Harris Industrial Gases - Welding Equipment & Supplies

    A recent three-part opinion column by Charles Murray in the Wall Street Journal takes the controversial position that we need to start accepting that some people are just plain smarter than others.

    From there, Murray concludes that far too many people are being pushed into four year colleges for which they are not mentally equipped, that there are many people who are intelligent enough for a four year university but also don’t belong there and that there is an inappropriate stigma attached to trade schools and other types of technical training.

    Although many of Murray’s claims are inflammatory and debatable—that 75 percent of the population, based on their IQ scores, are unfit for a college education—many of his conclusions reinforce the core beliefs of the welding community. The reason many people attend college when they shouldn’t, Murray says, “lies in the false premium that our culture has put on a college degree.”   

    “What they really need,” he goes on to say, “is vocational training. But nobody will say so, because ‘vocational training’ is second class. ‘College’ is first class.”

     Further,  “The spread of wealth at the top of American society has created an explosive increase in the demand for craftsmen … and it’s a seller’s market. Journeymen craftsmen routinely make incomes in the top half of the income distribution while master craftsmen can make six figures. They have work even in a soft economy. Their jobs cannot be outsourced to India. And the craftsman’s job provides wonderful intrinsic rewards that come from mastery of a challenging skill that produces tangible results. How many white-collar jobs provide nearly as much satisfaction?”     

    Do you agree with Murray that there is a first class/second class distinction between those who attend college and those who attend trade school? Is there a perception that those who choose vocational school somehow are not smart enough for a college education?  Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.