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Too many of us graduate high school and then have no idea what to do with our life. Should we go to college? Should we work? Should we do both? Should we do neither? Where should we go to college? What should we study? Where should we go to work? What are we qualified to do? If you are truly stuck, and leaning towards going to work, you might to best taking a little time to learn a trade. Getting a targeted education to learn the job you want will help you get hired and help you earn more money.

Trades are industries that hire skilled professionals. Common trade jobs include construction, ironwork, electrical work, electronic repair, truck driving and other forms of transportation, and mechanical repair. Tradesmen are skilled craftsmen who have an expert level of knowledge in their craft. You cannot achieve the expert level of knowledge without a solid education, unless you are willing to work from the very bottom up and take many years learning the ropes on the job. This is acceptable to some people, but it does not do you any good to delay your success, and it does not do a company that hires tradesmen any good to have to teach you everything you need to know to do the job.

Many of the most well known trades have levels of expertise. While learning the job, you are considered an apprentice. Once you have completed your apprenticeship (education substitutes for the traditional on-the-job apprenticeship), you are ready to strike out on your own as a journeyman. A journeyman is one who has all the skills to do the job, but still likely works for somebody else. Once you become an expert, you are considered a master of your craft. At this point, you will likely have your own business, be a teacher, or be very high up in a company with journeymen and apprentices working under you.

The education required to learn a trade is often shorter and more targeted than a general college degree. Technical and vocational schools are usually the educators of choice when a student wants to become a tradesman. These programs usually confer an Associate’s degree or a certificate of completion upon graduation, not a Bachelor’s degree like a four-year college or university would. The classes are geared towards teaching specific, usable skills, rather than theories and concepts. The programs are often split between classroom study and laboratory work, where the students can get hands on experience with the tools they are learning under expert supervision. Towards the end of the educational program, the students will often go through an internship, where they spend time working with a company in the industry learning how a real business operates. After graduation, many schools help students find employment in the industry.

Skilled tradesmen are always in demand. If you want a career that pays well and lets you do something you enjoy, consider learning a trade and taking the path towards becoming a master tradesman.

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Many people enjoy researching their family history. Genealogy research can be an informative and exciting hobby. There are many ways for people to gather information about their family tree. Some people prefer to research their genealogy through archives and microfilm at their local library. Other people enjoy looking into their ancestry by scouring records and databases on the internet. Still others like to research their family history by talking to other people, maybe contacts they have met online, while performing research, or others with a shared interest in genealogy research. There are even courses available on genealogy research. Some schools, such as Boston University online, offer an online genealogy program in which you may earn your Certificate in Genealogy Research.

Needless to say, there are many ways a person can go about looking into his or her family history. Leave it to modern technology to find yet another innovative way to take a peek into your family’s past. Did you know you may be able to uncover information about your heritage using your DNA? We all know that DNA can be used in criminal or paternity cases, but DNA testing can also be useful in genealogical research.

There are several companies that offer DNA testing for the purpose of finding distant relatives and most of the companies work in basically the same manner. You request a DNA submission kit and submit a sample of your DNA to the company of your choice. This is usually done by a simple swab of the inside of your mouth to get a sample of cheek cells, and this procedure is painless if done correctly. Once you have collected this DNA sample on the swabs provided by the company you chose, you mail the swabs back to the company. A few weeks later, the company will have a genetic profile created for you. Most of the companies have a database of this genetic information in which profiles are compared and you can theoretically find people you are related to.

This type of DNA testing can do more than simply find people you may be related to. These tests may also reveal your genetic origins. Many of our ancient human ancestors migrated out of Africa and other continents almost two hundred thousand years ago. Throughout the ages, these ancient ancestors moved all throughout the world and their DNA diversified and they became genetically distinct from one another. Today, it may be possible to track these differences through DNA testing. These test results may provide a peek into how your ancestors moved throughout the world and which populations they belonged to.

While companies that provide ancestry related DNA testing services can give you a wealth of information, not all DNA derived information is supplied by these services. Most of these services do not provide distinguishing information about specific individuals such as eye color or hair color. Most of these services do not provide information or test results sufficient for paternity testing and the like.

This time of the year, as final year secondary students begin to prepare their applications to universities for the following year, there is one problem which continues to raise its head.  This is the problem of predicted grades.

In Hong Kong, the single largest minority group of senior secondary students studying in International schools , are hoping to apply to UK universities. Those applying for other locations such as Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are generally not faced with this problem. But those hoping to go to the UK need to apply for their chosen universities based on their predicted grades. Predicted grades are of course grades that their schools predict the student will be able to get in the final assessment.  Tutorial schools can provide specialist tutors including an English tutor , or other subject specialists to help ensure students can gain the predicted grade they need.  These schools can also provide help with external exams such as IELTS or SAT.

The problem with predicted grades is that they are, as the name suggests, predicted, or estimates. While schools are able to base the predicted grades on tests, class work and other factors, these grades are not the final ones.  And these grades are problematic for a number of reasons.

If a school predicts the student quite a low or conservative grade, the student finds it difficult to secure an offer from a good university.  However, if the school predicts a high grade, allowing the student to apply to and gain an offer from a good university and then these grades are not achieved, the student is unable to meet the offer and cannot take it up. And with the International Baccalaureate IB  this means six predicted grades are needed.

Of course, ideally a predicted grade is an accurate reflection of the student’s actual ability.  The problem with that is that students are often predicted their grades almost 12 months before their final assessments.  Teenagers mature a lot during the final year or so at school and a student who doesn’t excel in a mock exam can still improve.  Of course, such a student does not always improve.  This and many more issues are discussed in this blog Hong Kong Education.

The predicted grade problem is difficult for students who face low grades from their mock exams so students need help, whether from schools or from outside tuition, in order to prepare for their predicted grades.  Students with low offers due to low predicted grades can hope for a positive outcome from the clearing process in August, but it would be more comforting for students to be offered the choices they hope for, and then they can strive to meet them in their final exams.  Note: predicted grades are often even more difficult if a child learns a second language such as French in Hong Kong for example. The information for this site is also available in Chinese at: 國際英語測試系统,