I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking on the Right about opting out of college, especially in the Libertarian American Right. The truth is you really have to have a concrete plan to opt out of college and have it work in a way where you can support a family. Same if you go to college, too. But guys will be like “ahh but I’ll learn a trade” or “I’m going to leave Commie Seattle where I have roots and move to Montana with no connections to live the Trad life” - but then they never do it and end up all financially screwed up. I know solid guys who are things like pipefitters and make good money- but I’d tell a kid who is 18 or 19 and wants to do that, you got to hang out with guys who can get you in there right now, so you can place in a year. Networking is maybe more important when you’re starting blue collar than white collar. Maybe even certifications are more important when you’re blue collar for a lot of things, too.

I literally spent college drawing crucified skinheads in my notebook and skipping class to read books by Gobineau you couldn’t check out in the library. I was considered a high performing student and it literally consisted of me reading 10-20 pages a class a week and regurgitating reformulated ideas. I hate lectures because I saw no point because I actually read what they were just reading slowly on a PowerPoint. Nonetheless, I couldn’t do what I do today without a degree and ironically, I got my degree heavily subsidized under a program for “minority students” that included a clause that very low income (white) students could also qualify. It’s stupid as heck but people get too caught up in ambiguity - a lot of things are ambiguous and weird under this system because it’s very artificial but if you see a net advantage to doing something, hey, I did it. My only regret is I wish I’d been in a program focused on hard skills, like accounting or computer science. I unfortunately opted for a soft skill major but made it work. And like the blue collar path, it always has to come back to developing some kind of vision a program can’t give you.