Posted on 12/24/2012 8:17:55 AM PST by pabianice
Our young people should go to tecnical school for a year and learn a trade to fall back on. In that way they could even earn their own way through college - if they decided they still wanted to go.
“My daughters have had 20 years of ON THE JOB TRAINING (which is the best source of an education), yet are bypassed for some dingbat with a degree. Something is not right about this.”
At one time such policies made sense, because degrees in certain fields ensured a certain minimum understanding/skill set. Nowadays these policies are often pushed to simply create a false demand for degrees. With cops they felt that requiring ANY degree would eliminate candidates that would put the nightstick to any motorist just for the hell of it (and that probably was a good screen); it has certainly boosted the associate’s degree industry in NJ.
The other side of this is that in today’s job market (and for the foreseeable future) companies will have their pick of overqualified candidates for many jobs, so they think the degreed candidate is automatically better (I disagree with that premise). In the end, the people will 20 years’ experience and a thorough understanding of a niche should have better job security in an environment like this.
If this be not insanity, what is it?
To better understand how the Left uses their pursuit of "diversity" to actually suppress the historic diversity of Mankind, see Putting "Diversity Into Context.
I see the three girls in the article as victims, indeed. Not victims of traditional reality, but victims of the recently contrived culture of pretense & fantasy; a make believe world where anyone of us can be whatever we want to be. That is not freedom. It is only "make-believe." It diverts people from actually working towards achievable goals; from realistic assessment of their best hold on what life has to offer.
William Flax
The author isn't really judgmental so much as lamenting what seems to be a fact that nobody can seem to blame on anyone. The reality is that poorer people start with more obstacles than people with means.
Maybe the right answer is to recognize and accept that fact. Find the approaches that will work for the poorer people so their children will have the means.
As a side note, I'm surprised the author was allowed to even hint that there might be attitudinal differences in their families that get in the way. How classist!!!
Of course they did! The also neglected to call Angela an anchor baby.
I'm all for personal responsibility, but I agree with you. These kids are trying to better themselves, they are trying to do what's right.
And I don't expect a 17 or 18-year-old kid to have the real-world savvy of someone who's 40. It's the job of the institutions to properly guide these young people. And as you noted, that's just not happening.
We took a teenage girl in (16+) that had a terrible home life (absent father, crazy mother). She was smart, had earned a scholarship, and was attending college but just needed a chance outside her home environment. So we took her in to give her a chance that she otherwise wouldn't have. Unfortunately, the "Old Ways" followed her, and as soon as freedom came, the schoolwork was left by the wayside and she returned to the old (familiar) ways that she grew up in. We tried to console her, pointing out that 2nd chances were rare. She knew just what to say to make it seem she understood, but actions spoke louder than words. We caught her in several lies, including that she had dropped out of college (failed classes) and ended up asking her to leave by a certain date. Her choice was to acknowledge but ignore the deadline.
When the date came and went, I ended up showing up at her work (I could never catch her at my house), walked behind the counter, demanded the key to my house back and told her that her belongings were in my garage in boxes waiting for her to pickup. I explained she would only get them if I was there to give them to her (which she eventually did). Not sure where she is now, but the last I knew she wasn't in a good situation (but of her own making).
We had a young college intern (African-American) at my work who was at about the same position as the girl previously mentioned. Smart and motivated, a real pleasure to work with. He recognized the opportunity presented to him and he took full advantage of it. The result was that when he was to graduate, my manger pulled him into the office and offered him a full-time position right out of college in our Fortune 500 company. His fire is lit, and he has a bright and enviable future laid out for him.
In the girls case, I'm not sure if she had a clue at the time what she threw away. The Intern saw his opportunity and ran with it. They both earned what the results they got. Freedom requires sacrifices that a good majority of the current "entitled" young people (of ALL races) are not willing to make. I still am willing to help any I can to advance themselves. On the other hand I refuse give time or money to those who won't lift a finger to help themselves but choose the pity-party and blame-game route instead. Those with that liberal mindset can fend for themselves, and keep their hands out of my pockets!
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Damn Irish. Damn Italians. Damn Jews.
No, but I expect them to be rational, and capable of making informed decisions. Unfortunately, schooling insulates young adults from the consequences of their decisions, or decision-making altogether, so teens aren't concerned about the consequences of their decisions.
Angelica: Got into Emory, which has a good financial aid program. But she didn't fill out the forms right, and said she didn't know how to check her email. They tried to notify her 17 times. She had to borrow from a bank, her boyfriend (whose father owns a furniture store) co-signed the loan. Next year she screwed up the application forms AGAIN, and started working more hours to make up for it, so her grades went down. She didn't contact her advisor or financial aid. She moved off campus "to save money" but "found herself spending even more" (?) Stopped coming to class. Prof tried to talk to her but the girl pretty much stonewalled her. She started failing classes. Dean and profs tried to reach her but she just didn't respond. Next year, screwed up her financial aid applications AGAIN (too late AND missing information). Hasn't graduated, dropped out, has $61,000 in debt, and is working at boyfriend's dad's furniture store.
Bianca: Started at community college to stay close to her family. Finished her associate's, got accepted into a four year university, but just doesn't want to go and leave her family. She's sunk into a rut with a low-paying job
Melissa: Picked Texas State because "the application was the easiest." Moved in with her boyfriend, ran up her credit cards, and the boyfriend started using drugs and robbed her. She got depressed and quit going to classes, so now she's taking an extra year to graduate and has accumulated a $44,000 debt (not counting credit cards).
I feel for these girls, because I remember being young and dumb, but the rich are not to blame for their problems. All three of them are where they are purely from their own carelessness, or bad choices. Boys and credit cards and being "too depressed" to go to class, in summary.
Boo-hoo-hoo.
Boyfriends, tattoos, “hiding behind eyeliner...”, “mother crossed the border illegally”...
I made it through the first four pages and couldn’t take anymore.
Typical sob story from the main propaganda arm of the Democrat Party USA. Only “the poor” have problems, and all they need is for Democrat politicians to confiscate more from working, taxpaying,productive Americans and hand it over in exchange for votes.
Sorry, no sale.
True. The kids have been miseducated all the way from kindergarten on up. As for the humanities--history, literature, philosophy, etc.--they have almost all been taken over by liberal dingbats whose only interest is PC brainwashing.
Conservative professors need not apply, since their liberal colleagues will never give them tenure.
I didn’t read enough to find out, but I’m guessing they’re “anchor babies”.
Nobody told them in the “new normal” of Baraq the economic party is over. Like most of their peers they’ll become “29ers” at some low wage job. So much for the “free” contraceptives.....
Believe you me, my daughters DO have job security, they are the only ones that completely KNOW their job and have some techniques only known to them, JOB SECURITY, haha.
From what my dauthters tell me, those DEGREE idiots, don't know doodley squat about what the company is about, and come to them for help or just delegate to them, and off to the water cooler or lunch. Just make the DEGREE person look good, that's all that matters. lol
They have no clue what a Spreadsheet is or how it works, my daughters have often times had to go to some meeting and do the DEGREE persons job of explaining.
Yes, now days there is an abundance of OVER qualifed persons for any job. lol Sad, but true. Even the Over qualified still are not skilled in what my daughters know. lol Only skill they really have is DELEGATING.
Mostly the Degree person is the Office/Company court jester and gets seriously laughed at behind their backs by the office personnal. rofl......
Cheating is dramatically on the rise. Third-party certification will soon be required by the market.
I’ll agree with you to some degree, and then add two other points. With the costs of college today, students and parents have a hard time justifying an expensive degree that won’t get a job on the other end. Despite what a lot of FReepers think, not everyone is majoring in women’s studies. : ) It’s one thing to take survey courses in the humanities, it’s quite another to major in French lit. and a lot of students/parents realize this already.
The other issue is that humanities have been way behind in accepting technology. I know of professors who won’t allow laptops in class (?). They don’t use technology much themselves and, cloistered with their first editions of Jane Austen, don’t see that anyone who’s not a computer science major needs technology. Meanwhile, employers are looking for tech savvy employees, for all kinds of jobs.
I’m a professor in a professional field. Our grads get jobs. Our grads are tech savvy. Many of our students come to us from the humanities (which is a good background for some divisions in our field), because they couldn’t get jobs with the their humanities degree.
It used to be that a good liberal arts background would prepare you for a lot of jobs, and it’s still not a bad background to have, but if you want a job out of college, you’re going to need to take education, business, engineering, computer science, nursing, etc. Even the nonprofits, which used to be the employment mecca for women’s studies types, need people who can read a spreadsheet.
A lot of students should just forget the 4 year college thing and spend 2 yrs in community college getting some general education courses and a degree or certificate in a trade or paraprofessional position. I’m not sure what it will take for this society to recognize that we don’t need all these liberal arts grads and that there are a variety of well-paying jobs that need training, but not a 4 yr degree.
When my car doesn’t run right, I always seek out a gender studies expert to fix it.
A 4-year college degree, and career based on that degree isn’t for everyone.
and ties to boyfriends not in school added complications. and there it is...
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