system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:why do people look down on trades even though they can make a living?

at my former high school, one of the councillors liked to remind us that going into trades, such as plumbing and carpentry, is a good option for careers. Attend the local institute of technology and you'll be guaranteed a job, he said. However, almost every single grad went to university for subjects like science, engineering, or business. The school had a lot of international students who never considered trade school but after college, some of them struggled to find jobs directly related to their studies.

why is trade often looked down upon, even though they are the first to find a job?
gpt
The narrative that was being presented was that the more education you get, the better your career will be (this benefits schools as they sell education at an increasingly higher and higher cost).

The Information Technology sector had this revelation awhile back.  Universities aren't on the leading edge of technologies, whereas small structured certification courses were.  It became more beneficial to just get a MCSE (before that became meaningless) than it did to get a Comp Sci/MIS degree.

To be fair to that process though, you will likely hit a lower ceiling in the trades than you will in other areas of the private sector.  So it's like choosing between a guaranteed job with a nice salary or the CHANCE at getting an amazing job with an embarassingly large salary (or failing).