AS OTHERS SEE IT

Portsmouth Herald, Feb. 16:

In the movie “Back to School,” a young Thornton Melon, played by Rodney Dangerfield, is lectured by his father that a man without education has nothing. Yet, the younger Melon goes on to make his fortune through a chain of Melon’s Fat and Tall clothing stores with little education, despite his father’s urging.

In the end, Melon does go back to school to earn a college degree, but only as a way of getting his son to stay in school.

Since Dangerfield’s movie in 1986, there has been what we would call an all-too-slow awakening that a college degree is not a guarantee of a good and well-paying career.

That reality, however, has become more apparent as the cost of college has skyrocketed.

Over the lifetime of the generation heading off to college this fall, tuition and associated costs of a four-year degree have risen, in some cases by more than 200 percent.

This has forced some very tough choices. One of those has been to reassess the value of that four-year degree. Another is to look elsewhere for a road to success.

Steve Turner, who opened Turner’s Upholstery in Rye 30 years ago and is urging young people to take a hard look at the trades as an alternative.

“I turn down more jobs than I can take,” said Turner, who upholsters high-end vehicles.

Yet, he can’t hire the talent he needs.