I Did It My Way

You'll never get ahead by playing follow the leader.

Times change.  Sort of.  In 2009, one year into the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, I wrote a letter to the editor. It was in response to an article in the paper suggesting that more should be done to encourage high school students into going to college. This was fourteen years ago.

I’ve watched this trend toward pushing college for my entire adult life, going back to the 1960s.  I went to college back then.  I have a master’s in educational administration.  I taught grade school for six years.  But no, not everyone should go to college.  And if they do go, then WHAT college should they go to?  And what is that education worth?

Back in the 1960s I had two options available: college or Vietnam.  I chose college. A wise choice, I must say. If I had had a real choice, I probably would not have completed college.  Why would I have quit?  Because college was, well, too academic.  I wanted to be in the real world, making real things.

But let’s get back to that letter.  It ends with, “Some will say that the college graduate will earn more in the long run, and have a more certain future. Perhaps, but I like a plumber’s chances a whole lot better than an art major.” That was more prophetic than I initially thought. Let me explain. Given that we were in a major recession, and that the economy was in the toilet, it was a good time to build my new kitchen.  While others were belt-tightening and trying to survive the recession, I was taking advantage.  It’s not like no one could have seen it coming.  The coming recession was plain as day to those who pay attention to reality.  But to those who follow along with the crowd, it was a disaster.  People lost their homes; I built a new kitchen. Mortgage rates had plummeted, so it was a good time to borrow the money I needed. It was a good time to hire contractors, because this was one of the few times they were looking for work.  And, yes, my own business was slow, so I had time.  Thanks to years of conservative operation of my business and also of a conservative lifestyle, I could run my business at half-speed, and still pay bills.

I was lining up contractors for the kitchen when I got a call from a plumber I hadn’t known.  My first thought was that he wanted a chance to bid on my kitchen plumbing.  But, no, he had no idea I was building a kitchen.  He was calling about my letter to the editor.  My comparing a plumber to an artist got his attention, because he was both.  Yes, a painter/plumber.  We had a very interesting conversation.  After graduating high school, he enrolled at a university to study art because he had always liked painting, and wanted more training.  In order to pay bills, he took a random job at a plumbing supply house. He lasted one semester at the university.  He had enrolled to receive training in painting, but what he got was education in art history.  Like myself, he didn’t want to study what others did, he wanted to do it himself.

So, he kept painting at home, and kept working at the plumbing supply house.  Over the years, he became a licensed master plumber.  That equates with a very substantial income.  And, he kept painting. A well respected upper class gallery, Clossen’s, displayed his work.  They easily sold everything he produced over the years.  So, the plumber had the best of both worlds.  (Somewhat ironically, I had done work myself on their store.)

And, it gets better.  The plumber’s one son went into the plumbing business with him, also becoming a master plumber.  The son will be financially secure for life. His other son, having helped his father during his teenage years, had no problem getting a good position in the plumbing supply house.  The other plumbers like ordering thru him, because he knows plumbing and ‘speaks their language’.

As for myself, I quit teaching to become an architectural woodworker, having started my own business. Over time, the cost of college education has gone up at a higher rate than even the cost of healthcare.   Arguably, the value of that education is worth less and less. I have benefitted from my two years in engineering college and also from my two years in liberal arts college.  Was it worth it?  How different would my life be without college?  I’ll never know for sure.  But I’ve always been me.  I don’t need college to tell me who I am and what I think.

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

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