Growing up, My mom was in school, my dad worked full time delivering boxes for UPS. It was a solid job that paid good but one income family with several kids was very tight to make ends meet. My dad worked as much OT as possible and after he worked 11 hours at UPS, we would change into his Domino’s uniform and he would deliver pizza boxes until midnight several nights a week. He was the hardest working person that I know and some of that rubbed off on me. I started a lawn service when I was about 12. Started mowing yards in the neighborhood and when I got my license I expanded across the city. In high school, I would mow 30 yards a week after class and on the weekends. On summer break, I got a full time job making only $0.50 above minimum wage and mowed 30 yards per week. I would take my equipment to work and I would change into my outside work clothes before I left my 8-5 and I would mow yards until it was dark. I drove a 30 year old ford truck that I had to work on several times a month. Some nights I would be under the truck until 2 am to fix it so I could make it to work the next day. I learned from a $25 manual and a box of hand tools. Now after college most of those days are behind me but I still drive a car with 250K+ miles on it because I value saving for my retirement more than driving a fancy new car. My trucks that I have are old farm trucks and they need work. I just trashed a transmission in my F450 and I plan to pull the transmission and rebuild it myself just like I did in the old days even though I could afford to have it done somewhere. Part of me wants to save the money and the other part really enjoys rebuilding engines and transmissions.
A measure recently passed by a large margin in my state to return vocational courses to public K-12 schools and community colleges.
Where I grew up, that’s how it was done. The public high school had Industrial Arts, wood, metal and auto shops completely outfitted with equipment used in each trade. We had an electrical shop but that was not so well taught as many of the kids that took it knew more than the teacher. I took every single class that was available but you only had to take one per year.
Again, we have such different experiences. Every employer I have worked for has had an education reimbursement plan. Some more generous than others but enough to allow just about everyone to seek higher education should they choose to pursue it. One place I worked for actually had the university professors come to the place of work to teach their classes- on company time! Many people earned their Bachelor or Master degrees while working there. They even had on site daycare and taught pre-school so parents could go see their kids on break or lunch. These companies realized that investing in your employees makes them more valuable and motivated. Fortunately, I have never had the displeasure of working somewhere that felt the opposite…
That’s it! I learned to work hard from my parents and my children learned from my wife and I. We all did whatever it took and often lived below our means.
Now, after college and a full career and retirement on a pension program I still prefer buying used cars and even do my own repairs and oil changes (Medicare won’t cover it)!
When my wife and I were married we decide to move a distance to a safe place to raise a family. We looked for jobs and there weren’t many good jobs, just low paying jobs. So, instead of whining or giving up we got 7 of them in the first year (Oh, and during that time took classes and obtained a real estates sales license for one job)! We economized, saved a little and got by. Hard, nasty work inspires one to go to seek educational opportunities and get better employment.
My son, at age 30 owns a house, saves, buys used cars (he could afford new) and even changes his own oil and rotates his tires (Subaru).
My daughter is in college, working and paying while she attends and is a saver.
I can afford new cars (I’ve bought a couple), but wouldn’t enjoy the waste of money. I have security and peace of mind. I play golf whenever I want, weather permitting. 
CSA
I never had any shop classes outside of wood and metal shop in 8th grade. You couldn’t do both college prep and shop in high school. I wish I could have but just had to pick everything up on my own and from my dad. In the 60’s we had a great vo-tec program and school but then in the 80’s they concentrated on associate degrees in things like accounting, retailing, etc. instead of good hard vo tec course. Now that there is a shortage in these good paying occupations, they are trying to get the programs back again but there is a leadership issue.
I’m trying to get back to cars. Growing up, a lot of the people in the neighborhood did their own work on their cars so I guess it was easy to pick some of that up watching them.
@TwinTurbo. I think it is commendable when employers assist their employees in seeking more education. I have had students in some of the classes I taught who were funded by their employers. I also taught an advanced statistics course one night a week on an air force base for military personnel. However, I found it a travesty that a university which is supposed to be about education made it difficult for its employees to further their education.
@bing. Sometimes I am not sure what is meant by college prep courses. I think an industrial arts class where one has to use mathematics may be good preparation for college level mathematics. I once had a student in a college algebra class. I kept getting calls from the administration about how the student was doing in the class. I have always been reluctant to disclose that type of information, so I refused to give out any information until I was given the reason for the inquiry. I did my own investigation and found out that the student was from an Amish Community. His formal education ended in the 8th grade. Yet, he did quite well in the course. When I tracked down the administrator who was making the calls I told him that the university should do its recruiting in the Amish Community as that student was better prepared than many students that matriculated as high school graduates. This student not only earned his B.S. degree, but completed a Master’s degree. The field this student chose was nursing which requires science courses. I am certain he saw quite a bit of math applications in the farming and building experiences he had in the Amish Community.
When I taught the calculus courses, I made the students do every word problem in each chapter. Applying calculus really makes one learn calculus.
Have you seen public school 8th grade text books from 75 - 100 years ago? I believe an 8th grade education from that era would compare favorably with a High School education today. It is also much more practical information. I think we are slipping in education is some ways.
Back to cars. it’s no wonder that it seems hardly anybody reads a car’s Owner’s Manual.
CSA
I hope that you’re not in the same camp as the woman from several years ago who informed us that “the Owner’s Manual is so technical that only an engineer could possibly understand it”.
Owner’s Manuals are purposely written on the 8th Grade Reading level, so that–hopefully–all purchasers will be able to comprehend them.
I have never thought that an Owner’s Manual was…obscure…or obtuse…or just plain difficult to understand, with the exception of the manual for my brother’s Datsun SPL-311. That one was written mostly in Pidgin English, and one had to make some broad interpretations of the information contained therein, and then hope that this interpretation was correct.
These 8th grade exams are a little over 100 years, but they give one the idea…
http://www.indiana.edu/~p1013447/dictionary/8thgradeexam.htm
And from the 1920s…
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BACKTOTHEPAST/2004-11/1101526996
CSA
Without going on line it is likely that few high school graduates could answer those questions even if they took the test home over night.
I don’t know who invented the sewing machine without googling it. Glad I didn’t have to take that test without a calculator. The civics portion is interesting. A lot of demonstrators would fail that I’m sure.
Why disparage a group of people solely because they exercise their First Amendment rights? Do you honestly think that only ignorant or illiterate people protest for what they want?
Excuse while I jump in here. In a word, “Yes”.
Sorry, really sorry. I could not resist.
CSA
Anyone…cars? Please? Thanks.
Public transportation works in many places, where living without a car is an advantage,but for many places public transportation is a hindrance to time and convenience, now it is because we have such a large area to cover, but making a car a requirement to get to a job is fine for most, but in our fair city we added bus routes to the new amazon facility to accommodate the workforce needed that did not have a car available… As it should be.
I’m disappointed that you haven’t commented on those 1923 classics in the newspaper ad that I linked Carolyn. They were amazing. Have you ever ridden in an air cooled Franklin?
Is that like a car with windows that roll down? 
@common_sense_answer. Yes, I have seen texttbooks from 75-100 years ago and I agree that these books give students good practical education. Unfortunately, the today’s textbooks in mathematics in the elementary school particularly don’t stress applications. I was told by a math ed specialist that problems such as this:
Johnny has 50¢ to spend at the candy store. He wants a mixture of gum drops and jelly beans. Gum drops cost 15¢ a pound and jelly beans cost 20¢ a pound. He wants a mixture with twice the weight of gum drops as jelly beans. How many pounds of each type of candy should he buy?
I was informed by my colleague that such a problem was outdated–there are no candy stores and the prices are not realistic in today’s market. Therefore, today’s student can’t Identify with the problem.
I suggested that the problem be modernised as follows:
Crudney mugs a little old lady who has just cashed her Social Security Check and now has $375 to spend. On the street, a rock of cocaine costs X and an ounce of marijuana costs Y. Crudney wants to buy twice as much marijuana as cocaine rocks . . .
Now we have a modern problem that Crudney can “identify” with.
I could afford to fix my pickup this year because I paid taxes at the low capital-gains rate.
Back to cars and jobs: My department chair “volunteered” me to teach an overload class that was 50 miles off campus. I agreed to do the overload if the university would provide transportation. I was told that I would have to use my own car and I would be paid mileage. I then claimed that my car wasn’t in good enough shape to make the 100 mile trip twice a week. I was then informed that I should buy a better car. I then produced my letter of appointment that said nothing about the fact that I had to have a serviceable vehicle. The university administration finally backed down. On my $6500 a year salary, I wasn’t in position financially where I could buy better car. My responsibility was to get to campus. Most of the time I walked the one mile from my apartment to campus. I believed that any work off campus, particularly overtime work, was the responsibility of my employer to provide transportation. In later years, the university did increase its fleet to cover such situations.