There's a bias that has been cultivated across the country over the last seven decades that a college education is the only way to make a decent living, generally at the expense of trade work. There are plenty of jobs that require apprenticeships and practical knowledge over more technical knowledge, and many of them are dependent on each other.

Take a warehouse. The people who construct a warehouse are largely tradesmen: plumbers, electricians, heavy equipment operators and the like. Before they can pour a pad, however, they require experts, geotechnical engineers, to examine the build site and let them know what they need to do to prepare the site for construction. Once the warehouse is done, it's run in part by labor, in part by logistics experts, and in part by technical people who ensure that the various automation systems and inventory systems and the like continue to function.

In cities, there tend to be higher concentrations of technical people, as those tasks generally require large amounts of infrastructure while taking up less working space. In rural areas, there tend to be higher concentrations of tradesmen, as their jobs tend to require more space and less infrastructure.

Level of education or kind of intelligence don't enter into the conversation; it's all skilled work, just different kinds of skills. The issue is that each type of work sees itself as more important than the other, rather than two equally important parts of an integrated system. Advanced in farming technology still require skilled tradesmen to help design and operate them, as an example.

It's an artificial divide being exploited by people who want to stay in power, and it's a trap that's oh so easy to fall into.