Posted on 09/08/2013 8:07:06 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Many young men and women headed back to the classroom this week, equipped with texts on cultural relativism and stars in their eyes. They should enjoy it while it lasts. Those stars will turn to dollar signs not long after graduation day, when the realization sets in that that medieval feminist studies degree is not as marketable as they had anticipated.
The problem isn’t unique to those who have chosen to pursue so-called “soft” degrees. For years now, graduates of teachers colleges (especially in Ontario) have found themselves with few job openings, as have journalism grads, some business majors and a growing cohort of law school alumni. In some industries, such as teaching, there is an oversupply of labour and too few job opportunities. For other fields, such as journalism, the stream of grads remains constant even though the industry itself is shrinking. And as for those equity studies and philosophy majors — unless they can flip that paper into a PhD and teach the courses themselves — they’ve long been looking at a career behind the counter.
(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...
There’s always the Doctorate in Social Justice available at the University of Massachusetts School of Professional Grievances.
The Government student loan program is over 1 trillion dollars and 50% of those loans are in default...
ummmm yeah that program is a great idea... Like all government programs.
Bring back American industry.
Make things here.
Make lots of things here.
Right here.
Stop importing everything. Make stuff in America.
In a free market one succeeds by providing value that others will purchase.
If a degree does not help you provide purchasable value, it’s not worth purchasing (unless you can afford to spend your money to study something for fun).
Shame on the academic community for misleading so many naïve students.
They should. They provide a service and product the market needs.
The feminist stuff is crap but medieval history? That’s hardly a soft subject to me! You can have a really good career as a historian (hopefully objective and politically incorrect) or as a writer. I have a thousand books on medieval English history - enough to keep a world of writers employed.
The closing of the trade schools and the forcing of kids into college was a disaster for this country.
Art schools used to be trade schools. In Manhattan, they still are - unless you’re talking about the really big ones like Pratt. There are a lot of jobs that you can extract from a good art degree. Just was reading about Julian Beck, the theatre artist, who got excellent jobs as a window dresser before he became successful as a theatre person. Window dressing in Manhattan is a huge deal and very lucrative.
Back in about 1968, a cousin who went into the T & D trade said he could expect $22/hour and would have as much work as he wanted. That’s probably $44 today...
Well, I don’t think kids who were slated to go to trade schools were mentally deficient. They learned good trades at those schools and often went on to have really good jobs. Of course, in my youth, we really respected working-class people such as plumbers and carpenters. We made fun of pencil neck geeks at Harvard!
Actually there are lots of jobs you can get with and art degree but its not traditional art as in taking a canvas and making pretty pictures.
Its in graphic art and animation and such like that.
And a lot of that stuff pays pretty well and there is a lot of job opportunities. (Way more than "woman's studies" or "gay and lesbian humanities" etc.)
My daughter is one of those students who is walking around with art supplies BUT those classes are requirements to get her on the path she wants to take. She has taken the approach that she wants to do either architecture OR a job in animation OR art therapy And if she goes the architect route she is also considering structural engineering. And every one of those paths require she take basic art classes.
I don't. You met today's youth? I mean have you actually spent more than just a passing glance on a street with them? They are vacuous. They have absolutely zero aspirations. They don't want to work. They want to sit in an air-conditioned room with a smart device with Internet access. They don't want to make anything better, including their lives.
I was talking with my personal trainer about this stuff just last week. He's in his mid-20's, but he's doing personal training for cash and putting himself through nursing school. He has drive. He's also a practicing Christian with hopes and dreams and wants.
I could tell my lazy ass younger brother that he could make $30/hr working in a T&D shop or as a welder or a carpenter, and his ears would perk up. Problem is as soon as he finds out it's actual work involving deadlines and shop foremen, his interest will collapse like a cheap lawnchair.
Kids today have an extreme aversion to authority. They don't want to be "managed," and those who try to be their own manager, try to start a business or work in a trade come to find out real quick that Uncle Sam is the biggest bully boss of them all. For today's youth, there's zero incentive to work. They've been raised and educated to believe that materialism is evil. Nice things are evil. Starving children in Africa can't have nice things, why should they?
The idea of America as an exceptional nation of "doers" with a drive to succeed and be better is dying if not assuming room temperature. Even I, in my early 30s, have become disenchanted by my future prospects. My wife and I save money, continue to get out of debt, and we aspire to fix up our little home together, but outside of that, work is just an 8 hour interruption in our daily lives. It's sad, because I really enjoy my career; but without any real goals or long-term aspirations, work is something I need to keep the lights on and food in my belly. Perhaps it's the liberal education that indoctrinated me in my later teen years, but I definitely feel like life is so much more than the money we make or the stuff we have. Then again, to what we aspire usually requires funds to obtain.
Your daughter is getting a great education in the fundamentals of art. That’s what the paint brushes are for. My nephew is in art school as well - he’s employed, also, as a game designer in a startup business in L.A. He’s making more than I ever did at age 18!
Don't know about those trades, but I can tell you about our longtime auto mechanic. He's scrupulously honest, and he has so much business it's unreal....had to take out his gas pumps to make room, and is making so much money he was able to do away with Saturday hours. He owns several Corvettes and is always looking for more. He and his dad live on either side of the business in little ranch houses. The dad, who started the business and handed it down to him, is worth 7$ million.
I don't think they mind not having degrees.
I don’t agree with everything you say but you’re right about that aversion to authority. My husband has had his youthful employees act disgracefully on a constant basis. Giving their opinions on high management issues, hacking private emails, walking off the job if someone is rude on the phone; the list goes on and on and on. I guess it comes from the self-esteem movement.
Auto mechanics must make tons of money. The only problem is in finding one you can trust and who is honest. All these trades require mucho intelligence.
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