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I think working a trade is great, but honestly I'd want my children to have skills they can fall back on that don't require physical labor, purely because I would not want them to become minorly disabled and unable to find work.
Right now, if I worked a physical job (lifting more than 5 pounds, specifically), I would be on state disability. In order for me to work any job requiring lifting, I would need specialized equipment that is not covered by insurance, and would cost the state healthcare more to provide me with than disability payments. Luckily, barring cognitive impairment or severe pain, there's not a lot of things that can disable you out of working in academia.
Right now, if I worked a physical job (lifting more than 5 pounds, specifically), I would be on state disability. In order for me to work any job requiring lifting, I would need specialized equipment that is not covered by insurance, and would cost the state healthcare more to provide me with than disability payments. Luckily, barring cognitive impairment or severe pain, there's not a lot of things that can disable you out of working in academia.
I've never had a college student "demand" a higher grade, and I've worked with some students who grew up in little bubbles... the type of students whose Mommy and Daddy bought them a BMW for high school graduation. I did have one student come and try to earn/ negotiate a better grade, but she came with evidence and justification (she basically did the final group project by herself, which her teammates admitted). Granted, I've only been teaching since 2008, but I figure this whole "I deserve an A" attitude would be more prevalent since you hear about it so much.I imagine most of that "grades they think they deserve" stuff came directly from shallow, status-obsessed parents who raised them that way.