'Why do so many Americans drop out of college?'

I, too, would like to learn how to weld and operate heavy machinery online.

 

Ha.

Totally forgot to put college in there.

I've been learning how to weld the last two summers and between that and what my brother does with heavy equipment; it's easy to see where the money is and the fact there will always be a need for people with those skills.

 

Parents coddle their kids and don't give them enough freedom before they go to college. My dad gave me more freedom than almost every kid I knew in high school. I had ground rules, like a curphew (until my senior year when I turned 18), and having to make good grades, and not fuck up...but beyond that, my dad let me do my thing.

My dad didn't continually ask me where I was at, I didn't have to continually check in with him, and he let me stay out late. The ground rules were simple. Do well in school and don't get yourself in trouble. Don't do drugs. Don't drink and drive.

I didn't do any of them, and I never abused his rules, because I never had reason to rebel.

I remember moving into the dorms with a random roommate my freshman year. Both of us had great scholarships and were smart guys. Within the first week, I remember my roommate going to get his ears pierced and get a tattoo. He had classes at 8 o'clock every morning and missed about 90% of them. My earliest classes started at noon every day and I didn't miss a single one. I remember his GPA the first semester was 0.5. I'd say it was a general theme that a good majority of people I knew that fucked up in college had overbearing parents that didn't let them have any freedom prior to college.

 

And interestingly, the number of people attending college today far, far, far exceeds the 1950s.

 

You talkin' to me? YOU TALKIN' TO ME?

 

BTW, this college professor knows how to weld. Acetylene, MIG, TIG ... hell, I can even arc weld and silver solder.

 

Go to college to become a useless bureaucrat as that's the job that pays well at the university I'm attending for my master's.

 

Everyone has overlooked what might be the biggest factor in the rise of the dropout rate:

John Calipari.

 

I think it's more about the individual. I know a lot of people who fit the description you just mentioned and did as well as you did. Also know a bunch who didn't. Same could be said for those who had what would be considered by most to be overbearing parents.

 

Awesome. I'm getting better, but need to lay cleaner welds so I don't spend twice as much time cleaning them up.

 

Acetylene? Mig? Tig?

Any of it. If it can be welded I can weld it.

Cast iron?

Yeah.

I don't mean braze.

I didn't say braze.

Pot metal?

What did I say?