" trade schools "

 [ "Trade School" ]

1: A post-secondary alternative to college or university. Trade school is often a two-year degree with small classes and hands on training. This is achieved by rolling admission and allows for excellent student/teacher ratios. An excellent choice for students obsessed with one certain interest, trade school rejects the college "well-rounded" approach and instead masters one specific topic. Like art school, these students often build portfolios to show potential employers, making them more desirable candidates. The best part about trade school is the living situation. Since most of these schools don't accommodate students on campus, they live on their own in the real world. This allows them to get a jump start on their college-bound brethren who live in the artificial "bubble" of college campuses. Due to the unprecedented amount of college graduates, the job market for them is extremely competitive. Not so much for associate degrees. Jobs such as electrician, plumber, carpenter, mechanic, and gunsmith will always be in demand, not to mention that they pay pretty well too. It truly is the "working man's education"

  * e.g.,  ... Guy: Jeff just graduated from trade school and makes good money as an auto mechanic. Girl: Eww I wouldn't want to do that. Guy: Well, he does. 

 [ "College as Trade School" ]

1: College as Trade School is another example of the commodification of modern life spills over into post-secondary education in alarming ways. The historic benefit of college previously included the perceived civilizing effect and greater awareness of the sweep of history and human progress. That aspect has been reduced in the headlong rush toward getting one's ticket punched to enter the workforce in a more favorable position. That is basically like getting a Fast Pass to jump ahead in line at an amusement park, only some readers and riders will get nauseous from the event.

  * e.g.,  ... I paid a fortune for a BS, and found out about College as Trade School. I was surrounded by other BS people in a mad scramble to drink through the term and Google my derivative research paper topics. 

 [ "College as Trade School" ]

2: If you dare to think about education for education's sake, or the immense satisfaction and richness of learning and appreciating a world beyond your immediate surroundings, then you will be ostracized in the 'get ahead now because you will miss out' ethic that is the hallmark of the current zeitgeist.

  * e.g.,  ... He didn't study enough to make it into a good university, so he had to settle for College as Trade School. that condemned him to a life in (gasp!) middle class. At least he had been informed of all the great benefits of joining the consumerist cause and could now spend his way into lifelong debt on top of his student loans. 

 [ "North Avenue Trade School" ]

1: Diminutive nickname of the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. So called because of the university's location on North Avenue in Atlanta.

  * e.g.,  ... I received my doctorate in astrophysics from the North Avenue Trade School