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American culture has become increasingly individualist in the 21st century. A lot of young people don't want to work for the Man and enter college without any career goal in mind. A lot of parents buy into the idea that college is essential for financial security, so they send their unprepared and unwilling kids to school, who end up basically "starting over" after college and getting jobs that don't require a degree.
Underrated comment. Blaming the victim is American as apple pie. People of privilege love to blame the victims of our increasingly unequal unjust society. America has the widest income inequality gap in the developed world. White people from the suburbs blame black people in the inner city for their own wretched condition despite the fact that most of those people were born into those circumstances and didn't come out of the womb with the leg-up of being white and living in safe, antiseptic affluent outer ring suburbia since birth. Not to mention that people who are poor are likely to stay that way. There is a huge myth of meritocracy in America and the fact that the vast majority of recent college graduates in the past decade or so have not reaped the benefits of a college "education" prove this better than nearly any example.
College was originally designed for the very rich or exceptionally booksmart variety of intelligent. That has changed over the past 50 years as nowadays everybody and their mother is expected to go to college. Tens of thousands of high schools across the land pride themselves in shipping the vast majority of their ill-educated ilk off to colleges every year. This has watered down the value of a college degree. However, in the past half century, what hasn't changed is that the people who benefit most from going to college are still the wealthy and exceptionally intelligent and gifted. College has become a big business that cashes out on suburban middle class pipe dreams in a country where the middle class is on the endangered species list.
There are literally not enough low-stress desk jobs for lazy Americans who want them. This is why Central American immigrants have become able to dominate entire blue collar professions over the past twenty years from construction to warehouse work to roadwork. Thousands of able bodied male college grads would work these jobs but many greedy American employers would much rather hire illegal immigrants because they work longer hours for much lower pay than any American. It's a lose-lose situation.
The spoiled children of the 90's have come of age in a cold unforgiving economic time. They were told that they were too good for fast food jobs their whole lives by their spoiled lazy ex-Hippie Baby Boomer parents and to go to college to avoid that fate only to be told to go work fast food jobs once they finished college. Ironically, most did work fast food jobs through high school and college, yet their newly minted college degrees make them "overqualified" for low-level jobs.
Another real problem is that on-the-job training is dead. Nowadays, even "entry level" jobs require 3-5 years of full-time salaried experience. How do you get experience when no one will hire you? It's a vicious cycle that can't be resolved easily. Internships are really on good for getting your foot in the door at that specific company. Really, getting a good job is about who you know, being well-liked by a bunch of corny old white men and how much a$$ you're willing to kiss. This is why you can easily make six figures in sales without a damn college degree.
There is also a huge disparity of which college grads are getting good jobs. To some level majors do matter. But it wouldn't be America if one of the biggest discrepancies didn't involve race. A study some years back concluded that employers would rather hire a white ex-con than a black man with a clean record. Black college grads are much more likely to be unemployed and underemployed than their white counterparts. As a person of color, acting, talking and thinking like a white person from the suburbs is also often quintessential to success in the corporate white collar world if you can even get hired in the first place. Success in many arenas in America is based on this culturally white default of attitudes and behaviors. It is the reason why the SAT's have been proven to be culturally biased.
And college was never designed to be a vocational school. Since the days of Greek antiquity, college was about molding a well-rounded individual through studying the arts, math, sciences and languages. This is why all college students are required to take art and language classes. Also, asking a 17 year old what they want to do with the rest of their life and signing the dotted line for decades worth of debt is a crime in itself.
And college teaches nothing in the way of life skills. College does not teach you how to budget, live within your means and live a healthy lifestyle conductive to success. Rather, college is a breeding ground of bad behaviors that will follow you for the rest of your adult life. Binge drinkers in college often become alcoholics. Those extra pounds you put on in college often multiply. College makes a hero out of the slacker yet slackers get left behind in the real world. College doesn't teach you how to hustle. Employers look for passionate people who are always hustling their craft and the college hero of the binge drinking slacker is counterproductive. Unless said alcoholic slacker is a richboy with fraternity/daddy connections. If college was free, all of this wouldn't be so bad. But lifelong student loan debt puts the nail in the coffin.
If skills are to be acquired, college bound students are better off going to a trade or tech school to gain some real skills that can't easily be outsourced.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 12-14-2014 at 12:39 AM..
Man...that's a loaded question! One reason is because many job ads want you to have 2-3 years experience beforehand and you can't get experience if no-one gives you experience. I guess that falls under lack of jobs. Another reason is that companies are being greedy and are paying graduates pay from what you'd get at least ten years ago. Forget pay staying the same, it has actually decreased. Because pay is less, it takes longer to pay off student debt.
College tuition has increased plenty over the years and so if you are making much less than you are suppose to, chances are more of your pay is going towards your loan and less money is going in your pocket. Employers used to offer tuition reimbursement for certifications/graduate school and now that is a rare luxury (so students have to draw out more loans).
Many many reasons. Oh I forgot the internships. College graduates are doing full-time work under unpaid internships. Some companies choose not to offer them work even if they learn and are good at their jobs. These companies can easily hire a next batch of desperate college graduates to do free work. Or they keep the interns and just have them work for free even after having mastered what they were training for.
I won't argue that most are broke, though many are probably working below what they expected. Now the real question is why are so many working below what they expected?
Well, the real, actual problem is related to the big lie. The big lie is that every kid can and should go to college because all those with college degrees make more. The simple fact is that probably a third or so of college students simply shouldn't be there in the first place. They should have been directed toward vo-tec; trades; or something similar, not college. As for college degrees paying more, well generally that's because of supply and demand. College degrees that are hard to get and which few can successfully graduate in, pay more because employers need those skills. If every high school student in the country became a doctor or engineer or computer programmers, wages for those jobs would drop to match burger flippers. That doesn't happen because most students cannot successfully complete those programs.
Kids would be much better off if high schools told them the truth in 9th grade and helped them learn those skills needed for life and a job rather than trying to force everyone on a college track.
I'm not sure that it's completely correct to make a blanket statement that college grads are broke, but - aside from the fact that new grads are kind of expected to be broke; it's a traditional time to be broke - it may not be a coincidence that it's happening at a time when so many adults are living beyond their means.
I'm not sure that it's completely correct to make a blanket statement that college grads are broke, but - aside from the fact that new grads are kind of expected to be broke; it's a traditional time to be broke - it may not be a coincidence that it's happening at a time when so many adults are living beyond their means.
Underrated comment. Blaming the victim is American as apple pie. People of privilege love to blame the victims of our increasingly unequal unjust society. America has the widest income inequality gap in the developed world. White people from the suburbs blame black people in the inner city for their own wretched condition despite the fact that most of those people were born into those circumstances and didn't come out of the womb with the leg-up of being white and living in safe, antiseptic affluent outer ring suburbia since birth. Not to mention that people who are poor are likely to stay that way. There is a huge myth of meritocracy in America and the fact that the vast majority of recent college graduates in the past decade or so have not reaped the benefits of a college "education" prove this better than nearly any example.
College was originally designed for the very rich or exceptionally booksmart variety of intelligent. That has changed over the past 50 years as nowadays everybody and their mother is expected to go to college. Tens of thousands of high schools across the land pride themselves in shipping the vast majority of their ill-educated ilk off to colleges every year. This has watered down the value of a college degree. However, in the past half century, what hasn't changed is that the people who benefit most from going to college are still the wealthy and exceptionally intelligent and gifted. College has become a big business that cashes out on suburban middle class pipe dreams in a country where the middle class is on the endangered species list.
There are literally not enough low-stress desk jobs for lazy Americans who want them. This is why Central American immigrants have become able to dominate entire blue collar professions over the past twenty years from construction to warehouse work to roadwork. Thousands of able bodied male college grads would work these jobs but many greedy American employers would much rather hire illegal immigrants because they work longer hours for much lower pay than any American. It's a lose-lose situation.
The spoiled children of the 90's have come of age in a cold unforgiving economic time. They were told that they were too good for fast food jobs their whole lives by their spoiled lazy ex-Hippie Baby Boomer parents and to go to college to avoid that fate only to be told to go work fast food jobs once they finished college. Ironically, most did work fast food jobs through high school and college, yet their newly minted college degrees make them "overqualified" for low-level jobs.
Another real problem is that on-the-job training is dead. Nowadays, even "entry level" jobs require 3-5 years of full-time salaried experience. How do you get experience when no one will hire you? It's a vicious cycle that can't be resolved easily. Internships are really on good for getting your foot in the door at that specific company. Really, getting a good job is about who you know, being well-liked by a bunch of corny old white men and how much a$$ you're willing to kiss. This is why you can easily make six figures in sales without a damn college degree.
There is also a huge disparity of which college grads are getting good jobs. To some level majors do matter. But it wouldn't be America if one of the biggest discrepancies didn't involve race. A study some years back concluded that employers would rather hire a white ex-con than a black man with a clean record. Black college grads are much more likely to be unemployed and underemployed than their white counterparts. As a person of color, acting, talking and thinking like a white person from the suburbs is also often quintessential to success in the corporate white collar world if you can even get hired in the first place. Success in many arenas in America is based on this culturally white default of attitudes and behaviors. It is the reason why the SAT's have been proven to be culturally biased.
And college was never designed to be a vocational school. Since the days of Greek antiquity, college was about molding a well-rounded individual through studying the arts, math, sciences and languages. This is why all college students are required to take art and language classes. Also, asking a 17 year old what they want to do with the rest of their life and signing the dotted line for decades worth of debt is a crime in itself.
And college teaches nothing in the way of life skills. College does not teach you how to budget, live within your means and live a healthy lifestyle conductive to success. Rather, college is a breeding ground of bad behaviors that will follow you for the rest of your adult life. Binge drinkers in college often become alcoholics. Those extra pounds you put on in college often multiply. College makes a hero out of the slacker yet slackers get left behind in the real world. College doesn't teach you how to hustle. Employers look for passionate people who are always hustling their craft and the college hero of the binge drinking slacker is counterproductive. Unless said alcoholic slacker is a richboy with fraternity/daddy connections. If college was free, all of this wouldn't be so bad. But lifelong student loan debt puts the nail in the coffin.
If skills are to be acquired, college bound students are better off going to a trade or tech school to gain some real skills that can't easily be outsourced.
Great post, excellent post. However in terms of college not being designed to be a vocational type school- I agree that is the original intent and purpose, that is the reason that regardless of your choice of major you still have to do some "general" undergrad courses, the art, the history, the English, math etc... However I question if the "well rounded" learning for the sake of learning intent is still relevant today in aiding the grad in finding work. My experience is somewhat similar to what you have posted, employers generally want years of experience for that entry level position and would prefer that you took multiple courses and or majored in a particular subject as opposed to hiring and training someone who took a more general degree. I.e...I have a much better shot at landing that Accounting clerk job if I majored in Accounting than if I majored in History with a few Accounting courses thrown in here and there.
I had always assumed that the purpose of college was to help you obtain a job better than if your education had simply stopped post high school. Yes you would still get the well rounded and learning for the art of learning but that would be secondary to helping you land a job that the high school diploma could not do alone.
As for internships yes they are great (and I would argue almost essential) for that first step, that foot in the door, that get your feet wet. And for many entry level jobs you are at a tremendous disadvantage if you don't have that internship. But here are the issues with internships:
1) Landing one is not guaranteed. If I want to work at company A and company A only hires 16 summer interns per year what do I if I don't get the summer internship? Will I realistically stand a chance against other candidates who did an internship with Company A when I apply for that full time entry level position with company A?
2) Can I afford to work unpaid and or underpaid for that tiny chance that something paid will open up in the future
Great post, excellent post. However in terms of college not being designed to be a vocational type school- I agree that is the original intent and purpose, that is the reason that regardless of your choice of major you still have to do some "general" undergrad courses, the art, the history, the English, math etc... However I question if the "well rounded" learning for the sake of learning intent is still relevant today in aiding the grad in finding work.
I had always assumed that the purpose of college was to help you obtain a job better than if your education had simply stopped post high school. Yes you would still get the well rounded and learning for the art of learning but that would be secondary to helping you land a job that the high school diploma could not do alone.
I think the purpose of college has changed over time and now the lines have blurred a bit. Being well-rounded can extend beyond applications to work. The issue for society and individuals is determining whether or not being well-rounded is more important than merely being useful in a particular job.
Someone can attend a vocational school and eventually become a master mechanic and make a lot of money, but how much does society really benefit if they understand nothing about history, geography, or politics? Likewise, how much does society benefit if someone only knows about history or art?
The 4 year university introduces people to other areas of study in which they might not be naturally inclined. This happens in high school too, but the maturing process helps people to come to (somewhat) more informed conclusions than when they're 15 or 16. If someone were studious and curious enough to want to learn these things out on their own, then it wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately, I don't believe that is the case for the majority of people.
Finding that sweet spot between learning/doing something you enjoy and making a good living can take a while, and might not ever happen for some. I'm not sure we can blame the person who tries to find that balance earlier than later, even if they end up failing. I think many college grads end up falling into this category.
I think the purpose of college has changed over time and now the lines have blurred a bit. Being well-rounded can extend beyond applications to work. The issue for society and individuals is determining whether or not being well-rounded is more important than merely being useful in a particular job.
Someone can attend a vocational school and eventually become a master mechanic and make a lot of money, but how much does society really benefit if they understand nothing about history, geography, or politics? Likewise, how much does society benefit if someone only knows about history or art?
The 4 year university introduces people to other areas of study in which they might not be naturally inclined. This happens in high school too, but the maturing process helps people to come to (somewhat) more informed conclusions than when they're 15 or 16. If someone were studious and curious enough to want to learn these things out on their own, then it wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately, I don't believe that is the case for the majority of people.
Finding that sweet spot between learning/doing something you enjoy and making a good living can take a while, and might not ever happen for some. I'm not sure we can blame the person who tries to find that balance earlier than later, even if they end up failing. I think many college grads end up falling into this category.
I would definitely say that the lines are blurred heck at this point there may even be no lines anymore. I say that because what good is being well rounded when you are working the register at Target because your degree is seen as "useless" by many an employer and you can't get that entry level job because the entry level job wants 2-3 years of previous experience.
As for the sweet spot between learning/doing something you enjoy and making a good living can take a while, and might not ever happen for some, I think is very true. The bottom line is not everyone is going to hit that dream, "I love going to work everyday" type job.
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