Anyone had an academic child go down the trades / vocational path?

[rickyrickygrimes]

To not drip feed, we are in France, not the UK.

Here, students generally split between academic and vocational studies at 15. Lycée general is for the more academic, lycée pro is for the more vocational.

DS has always been academic-ish. He's bright, works hard (when he wants to). He goes to one of the best (read most high scoring and academic) lycée general in the country: it just happens to be his catchment lycée so he's got the right to go there anyway, but he does get the marks too.

Increasingly he tells us he doesn't want to go to uni, to do anything academic, he doesn't want to study for umpteen years. he says that he wants to train in a trade, to start earning (lots) of money asap, have his own business - though having said that he doesn't know anyone who has done this. All our family are university educated / professionals. Do any of you have experience of children choosing to go down a vocational route when they could have gone to Uni? How did you feel about it? Are they bored? Do they regret it?

I can't work out my reaction. I can sense my mum clutching her pearls at the very thought of her wonderful, clever, grandson becoming a plumber - and I am doing the same, a bit. It's not my finest moment.

what has your Eastern bloc ballet teacher got to do with any British dancer in 2023?

Dance schools these days are very hot on post-dance careers - same as other artistic institutions. I've come across people in the corporate world with many different backgrounds working in tech, HR, plenty of roles that can be done with transferable skills.

Furthermore a lot of traditionally 'stable/respected/whatever' careers like academia have been decimated. Friends who are STEM postdocs for example spent years on short-term contracts, travelling etc before landing a permanent contract or leaving. Paid barely above minimum wage. Nurses, teachers etc so many quit within a few years as conditions are just unsustainable.

Plenty of career movement. Having said that, it's harder to save up for a property in 2023. Rents are high and if you wait too long and want kids you'll be scuppered by nursery fees. As long as you're OK with that or have parental help, all good.

He has a great plan and thought it through, he will probably have his own company in a few years and out earn you all, he sounds ambitious so I would let him do it, some day he will be a company owner,

Would he consider a one year business course ( as well as studying a trade) which will help him be more knowledgable with finances and be more successful in setting up a business

I'm an academic child who followed their dream of doing theatre studies as a degree. I'm sure my parents were horrified but they never showed it. After a stint travelling the world with corporate events, I am now building my own company and am finding it much easier due to my academic ability. I can read and digest and understand a lot about marketing / finances / tax / AI opportunities etc so it's all still very much utilising my academic 'potential'

I would wager he would run a VERY successful business

I know people who went down the university route and the trade route. To anyone looking into a trade see if they can get work experience with someone good trades person near you. The reality of the job could make them decide I am interested in this or realise that this is not for me.

Most trades have to do an apprenticeship where you work with someone in the area and go to college PT in order to get your qualifications. If they get in with a good trades person it benefits them long term as they learn the right way to do things.

I currently know 3 kids in university. They are in demanding course that have a lot of college hours and a few hours of study each day. Unless they were interested and willing to put the work in they would have dropped out within 6 months to a year.

I have seen parents pushing kids towards university and then the kid drops out. Or in some cases the child get a degree, a masters and a good job. Then within a few years they end up with severe mental or physical health issues due the work load or stress in these job's.

I know one couple whose son dropped out of university after a year despite pushing him towards this. He moved to the nearest big city and got a job. His other siblings went to university and got jobs. Now he is the one that been their to help out his elderly parents as he has a bit of flexibility with his job hours and days.
I know another couple who have a very poor relationship with several of their adult kids because for years the mother was pushing them hard re education and exams. Yes they have good jobs but now they are to busy to see the parents.

You have to consider what you child wants and what's best for them long term. University is not for every child. Yes you can push them but long term you could end up doing more harm than good or end up with little contact as you get older.
One lady I knew did not push her son towards university despite knowing that he was bright.
He had a few things happen in his teens. After leaving school he had a few jobs and then decided to go back to college as a mature student. He did well in college and now has a good job.

Could he do something like Civil engineering which has a very practical element to it? It sounds like he would benefit from a lower entry level course that isn't so competitive

something tells me when he looks back in 20 years becoming a plumber was by far the best choice for him. Next few years are going to be full of some quite amazing leaps in automation and artificial intelligence where people thought manual jobs would be first to go it is becoming increasingly clear that it will be highly educated roles which primarily use computers. AI is already being used to fill in for the gap of radiologists as they are better at reading radiograms than a human. I really can see a world in the very near future where doctors will be in much less demand just really a few to babysit AI doing the diagnosing. Supply and demand will mean the extra doctors will have to probably start doing blue collar jobs or accept a significantly reduced salary.

Has he thought about the future of plumbing, OP, and getting involved in air source heat pumps? I gather the installation is quite technical and beyond some tradespeople's computational skills.
Much better than sticking his hand down somebody's blocked loo,

My eldest is not at all academic (bottom sets all round in the UK) but attended a ‘prestigious’ state school in France for a few years, leaving at the equivalent of the end of year 11, which is the first year of the 3 year Lycee Bac generale course. Achieved a 7 and 8 in the IGCSEs that she did do though.

Much to her father’s disgust, she returned to the UK to study an arts based course at college. He doesn’t seem to grasp that she can go to university later should she wish, or take up an apprenticeship, because it works completely differently in France. The pressure there is immense, with everything based on academic achievement and your mark out of 20.

Some of her friends in the English and the German sections at her former school are timetabled from 08:00-17:30 at least three days a week and there’s no time to get a p/t job.

One of my friends attended a similar French state school and was told he’d never amount to anything. Sent to the UK for boarding 6th form and went on to achieve a PHD and is now doing post doctoral qualifications.

Ex’s brother is a plumber in France and has most money, biggest house and happiest life out of all the siblings. The ones who have degrees and masters and professional jobs (including my ex) are utterly miserable!

Would sending your DS to the UK for sixth form or college be an option?

My son did really well in his Scottish highers, more than enough to go to Uni, he just didn’t want too. He’s an apprentice electrician and loving it, he says I’m so glad I didn’t go to Uni. It’s not for everyone, I was a bit disappointed as his sister did and just assumed he would but I’m happy he’s happy