Thank you for the Aug. 4 article “Real world skills. Got ’em?” Students need to know that there are alternatives to college. Such alternatives are often attacked by college officials who foresee that every high school grad who skips college represents lost income and lost prestige for them.

I’m pleased that county high schools are developing shop and vocational education. College officials like bragging that college grads earn more money than high school grads, but life is more than money. High-paying, high-status jobs often become a hollow zilch in midlife. One reason so many students take remedial classes is because they were forced to go and are resentful and unmotivated.

A lot of ego has grown up around college. A common assumption is that non-college people are not only ignorant, but inferior all around. And that is a crock.

So I applaud the Central Coast’s ROCP programs and urge parents and administrators to support them.

-- Steve T. Kobara - San Luis Obispo

-- Steve T. Kobara - San Luis Obispo