Kids, Homework, College, AP, Ski Racing, All of It

Agree. 2 family members of mine are very skilled tradesman. Cousin of mine is an arborist and my bil is a general contractor who specializes in post and beam homes. They're extremely good at what they do, and they aren't cheap. That said people will pay their price for exactly the reasons that have frustrated you with your trees.  Same with the guy who's building my sled shed. I've waited a year for him to get to my project but I know in the end it will be worth it.

One problem is NYS isn't very small business oriented. You need lots of money to go to work here.

D.B. Cooper wrote

The two most practical things I ever learned in school (in order):  Typing and Latin.  Latin will help your English, French and Spanish.  For STEM or law students, I think you have to consider it a must.

Marz, what "Chinese" is your daughter studying?  Mandarin, Cantonese, other?

Second the usefulness of typing.  Of course, back in the 1960s it was more unusual.  I took two years of touch typing at NCS.  In the second year got much faster and learned how to format business letters so I could've gotten a job as a secretary. ;-)  The exam was taking NY Regents typing test informally.  Only Regents test I ever saw.  More importantly, meant I could type my HS papers instead of re-writing the final version to turn in from a first draft.  Came in handy when I started working as a computer programmer during college.

I encouraged my daughter to have fun with a typing game by age 5 or 6.  She was taking piano lessons so typing with all ten fingers were pretty easy for her to learn.  She was touch typing her little elementary school papers.

As for Chinese language, my daughter's prep school offers Mandarin thru Level 4 using simplified characters.  No point to learn Cantonese as a general language given it's limited use.  Everyone in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan can talk in Mandarin these days.  My father was Cantonese and only spoke it in a U.S. Chinatown or when he was in Hong Kong or visiting relatives in Guangdong.  Our relatives are in China, not Taiwan or Hong Kong so not much point to learn traditional characters.  Even when I spent a little while learning to read basic characters in the 1970s with my mother, she thought simplified characters would be more helpful in the long run.  Learning pinyin (mainland romanization) is far more useful than the phonetic symbol system used in Taiwan.  When you know pinyin, it's easy to use a smart phone or computer to generate written Chinese assuming you know which character to pick from the list for a given spelling.

ScottyJack wrote

Get him hooked up with a local contractor (carpenter, plumber, electrician) starting next summer. Work as an apprentice for a local respected trademen.  Skip college and learn the skills to become a master level trademen.   Start his own biz in his mid 20s.  Run a small crew of 3-5 and take the winters off earning 60-100k.  

So much trade work in Adks and so few skilled craftsmen.

Makes me think of the Moravian approach to education.  All men who were inclined to professions such as medical doctor or lawyer were also to spend time learning a trade such as carpentry.  Meaning really becoming knowledgeable, not just on a DIY level.  At least, that's how Moravians in NC and PA operated in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Can still be useful to get a 2-year degree from a community college to learn some business skills.  I think it can be hard to go back to school after a break from dealing with homework and exams.  I kept going into grad school without a break because I knew once I stopped taking classes I wouldn't have the patience to start up again.

On the other hand, a gap year has value for some people who aren't ready to focus on studying in college.

Another story . . . Have a friend who's father ran a Heat/AC business in Westchester.  His parents said that they would only pay for college if he took it seriously.  After thinking about the idea, he proposed an alternative.  He would take a year off after high school spending the first six months working in the family business, and then six months traveling around the world.  His parents agreed.  He backpacked around Europe for a few months before going to college.  By then he was ready to pay attention and had a pretty good idea what he wanted to study.  Led to a pretty solid career.  He's one of the best DIY homeowners I know.  The additions he did on a house when his family moved to Charlotte were amazing.  He could be his own general contractor.

ScottyJack wrote

Up here I’d go with french.  Lots of Canadians investing in real estate.  In fact,  67% of people who are registered for wilmington bikefest are canadians!

To bring up skiing again . . . being able to converse in French would be useful for a ski instructor or coach who wants to spend a season working in Quebec or perhaps even in France or Switzerland.  Although Spanish is good in the Rockies because there are plenty of South America families with money who take ski vacations at destination resorts.  I heard several instructors speaking Spanish who had obviously just completed teaching a private lesson at Snowmass.

These days, there are also ski schools looking for instructors who can teach in Chinese.  There are an increasing number of Chinese tourists visiting destination resorts.  SquawAlpine is actively courting them leading up to the Winter Olympics in China.

It’s almost impossible as an American to teach skiing in Canada due to the work laws

Z wrote

It’s almost impossible as an American to teach skiing in Canada due to the work laws

Ah . . . I've been reading an Aussie ski forum and didn't realize getting a work visa would be so much harder for U.S. citizens.

if you are from the the commonwealth of nations is very easy to work in Canada in the ski industry or otherwise - Americans are not welcome though

There is definitely a OT topic I could add here but won't