degrees, they don’t necessarily have that power.”

Nor is there much “buyer’s remorse” for those entering the skilled trades. A survey reveals a staggering 94% of respondents indicated that they would encourage their children or family members to enter the skilled trades, and shows similarly high levels of job satisfaction, financial security, career growth opportunities, earning potential, and upskilling and technological advancement.

“It’s going to be quite a shock to the system if the virtues of honest blue-collar labor are once again celebrated instead of reviled and mocked,” notes Beege Welborn in a piece called “Getting Your Hands Dirty Getting Attractive for Gen Z.” “Rebalancing that would be a pretty neat thing.”

Personally, I find it highly exciting that younger generations – raised with high-tech gadgets and encouraged to study white-collar subjects – are discovering the joys of working with their hands. The Wall Street Journal has christened Gen Z the “Tool Belt Generation.” How cool is that?