> Our job has become harder. And hopefully, the masses (read
> parents) will start to realize that not every kid is college
> bound. And that there are many good jobs that can be had
> without a college education. I know, talking to the workers
> next to my house, that building a house earns a good living.
> And the man putting in my garage door opener. As well as the
> ones selling me my blinds. Oh, and landscapers. Lots of jobs
> that my degrees in math really don't help me with ... only make
> me wonder if I made the wrong choice to get in to teaching.

Those jobs may not require college, but they do need mathematical skills.

My husband builds houses, he is a master carpenter. (No college,
didn't even finish high school. It was the 70s and not unheard of to
quit to go to work.) But... he does have excellent (perhaps inborn)
mathematical reasoning. He uses math a LOT. He doesn't call it by the
same name, but he uses the Pythagorean Theorem all the time to "true
up" corners, he uses linear equations, slope, etc for the roofs and
staircases, geometry for angles, scale, I could go on forever. He
uses mathematics, geometry, algebra and physics every day.

Unfortunately, we can't find workers who can read a tape measure
(without calling the 8ths the big notches and the 16ths the little
notches). Don't even THINK about them adding two measurements
together! And having them cut more than one thing from a sheet of
plywood, why then they'd have to think about how to lay it out, which
direction to cut. Not happening, they don't "see" that they can turn
a shape and get more pieces out of the same sheet of wood. This lack
of basic math skills is a fairly recent phenomenon. It wasn't a
problem a few years ago. I think it all comes down to lack of number
sense, which is a byproduct of pushing higher levels too soon.

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