Hardly something that would require a University Education.
you guys parade your low wages like trophies. i see increasing wages as progress, and a better standard of living across the board.
work is a means to an end, and if nowadays you can work less hours for more pay, thus having more time to spend with your family or on the water, and more cash to enjoy it all with, then isn't that the whole idea of a job?
go back to living in a hovel and working in the coal pits 6 days a week 52 weeks a year just to feed your kids bread and gruel if you like. that way you can look tell everybody in the eye and tell them that nobody does it tougher than you.
its about making a life, not a living.
going through life with a list of unskilled jobs going no wear thats making a means to an ends fast bucks dont last. i know i dont want my kids to get 20 years down the track to suddenly come to the conclusion that degree thay spent 4 years doing becouse it was less work than becoming a plumber or sparkie or fitter was as usless as tits on a bull to them. 
i know this will piss some one off but my kids are not growing up becoming professional students...
i run my own welding business and i enjoy my trade, but at the end of the day there are a thousand other things i would rather do with my time than work.
i feel sorry for you if your life is so empty that a career is the major focus. i would never work again if i didn't have to, there is too much to do and see in the world and not enough time as it is.
its definetly all about balence and i have that too. as was pervously stated " your a long time doing somthing you hate" i love money as much as the next person but it's not the be all and end all. I dont need the biggest house the newest car a boat new kit every 12 months. i dont need to retire at 40 (id drive my self mad) to be happy my self and my family are happy. it just happens that an apprentaship lead me to be in a great paying job doing what i want. yha at the start it was crap money but it gave a skill base to build on. and i think thats the whole point building skills for your future.
you guys are right. i think we are on the same page, we are just reading things a little differently.
bottom line is find the right balance and be happy. speaking of which i think that northerly has finally picked up enough to head to the beach....
