It’s often said (though not necessarily true) that a shark has to keep swimming to breathe. I think about education in the same terms: If I stop learning, surely I must not be breathing.
Growing up in a mid-sized Rustbelt town, I learned early on about the legend of the shop job. Grandfathers and uncles walked out of high school and traded diplomas for time cards at a factory making parts to feed the ravenous auto industry supply chain. I also learned that, for those born after about 1968 or 1969, the shop job was just that: a legend. Lucky me, born in ’73.