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My landlord in Canada(in his 70s now) often told me about studying hard and in between those long lectures he'd say how back in his day people could just graduate high school and earn a living. Is this true? By that logic in the 80s a bachelors would have been enough to get a great job. But how is it even possible?
Let alone engineering or medicine related gigs, even something like being a curator would need something more than a high schoool diploma, or a teacher would require some more experience.
Was he just trying to scare me because it doesn't make any sense. I can understand the rise in competition and all that, but still.
Yes, a HS Grad could make a good living back then. Hell, I was in my thirties before I went to college. That was because of an injury that ended my 'career'.
Yes, people back then could get by with a high school diploma. People back in the 60's who didn't finish high school, say they stopped at 11th grade, could find a job that paid decent and end up having a job in which one could live off of, have a house, get married and have kids (if you desired), and have a few weeks of paid vacation.
However, you can't enjoy that sort of lifestyle that people 45 years ago enjoyed. Well, most people can't.
Yes, but those days are long gone. One of my grandfathers was a HS graduate; he was a self taught electrical engineer employed by GE. My other grandfather had an 8th grade education and was site supervisor for a major construction company that had contracts/jobs all over the Midwest and Eastern U.S.
Yes, people back then could get by with a high school diploma. People back in the 60's who didn't finish high school, say they stopped at 11th grade, could find a job that paid decent and end up having a job in which one could live off of, have a house, get married and have kids (if you desired), and have a few weeks of paid vacation.
However, you can't enjoy that sort of lifestyle that people 45 years ago enjoyed. Well, most people can't.
The changes since the 60's regarding this are very unfortunate, and are only getting worse, not better...a bachelor's is already almost the equivalent today of a H.S. diploma from back then...
It wasn't that you could be a teacher or a curator with just a high school diploma, it was that there were plenty of trades you could learn which were enough to make a living. Or you could go to work for the phone company or the electric company or something like that. You still had to have a degree to be a teacher...my mom went to college in the 60's and she got her master's degree so she could teach at a college. She has interesting stories of what it was like to be a college student in the 60's, she said her school took the hands off of all the clocks because they felt like people put too much emphasis on time, among other weird stories.
Yes, its true! My dad did it. I did it as a late 70's grad. I went to 10 schools to graduate high school; I did not nor do I now have the aptitude for college. I was doing well until I left my job in 2003 without a college degree, but now, self employed because no one wants to hire anyone without that college degree. Too many professions today require certifications or college degrees. While I understand some are necessary (respiratory therapist, xray tech, etc.) some are just a means to make people poorer. And make no mistake, each recession makes it harder. I watched in the late 80's early 90's as older workers without college degrees were let go and having a hard time finding new jobs, thinking that wouldn't happen to me. But alas, it has and it will happen to you to if you aren't careful! It is hard to go from making 100K to only being able to make 50K. Where will you be in 10, 20 or 30 years? In less than 20 I'll be retired and won't have to worry about it anymore. I almost can't wait! It shouldn't be this hard!
I was in college in the 60s to get a teaching degree but a few years after I graduated you needed a masters even to teach elementary school. I had wanted to work in a museum as a curator but was told that would take a PhD and even then I wouldn't get a job.
What I DID hear from older relatives was that if you graduated from high school in the 50s you had the equivalent of a college diploma and you could get good jobs. I was told that you used to learn things in high school that you only learn in college now because it's all been dumbed down.
I taught school with a woman who had only two years or "normal" school back in the 1920s. Normal school was teaching school, I think. She was so young when she started teaching that her students were only a year or two younger--and she was a wonderful and extremely intelligent person.
Some parts of the country (like mine) have ridiculously high educational requirements--just because they can.
Last edited by in_newengland; 11-12-2013 at 01:57 PM..
My dad dropped out of college to get into the HVAC business back in the early 70s... at that time they'd take anyone as long as you weren't an idiot and had some common sense. He earned all his certifications that were required as he worked and he as able to retire at the age of 55 with that very same company.
Now-a-days... fughetaboutit... you need a degree and I'm sure you need to have certain licenses/certifications just to meet any hiring qualifications for these same companies.
Oh, to specifically answer your question, no. Most people went to college in the 60s and the rest went to secretarial school or technical school for a year or two. There were lots of jobs for people without a four year degree and at first you didn't even need a masters.
But to hit the streets right out of high school? People joined the military or maybe worked in a factory. Someone with only a high school education could work as a waiter or waitress or work in a gas station. I guess they could work their way up so they could own the gas station or maybe own the little place where they waited on tables. That didn't need college but most good jobs required college--and the right degree.
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