On Fox News Sunday, Shannon Bream opened with a simple but striking contrast: while “millions of young Americans” head off to campus, a growing slice of the Class of 2025 is heading straight to work – often into skilled trades that can pay $70,000 at entry level. That’s not a culture-war punchline; it’s an economic choice. In Bream’s setup, this isn’t a story about kids giving up. It’s about young adults choosing a faster, cheaper path to a solid paycheck, and in many cases, a happier one.
“Shop Class Is Back,” And It’s Hiring
Jeff Flock’s report took us inside Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, where the welding program looks less like nostalgia and more like a launchpad. Flock asked a roomful of students who’d applied to college; far fewer hands went up than you might expect. Why? Because, as one student told him, “You can make money right out of high school, set up with a job. Most people…get a degree and they can’t even find a job.” Another was even blunt: “All I see is debt and loss of money.” Flock’s point: in programs like these, graduates are in such demand they’re “pretty much guaranteed a job.”
The Navy Parts And The Math Speak For Themselves
Flock then followed Adam Ashburn, who graduated last year and went straight to DC Fabricators in New Jersey, welding submarine parts for the Navy. His hourly rate? “$30 an hour.” Another recent graduate told Flock he already has a job and no college debt – a two-sentence summary of why the trades are booming. When the opportunity set looks like $60,000+ a year at 18, 19, or 20 with zero in student loans, many families are doing the simple ROI math – and swerving.
Cars, Calling, And Confidence
Not every student is holding a welding torch. Caden Rivera, a junior in the automotive track, was tightening caliper bolts when Flock asked what this path means. “This sets me up for a good job right out of high school,” he said – then added the part college brochures rarely promise: “I love it. I could do it for the rest of my life.” The signal here isn’t just wages; it’s fit. Students are choosing work they actually like, and they’re getting paid well for it.
HVAC: More Ducts, More Demand, More Dignity
Father Judge is expanding beyond welding and auto to HVAC, complete with new equipment so students leave work-ready. On the day Flock visited, 2024 graduate Joe Seger returned to campus on the clock – fixing a broken A/C for Elliot Lewis, the Philadelphia company that hired him straight out of high school. Seger’s takeaway was classic trades-logic: he could have gone to college, but this was the best option for him – fast skills, fast job, no debt.
Skills That Travel – And Outlast Hype
Jennifer Tirendi, Father Judge’s Director of Career Pathways, told Flock that with automotive, welding, and HVAC, students leave with “a tangible skill that they can take anywhere.” Flock framed them as “AI-proof” – hands-on, on-site work that can’t be automated away or offshored. In an era obsessed with algorithms, these are locally rooted, real-world competencies the economy will need every single day.
Flock concluded with a scale check: an estimated 12 million people nationwide are enrolled in career-connected programs, such as high school pathways, union apprenticeships, community college certificates, and employer academies, that lead to well-paying jobs without a four-year degree. Put simply: the “alternatives” are now mainstream.
Mike Rowe: College Is Great – But Not For Everyone
After Flock’s piece, Shannon Bream brought in Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs host who’s been preaching this sermon for 17 years through the mikeroweWORKS Foundation: College can be wonderful – Rowe has a four-year degree himself – but the most expensive path isn’t automatically the best path, and certainly not for most people. His advice hasn’t changed: “Consider a skill that’s in demand, master that skill, and then go to work.” He told Bream, “It still pays off and I can prove it.”
The Proof: 40+ Unexpected Millionaires
Rowe said Dirty Jobs profiled 350 lesser-seen vocations, and “accidentally” featured 40 or 45 multimillionaires – small-business owners who woke up early, stayed late, and built companies around plumbing, HVAC, electrical, welding, and other trades. These weren’t influencers. They were builders. As Rowe put it, that’s a “version of the American dream we don’t hear enough about.” In his telling, the trades aren’t a consolation prize; they’re a proven route to prosperity.
The Pipeline Rowe Is Building – Now In 70 Schools
Rowe also described his Work Ethic Scholarship effort, which has grown into a curriculum in 70+ schools; he thinks they can scale to 700 or even 7,000. Why the urgency? Because, he told Bream, there are “7.4 million open positions right now,” and the majority don’t require a four-year degree. If we keep telling students that one route is respectable and the others are “less than,” jobs go unfilled, wages rise unnecessarily, and young people borrow for degrees they may not need.
The Happiness Dividend Of Real Work
Bream pressed on the science of meaning: study after study finds well-being increases when people have clear purpose, team connection, and real-time feedback. Rowe said he sees that on job sites all the time. People in the trades often know exactly how they’re doing – and why their work matters – every single day. In his words, the folks we told kids to avoid becoming are “having a weirdly good time” because their work is tangible, consequential, and communal.
Rowe didn’t mince words on policy culture: “When we took shop class out of high school, we unleashed the kraken.” He traced a straight line from that decision to $1.7 trillion in student loans, tuition out of reach, and millions of able-bodied men who are neither working nor looking for work. He argued that parts of our culture now treat work as the enemy – and that it’s time to get our thumb off the scale and put all options back on the table for this generation.
The New ROI Is Brutally Simple
Here’s why this shift feels durable. Families aren’t anti-college; they’re pro-clarity. If Program A says four years, $80,000+ in loans, then job search, and Program B says 18–24 months, employer-sponsored training, day-one wages, no debt, more households are going to pick B – especially when B can yield $60–$80k to start and a path to six figures through overtime, certifications, and entrepreneurship. Toss in local demand (you can’t outsource a heat pump installation) and resilience to AI, and the trades look like smart risk management.
Status Is Expensive, But Security Is Priceless
We’ve spent decades equating status with school, which left a lot of kids chasing credentials they didn’t want, couldn’t afford, and didn’t use. Students in Flock’s piece said the quiet part out loud: “All I see is debt.” Another said the golden combo is passion plus pay. That’s the center of gravity now. Dignity, mastery, and money beat a bumper sticker and a bill. And honestly, good – that’s a healthier definition of success.
If I ran a district, I’d restore modern shop (call it CTE 2.0), double down on dual enrollment with union apprenticeships and community colleges, publish local wage/placement data so families see the numbers, and invite employers to co-design curriculum (like Father Judge is doing in HVAC). Make pathways stackable (auto -> EV diagnostics; welding -> aerospace certs), portable, and visible by junior year. Stop treating “college-ready” and “career-ready” like opposites. The best systems do both.
The Students Had The Final Word – And It Was Joyful
The quotes in Flock’s piece weren’t bitter; they were optimistic. “I have a head start on life… no college debt.” “This sets me up… I love it.” “When you are passionate and love something and you get paid a lot of money to do it, can’t go wrong.” Jennifer Tirendi called these “tangible skills,” and that’s exactly the vibe: résumé items that turn into income – and identity – fast.
Bream kept the conversation grounded: college is a wonderful option – and so are the trades. The point isn’t to replace one dogma with another; it’s to offer real choices. Her back-to-back with Jeff Flock and Mike Rowe was a neat production trick that made the bigger point: data, dignity, and demand are all aligned in favor of skills-first pathways right now.
The Class Of 2025 Isn’t Rejecting Ambition – They’re Redefining It
What we’re watching isn’t a rebellion against learning; it’s a correction against one-size-fits-all. The Class of 2025 is picking certainty over ceremony, competence over credentials, and cash flow over cachet. And if Mike Rowe is right, and the labor market says he is, the country will be better for it: more people in useful work, fewer in unnecessary debt, and a lot more young adults who can say what Caden Rivera did: “I love it.”
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
