This one's near and dear to my heart, so I'm gonna rant.
I do not and never will get the idea these days of getting some vague and blasé that imparts no real skills or knowledge, then moving off somewhere to the burbs to work some nameless government, university, or corporate middle management blob job.
Talk about zero control over your destiny.
Lived in the city a few years. It's fun when you're young and single just after college with all the amenities you could ask for, but it's also expensive, and after you work through all the touristy type things that it has to offer, it's pretty much like living most places except maybe for the clubs and takeout and shopping if you got the paycheck. Even the thrill of that doesn't last long.
And after you score your first serious job you are generally too exhausted to go out for big glittery nights on the town, again even if you had big paychecks to afford it. Especially now it isn't that safe, and most places just try and be more and more upscale and bougie to take bigger chunks of people's money. Definitely not as fun as it used to be when the country and cities were more blue collar.
Yet every year college graduates get their degrees and go run off to the cities, only to settle in the burbs and live the same kind of life they had in the small town where they came from, but with a few more amenities, then fool themselves thinking that their cool because they're 'living in the big city'. Let's not even talk about the commute. Meanwhile the small towns and rural areas die in a eternal vicious circle that's been since the Rust Belt days.
Those who get marketable skilled or trade degrees, whether welders or machinists, doctors or engineers, aren't tied to that life. They can get jobs away from the city, where quality of life is better and cheaper, often with better schools, and shorter commutes, and even the ability to afford a house with some property. Now with remote working it's even more possible. They have far more freedom to roam and range, and you can always go for a good touristy weekend in the city.
Why wouldn't anyone want to live that v. the other?
