America Needs Skilled Workers Now More Than Ever

This program will help meet that need

The Great American Disconnect

Work is not the enemy.

Our America — the greatest country on the Earth — was literally built on the sweat and hard work of the generations who came before us. But Americans today are becoming increasingly disconnected from the basic work ethic that once drove us to excel at building everything from furniture to battleships, from homes to highways.

We as a nation are becoming increasingly dependent on jobs that do not produce lasting goods and products. Put simply, we don’t celebrate the hard work that goes into the creation of our most basic necessities such as food, clean water, electricity or a roof over our heads. We’ve gone from farm chores to cubicle farms, and along the way lost touch with all the rewards that come from a hard day’s work. The C-Suite — the highest-level executive positions — has become the exalted goal, and the path to the halls of upper management doesn’t come through the mailroom anymore. Increasingly, we’re told that the only path to success must include a university degree. Apprenticeships, vocational training, technical schools and the like are shunned as young people are herded toward tens of thousands of dollars of student-loan debt in a quest for four-year liberal-arts degrees, degrees that in too many cases will never pay for themselves.

How do we change the way we think about skilled labor?

Make work a good thing.

Think about this: According to sources including Forbes magazine (highlighted in its Feb. 20, 2021, issue), in 2021 there were 45 million student-loan borrowers who collectively owed almost $1.7 trillion in student loans in the U.S. The average student loan debt for 2021 was $37,693. Forbes notes that student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt category — second only to mortgage debt — and higher than debt for both credit cards and auto loans.

The combination of overwhelming — and frankly, unnecessary — student debt, coupled with the disconnects between the goals of liberal-arts educators and the growing market for skilled tradespeople, are driving fundamental changes in the way young people today view work — and their career expectations. As a result, too many young people are struggling under crippling debt loads to work at jobs they ultimately find to be unfulfilling and, worse, unsustainable.

TitanCorp wants to help Americans reconnect to the skills, jobs and careers that helped forge this nation; jobs that turned out generation after generation of self-reliant and successful tradesmen and small-business owners who have comprised the sturdy backbone of American success.

How do we define work ethic?

The TITAN Pledge.

We wanted to find a way to articulate the qualities we value most. That’s why we created The Titan Pledge. Fair warning: The Titan Pledge isn’t for everyone. But the pledge is your first step to entering the THRIVE Trade School Scholarship Program. If you want to commit to a life of self-reliance and success built with your own hands, and if you’re not afraid of the honest, hard work required to succeed, read our pledge. Then take the next steps to connect to a secure future, one built with your own skills and abilities.