DEAR ABBY: I just read the letter from "Andy's Mother" who was disappointed in her son because he wanted to do manual labor and work with his hands instead of getting a college education.
Abby, my husband is 26 years old and has been a bricklayer for nearly seven years, and he is far from stupid. He not only lays bricks, he is sometimes the foreman and has to read blueprints for large buildings.
I wonder how many men Andy's mother knows who make $45,000 a year without a college education.
My husband works 40 hours a week, and I am able to stay home and take care of our own children. I know a lot of "professional" people who put their children in day care because one income is not enough to raise a family.
I'm proud of my husband. He may work with his hands, but he also has to work with his head or he wouldn't know what to do with his hands. If it weren't for people like my husband, we would all be living in tents with no electricity or plumbing. -- A MASON'S WIFE IN HARTFORD, CONN.
DEAR MASON'S WIFE: The mail was heavy on this subject. A Waco, Texas, reader wrote in to say that he worked with his hands, but he also had eight years of college. He was a dentist.