“What I’ve opposed — consistently — is not the importance of higher education, but rather, the relentless drumbeat of ‘college for everyone.’ That’s the most dangerous myth of all.” – Mike Rowe
SETTING THE SCENE
I grew up in a rust-belt suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Picture a middle-class home with a stay-at-home mom. Dad wore a tie with briefcase in hand as an Administrator at the Cleveland Clinic. A green Buick station wagon with imitation wood paneling was in the driveway. The Cleveland Indians were… the Cleveland Indians.
Around us, the old industrial order was beginning to shift. Japanese automakers were gaining ground, and steel production was moving offshore. Jimmy Carter’s stagflation was giving way to Ronald Reagan’s supply-side tax cuts. Casseroles proliferated at church potlucks, and classic rock shared the radio with Kenny Rogers. On daytime TV, Milton Friedman sparred with Donahue about the virtues of free markets.
Being raised in midwestern Yankee territory—and I’m not referring to baseball—we were taught the necessary virtue of seeing our neighbors through a color-blind lens. That did not mean racial and cultural divisions were entirely absent. But we were encouraged to look past immutable physical characteristics to the content of a person’s character. Nevertheless, the world I inhabited was impacted by another color-divide between white and blue. White-collar and blue-collar.
It is therefore unsurprising that our ambitions tilted toward a white-collar, BMW-driving future. Shop class and Industrial Arts were generally understood as destinations for the academically challenged and those reconciled to the lower-middle class. Who wanted to become a “grease monkey” or a “gearhead”? Not me.
In truth, I wanted to become a classical pianist or an orchestra conductor, but that ambition was defeated by both my father’s realism and my unfortunate lack of talent.
The larger point is that I grew up in a culture where manual labor was quietly regarded as something less. Blue-collar work might be honest, but it was not usually understood as aspirational. Becoming a mechanic, electrician, or machinist paled in comparison to becoming a doctor, lawyer, or C-suite executive.
My childhood scene is now long behind us, but the vestiges of that rust-belt hierarchy remain. For several generations, young people have been promised that a four-year college degree is not merely one path into adulthood, but THE primary path—the highest-probability admission ticket to the American Dream.
That advice was never universally true. Today, it is dangerously outdated and downright misleading. Our goal today is to reorient our view of things to better account for reality. And in so doing, we may be better guides for those who look to us for advice and support.
DISTINCTIONS WITH A DIFFERENCE
Before we engage in this exercise we want to hold a few important distinctions in mind. First, we are not making the case that some forms of labor are more dignified than others. Different forms of labor may have different economic utility and outcomes, but the dignity of human work is not merely measured in dollars. Welding joints may not have the same financial reward as surgically repairing a broken hand, but it is no less necessary or dignified.
Second, we are examining a particular contrast in pursuing earned income. This is not a foray into investing and how we can put our money to work for us. This isn’t about our money-making money. This is about how individuals actively engage in making money from their efforts.
Finally, we are going to hold a distinction between skilled and unskilled blue-collar labor. There is a significant economic gap between the factory assemblyman and licensed electrician. Both work with their hands, but the skilled tradesman is tackling higher-order knowledge-based projects with his hands and specialized equipment. And it is the skilled tradesman/craftsman (electrician, plumber, machinist, carpenter, welder) that we will be comparing to the white-collar worker.
LAUNCHING INTO ADULTHOOD
I have four sons and four stepsons (you read that correctly and 4+4=8!), ages 13-29. So, one of the big topics of conversation in our household is around the concern of “failure to launch.” We don’t want to raise perpetually dependent quasi-adults. We want our sons to become financially independent and happy members of society.
As any parent or grandparent knows, it is not an easy landscape to navigate these days. Consider the following:
- The Cost of College: Over 42 million students carry student loans with an average debt over $40,000. Our total national student loan debt sits at a staggering $1.86 trillion as of early 2026.
- Negative Returns: In the first decade after graduation, an average bachelor’s degree actually has a negative return on investment (-16.54%). It takes roughly 12 years in the workforce just to break even on the typical bachelor’s degree.
- The Underemployment Trap: More than half (52%) of college graduates are underemployed upon entering the labor market, meaning they are working in jobs that do not require a college degree. This scarring effect is persistent: even 10 years after graduation, 45% of college graduates remain underemployed.
- The Wage Penalty: A recent college graduate who is underemployed makes roughly the same amount of money as a typical high school graduate who never went to college (Ibid).
TO BE FAIR…
But you say, “Sure, but a bachelor’s degree is an investment for the potential of higher future earnings.” To which I say – it depends. Unfortunately, many colleges have become diploma-mills churning out degrees for things like Puppetry Arts (U. of Connecticut), Queer Musicology (UCLA), Leisure Studies (U. of Illinois), etc.
Tragicomic caricatures aside, I think you know what I’m getting at here. The glamorization of obtaining ANY college degree has given way to all kinds of madness. Is it any wonder that a whole generation of young folks is flirting with the false promises of socialism? They have been sold a lie that simply graduating with a bachelor’s degree in ANYTHING is a path to a successful launch and thriving career.
The reality is far different. College degrees with the best ROI tilt heavily towards preparation for specific professions. In other words, to get a superior launch-ready ROI from college, it should be approached as WHITE COLLAR TRADE SCHOOL.
To further make this point, I strongly encourage you to navigate to this fascinating data table provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I cannot reproduce it here, but will show top vs. bottom ROI for conceptual reference:
*Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, February 4th, 2026
Now this may feel like Captain Obvious intuitive stuff, but the legions of young people and families committing to these lower performing degree programs are sobering. Millions of young people are pursuing an academic road to nowhere.
THE LOST ART OF APPRENTICESHIP
Now, compare the four-year college journey to the possibility of learning a skilled trade or craft. The statistics are fascinating:
- Earn While You Learn: Apprenticeships are typically employer-funded. Instead of paying tuition, apprentices earn a progressive wage while they learn. Over a four-year period, a construction craft apprentice earns an average of $164,986, while a typical college student accumulates debt and earns only about $15,040 from part-time work.
- Higher Starting Salaries: The median starting salary for a construction craft professional after completing a four-year apprenticeship is $63,456. In contrast, the median starting salary for a four-year college degree holder is $47,000. Journeyman electricians working for data centers may make in excess of $260,000 per year.
- The 10-Year Advantage: Over a ten-year period (including the four years of education/training), a craft professional earns an estimated $585,888. A college graduate, after accounting for student loan payments, nets an estimated $307,278 over that same decade (Ibid).
ANALOG DEMAND & SUPPLY
One of the deep paradoxes of the time we live in is that our supposed digital future is creating more demand than ever for skilled labor and tradesmen. And this rise in demand is coinciding with a diminishing supply of skilled workers. In fact, twenty percent of construction workers are over fifty-five years old and almost forty percent of electricians are over forty-five years old. By 2030, it is estimated that 2.1 million skilled trade jobs could go unfilled.
And it probably goes without saying that Artificial Intelligence is likely to put pressure on the kinds of entry-level jobs that might be filled by recent college grads. While we don’t know how certain kinds of jobs from graphic design to basic software coding will be impacted, we DO know that demand for energy will continue to grow – creating more jobs in those spaces and sectors.
A hopeful sign that the world is healing is that Gen-Z teens are more open to learning a skilled trade. In fact, there is some evidence to show that the share of teens considering a trade has more than doubled from 12% in 2018 to 30% in 2024.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Consider another quote from one of The Bahnsen Group’s favorite cultural-work commentators, Mike Rowe:
“The kid who apprenticed to be a plumber or an electrician is looked at as something less. Even if he has no debt. Even if he makes six figures a year. Even if he hangs out his own shingle and hires other plumbers.”
At the risk of starting a battle-of-the-anecdotes, I know several men who started as blue collar journeymen and established their own HVAC companies. They are now multi-millionaires and are considering buyouts from private equity firms. I regularly see them posting videos of their golf swings at the local country club. Go figure.
The takeaway is that learning a trade is not a dead-end. In fact, it may be the foundation from which greater things are literally built.
A FINAL WORD
I have selfishly written this piece with at least one of my sons/stepsons in mind. And I hope it may help you call to mind a friend or family member who could benefit from this perspective.
I’m not anti-college or anti-education. Not at all. But I’m very much against perceiving any college degree as a silver-bullet for future thriving. Being blue-collar is not a path to mediocrity. In fact, it may lay the foundation for a very fruitful future. Maybe blue is the new white.
Brett Bonecutter
Private Wealth Advisor