Cox: We've trashed alternatives to college

Blogger Justin Cox quotes Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe on how "alternatives" to college have gotten a bad rap in the past few decades -- and why that's hurting us:

"Anything that's not a four-year degree has become alternative. Once upon a time, alternative meant another way to get to the place you'd like to wind up. But now, if you think about the way the word is used, the alternative is the basketball player that sits on the bench and waits for the starter to break his ankle. It's the understudy in the wings, waiting for the lead to go hoarse. It's the loser."

We've promoted the college path at the expense of all other accumulated knowledge. By making the university the benchmark, trade jobs vital to our survival have been reduced to "vocational consolation prizes," and now we're either forgetting how to do those jobs, or they're being shipped overseas.

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