High-School Courses in Shop - We Boomers, Nudged into the CP Curriculum, Now Demand That Training

 This is one for the innovative legal minds at Sanford Heisler, Motley Rice and Wigdor. Can we first-generation college boomers sue to be allowed to return to our high school for free instruction in "shop" - that is, training in manufacturing, construction, welding and other hands-on skills? 

Back in the 1960s, post-GI Bill, everyone at high school, from the guidance counselor to our homeroom teacher, pushed us to immerse ourselves in the CP curriculum. There was no recommendation to add on shop as a safety employment move. So, we marched to the advice of those supposedly in the know, many of us first-generation college. Of course, we wound up to be knowledge workers. Currently much of that knowledge has mutated into a commodity. 

In much of our professional life, given our lack of sophistication about how the system works, we were at a disadvantage. 

For example, too many of us didn't know to shift out fast from collapsing sectors. Both post-9/11 and in 2021, my industries went kaput. I should have bailed out sooner.

Along the way blue collars didn't have such extreme bumps in the road. During the 2008 - 2009 global downturn the welders, garbage collectors, electricians and plumbers were sitting pretty. They held on to the houses. I had to sell mine. They had the RV in the driveway. And in western Connecticut they had a boat in the water. Meanwhile so many of us white collars were underemployed at the time. 

Well, now is a different time in some high schools, reports The Wall Street Journal. Even the college-bound are encouraged to pick up hands-on training in what used to be known as "shop." Overall, more students are focusing primarily on shop. WSJ documents:

"In Wisconsin, 32,000 high-school students took classes in architecture and construction during the 2022-2023 school year, a 10% increase over the prior year, state data show; 36,000 enrolled in manufacturing courses, a 13% increase over the same period."

What they are finding out, also points out WSJ is:

" ... local union pay scales for ironworkers, steamfitters and boilermakers, careers that can pay anywhere from $41 to $52 an hour."

Although my current boutiques in intuitive coaching and tarot reading are doing better than expected in this crazy economy, I sense I could bring in more revenue faster with blue collar skills. 

There's more. I'm convinced that I can make my high school - Henry Snyder High in Jersey City, New Jersey - pay for that training.

That's where the lawsuit comes in. I am certain I have lots of company in having a grievance about how I was ambushed into the mythology of "The More Higher Education the Better." I went all the way to the Ph.D. and admission to and matriculation at Harvard Law School. 

Again, in all this, I was not sophisticated. What the hell did I know about how to create employment security and build wealth? I had to default to what they - the high school powers that be - told me was the only real path to a middle class life. I was told to want to be middle class. Ironically, though, is pursuing advanced degrees I existed in near poverty.

If plaintiff law firms agree to represent The Lost Generations of the Highly Educated and if those lawsuits gain traction there will be plenty of high-profile defense work for elite firms such as Cravath, Simpson and Paul Weiss. Given the Trump administration's war on universities, this kind of complaint can rival the landmark litigation about tobacco. Lawyers should be quite interested.

Is the life you’ve known collapsing? As your intuitive career coach/tarot reader I guide you to what could be next. One door closes, another one can open. Free confidential consultation. If we work together, fees are what you can afford. To connect: Jane Genova (text/phone 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). In-person and remote.