Posted on 07/23/2024 8:58:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
$280K English Lit degree and you can’t find a real job? Who could’ve imagined such a thing......
“Learn to code.”
Say, maybe there is a future for English Lit majors.
Want a career?, then concentrate in Science, Techical skills, Engineering, Mechanical skills. The rest is just unemployable fluff.
So a guy sends out 1000 resumes and no job... That says it all as to what’s wrong with the guy.
When I was in school (Accounting major), it was a routine thing to have liberal arts majors address me in an accusatory tone of not getting a “real” education but only “vocational training”. My standard reply was to appear to consider their statements and then respond that they were absolutely correct ... I wanted a good job with a future upon graduation.
Yup. The old thinking was that simple automation would replace workers on the assembly line -- robots are better. And fast-food job? Machines can flip burgers, right? Machines would take jobs from low-skill workers, but no one really cares about them, right?
Well, AI can do most cubicle work. Simple, repetitive, logical tasks. Fill out the spreadsheets, file the reports, crunch the numbers. Machines do that better than people. Insurance, Banking, Accounting, Lawyers, etc. Lots of white collar jobs held by smart people who got good college degrees -- those jobs are going away.
And for young people -- the entry-level jobs of burger flipping or mail room clerk? There aren't really entry-level jobs anymore. But if you get your foot in the door, can you move up? No. We got rid of Middle Management, remember? Those were wasteful jobs, so we don't have Managers running teams of 5 or 10. We have Managers running teams of 100-200. Good luck moving up to that position -- 100 people on the team want to become the new boss. Only 1 will make it. Odds are 99% against you.
Physical trades are a good bet for young people. But the country doesn't need 300 million plumbers, so that's not a complete solution.
I think a VERY large percentage of the population will find that it as no useful labor to contribute to society. This is bad.
“liberal arts majors address me in an accusatory tone of not getting a “real” education but only “vocational training”.”
That is a reasonable attitude to have if you have a trust fund waiting for you upon graduation.
Lol.
It is much worse for white male graduates.
Paying $280,000 for a degree in English literature? Hopefully they have a career in forgery lined up. First editions and author’s notes go for a lot at auction.
Especially when labor jobs are being reserved for the illegal aliens, #ell even crime is being farmed out to them.
I was lucky. After graduating from high school I got a job in a production machine shop which paid about twice minimum wage. I had never even seen a machine tool up until then, but I learned on the job. There were occasional, temporary layoffs when business become slow but I hung on and eventually became a journeyman machinist.
After working 14 years in that business, my boss offered me a foreman position in a new machine shop he was starting. I took it.
Five years later, a major company bought the shop and offered me a salaried position as a ‘manufacturing specialist’, so I took that. I worked there for another 32 years and finally retired.
Lucky, to have continuous employment from October 1971 to September 2022.
I got a foolish degree 50 years ago in English and Philosophy 50 years ago.
Realizing it was foolish I got some voc-tech training and was successful after that.
Young people need to look to what other skill set they may have besides the liberal arts degree they got in college. I have used Instacart delivery people and they are generally well groomed and polite. They are strong enough to handle heavy groceries and could easily learn to be nurses’ aides. Some of the Lyft drivers with whom I have engaged in conversation were studying to be nursing assistants.\
A little thinking outside the box is required, especially nowdays.
He'll even lose that job to a 'migrant soon enough.
Leave the country and change your identity. That debt will never go away, so you have to.
“Half the people you know are below average.” — Steven Wright
A hundred years ago, there was more work for people of limited intelligence. Men could become dock workers, ditch diggers, chimney sweeps, farm hands, etc. Women could work as maids, seamstresses, cooks, cleaning ladies, etc.
Most jobs like that are gone now, but we still have a significant percentage of people with limited capabilities and they all need food and shelter. On top of that, millions of foreigners have flooded into the country and those who want to work have taken any jobs they could get.
Also you have the DEI movement, where lesser qualified People Of Color are hired ahead of white males.
I don’t have much hope for things getting better, at least during my children’s lifetimes. It could easily get worse if nothing changes.
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