Every August we get the same feel-good TV shots of beaming teenagers waving their A-level results, teachers clapping, proud parents filling their phones with happy memories that are instantly posted on Facebook.

The media laps it up, and why wouldn’t they? Most journalists went to university themselves. Most teachers did too. So it’s hardly surprising that the loudest message teenagers hear is: Go to uni, get a degree, that’s the only path to success!

But here’s the rub, that’s not the only path, and in the UK, we’ve been ignoring the alternatives to our peril for decades.

Social respect UK Vs. Germany

Let’s be honest. If you’re a manual worker in this country, plumber, electrician, carpenter, or heating engineer you don’t get the same social respect as a graduate in a suit. But when you look at Germany it’s a totally different story. Their system treats vocational training and university education as equal. Both are routes to respected, well-paid careers. That’s why they don’t have the skills shortage that’s crippling the UK.

Tony Blair’s aspiration own goal

And that shortage is the elephant in the room. We’ve been failing to train enough skilled tradespeople for years, certainly since Tony Blair made it his mission to turn half the population into graduates. That might have sounded aspirational, but the result? Fewer apprentices, fewer people learning trades, and a deepening crisis in construction and infrastructure.

Right now we need thousands more plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, and carpenters just to keep the lights on, let alone to deliver the massive projects on the horizon: converting heating systems to hydrogen and heat pumps, building the millions of homes we’re short of, or even getting Heathrow’s third runway off the ground.

A job for life with no debt

And here’s the crazy bit, apprenticeships don’t saddle you with £50,000 in debt. You get paid while you learn, you gain skills employers desperately need, and you walk into a career with proper earning potential from day one. Compare that to paying through the nose for a degree that may or may not get you a job in your chosen field.

We’ve got a social crisis, a political crisis, an organisational crisis, and an educational crisis all rolled into one. The only way out is a huge, state-backed training push, something on a scale we haven’t seen in decades. Without it, the country’s ambitions for housing, green energy, and infrastructure are nothing but wishful thinking.

Degrees and AI don’t fix boilers!

So, well done to all the kids picking up their results today, you’ve worked hard. But here’s the truth: lawyers, accountants, psychologists and historians don’t fix boilers, wire homes, or build runways. And neither does AI. If we keep ignoring apprenticeships, the UK will be a country with plenty of degrees, and no one to fix the pipes.