[aestra]

>I think we just need to break that expectation of going to college right after high school.

Absolutely! But middle/upper class families aren't helping the situation. We have people who start saving for college for fetuses. When you are 18 and you know you've got some hunk of change for college and people are telling you "college," than it doesn't seem like you'd be likely to go to trade school. It seems like you'd be betraying your family's expectations of you. There's also a cultural expectation that if you don't go to college you're nothing or stupid.

See Mike Rowe (of the show Dirty Jobs) for his opinion on the matter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzKzu86Agg0