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Million dollar question isnt it… idk one big reason I’ve been thinking about it is I want to do something useful for society instead of bullshit in an office. Im currently in city planning and having to listen to a bunch of neoliberal shit from my professors is making me realize I’d have to be working for city councils who will be an insane pain to work with and im not sure it’s worth it. At least with a trade I actually know that I’m contributing to the local community in some fashion…
Have you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? I read it a long time ago, before having any political awareness so I can’t remember whether it’s liberal. But I remember it helped me think through some of what you’re going through after I’d gone the other way (started with manual work, then went to uni). Iirc the argument is to work with your hands.
I probably did the opposite of what the book suggests. But I found a way to do white collar work and have a ‘craft’. I think the craft thing is important. To me, at least, as it feel like I’m doing something for me, loosely speaking.
I’m still glad I did the manual jobs and I still do a bit now and again, depending on the job and ol’ employment situation. But it dragged on me in the end. Even though I loved working with my hands and seeing the fruits of my work and even enjoyed seeing other people be happy with the result, most of the job was doing things that objectively made the world worse (or will do, in the long run) and I got constantly fucked over by employers. (Not that that’s unique to blue collar industries.)
I don’t envy you your decision. It’s not an easy one. It tortured me and I wasn’t overly well because of it for a long time. I think I made the right choice now but on bad days and nostalgic days I wish I went the other way. I hope you don’t suffer with the choice.
A similar book is Crawford’s The case for working with your hands: why office work is bad for us and fixing things feels good.
Before you make your decision, you might want to read some of David Harvey’s work. I’m thinking Rebel Cities and ‘On the Deep Relevance of a Certain Footnote in Marx’s Capital’. The (short) article explains how he used Capital when he sat on a city planning panel in Korea (South, I assume). You’d have to think about how to do it; but there’s a way of staying in urban planning and making a difference (eventually). It’s whether you can stomach doing the neoliberal thing for the rest of the time and for however long it takes for you to become an authority.
How long do you have left of your course?
No
Depends on how many hours I take a semester. I had ~40 hours left, but I’m doing really bad this semester so there’s a solid chance I will only pass a couple of my classes, could even fail those, so im not sure. About a year if i take summer classes if I had to guess.
Thank you so much for all the reading suggestions, and the kind words. I will try to read thru them ASAP, because if I decide to switch I need to transfer to the local community college that offers trade education within the next couple weeks (luckily I am a fast reader!)
In that case, if you go for something by Harvey, try the article first. The book is good and relevant but it’s more of a Marxist approach to geography. Or a way of explaining Marxism through geography. Depending on your perspective. The Crawford book, especially, will get you pumped for switching to trade school. Or rebuilding a vehicle.
Remember as well that there’s a route back to the office if you go to trade school now. Some big companies will even pay you to take a degree later if you have the talent and motivation for it (which you do if you got into uni in the first place, even if you’ve gone through a rough patch with some current modules). It may depend on your location, though.
Hope all this helps.