
Unemployed, a grad student rethinks the world of work - rglullis
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/The-Home-Forum/2010/0323/Unemployed-a-grad-student-rethinks-the-world-of-work?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Ftop+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
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wmeredith
This is a short story about someone who expected the world handed to them
because they had a master's degree and it didn't work out. It's hardly a
revelation and seems to skirt the line between pity party and reflection on
hubris.

This isn't some upstart rethinking the way we work. It's an entitled person
coming to the realization that they were wrong over the course of a few
paragraphs.

~~~
wvenable
I'm not so sure it's merely that this person is entitled; this is exactly what
society sells people. Every child is told that they should go to college, get
a degree, and they'll setup for life. So people study for years and pay tens
of thousands of dollars -- it would be totally irrational to do all that
without the expectation of getting something for it.

If whole thing is a big con then this person is just a victim.

~~~
SamAtt
This is the what society sells people who are in the upper middle or just
plain upper classes. I grew up poor and my parents taught me to work hard,
keep my head down and hope for the best. No one ever promised me an outcome
and I never expected it.

~~~
pgbovine
_This is the what society sells people who are in the upper middle or just
plain upper classes._

what about all the outreach that (especially public) universities do to
encourage middle-class and lower-class americans to all attend a 4-year
college? i don't think college in the US is something that's exclusively sold
to rich kids

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SamAtt
I don't think that has the impact that you think it does. I'm not saying I
believe this now but the one of the first things I learned in life is that
rich people will lie to you. They feel guilty about being where they are so
they'll tell you that you can be like them when in fact they'll never really
accept you.

You're probably right. There are some poor people who work to send their kids
to college thinking that it will solve all their kid's problems. But I think
most know better and so I think a lot of that outreach falls on deaf ears.

(Which incidentally isn't to say my parents didn't encourage me to go to
college. Because much of society has set "having a degree" up as a litmus test
for "is smart enough to have a career". But they made sure I knew enough to
learn from my professors expertise while not adopting their flawed valued
system)

~~~
pw0ncakes
_when in fact they'll never really accept you._

This is why we need to get busy fixing society.

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houseabsolute
We should teach our students earlier that it can sometimes be important to
align your dreams with what other people will pay for. I.e. not journalism, at
least not in the volume that universities continue to turn out journalists.
People shouldn't have to work through six years of school before finding this
out the hard way.

~~~
dkarl
The idea is widely understood and discussed among college students, so I'm not
sure what can be done further to teach them to live in accordance with it. I
think it would be more useful to teach them not to despise knowledge of how
the "trivial" aspects of the world actually work, so they find it easier to
make themselves useful when and where they need to.

~~~
dantheman
I've started telling people, look at what the median result is for whatever
you want to do. If that is something that you would enjoy doing/think is worth
it then continue down that path.

~~~
run4yourlives
I think this is the best approach. It seems that when it comes to a career
path, the common notion is to compare the top percentage without taking into
account that for many, this situation is only applicable for the last few
years of the career; for many more, not applicable at all.

It's not whether you want to dream of playing in the NHL. It's whether you
enjoy playing hockey enough to play in Rochester for some farm team for a few
hundred people a night making $50K.

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awt
This is written in a humble tone and does a good job of addressing the
difference between reality and the message we are sold as high school and
college students that getting a degree in any field guarantees you a career,
and that you will love your job. It is impossible to know which field will
ultimately pan out at the age of 18, and those you trust (professors,
teachers) will mislead you, albeit unintentionally.

I think the other message is that you shouldn't wait for something big to
happen to start enjoying life.

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markbnine
she can't be doing so bad... she just got published in the csmonitor...

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swombat
This is probably the main (valid) reason why the "right to work" is enshrined
in the universal declaration of human rights (
<http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/> Article 23).

Many people define themselves through their career and find their sense of
self-identity severely damaged if that's taken away from them. And many people
don't have the entrepreneurial urge to go an do their own thing if they can't
make it happen "in the system".

It's a dangerous place to be, for any society, when a large chunk of its
society (particularly middle class, like this girl) feels like their self-
identity is crumbling.

~~~
hvs
Then she probably shouldn't have chose to get a degree in a largely pointless
major.

~~~
nollidge
Journalism is pointless?

~~~
houseabsolute
Rather say that it is "overbooked" from an employment-seeking perspective.

~~~
aliston
I see your point, but I also think you can get into trouble deciding whether a
degree is "pointless" entirely on its current market value. Computer science
may have seemed like a pointless degree at one point during the 60's.

~~~
anamax
> Computer science may have seemed like a pointless degree at one point during
> the 60's.

There weren't many folks with CS degrees in the 60s. (Stanford's department,
which is one of the oldest, started in 65 and didn't do undergrad until the
80s.)

~~~
anonjon
computer science was the philosophy department, the psychology department, or
the math department.

you never know what will be useful.

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csomar
okay, many non university students are now working and making good bucks
online or offline. A university degree may make it easier for you to knock
companies doors, but it won't give you money. Blogs are looking for writer and
looking to pay $50/$80 per article. You don't need to be a master degree owner
but just good enough to write something interesting for the community. This is
what school doesn't and won't teach you (or you could just start and bypass
them).

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pw0ncakes
Anyone who still doubts that we're rapidly becoming a third world country
needs to read this article and multiply it by a few million.

It's not "the recession". This could just have easily been written in 2006.
The US is in rapid decline.

~~~
hyperbovine
_The US is in rapid decline._

I think the US is diverging into two camps: a well-educated, well-off elite,
and a permanent underclass. This story is about somebody who always thought of
herself as the former, and then found out she was the latter.

~~~
mikecane
I disagree with that view. That is not what America set out to be nor will any
American settle for that. Mobility of all sorts has been inculcated into us
for decades (one could argue since the foundation of the nation itself). This
is different than many countries, where "duty" is upheld over personal
fulfillment and improvement. It's our belief in _possibilities_ that drives
America and makes it unique among nations. And I don't say this in a
cheerleading manner. This is why people come here. It's not just the money.
It's the freedom to _do_ things.

~~~
pyre
> _This is why people come here._

Many people come here for find that the brochures were misleading. I remember
reading the a lot of the Indians came here on H1B visas bringing over their
wives only to find out that the middle class in America, is not like the
middle class in India (i.e. we don't have a caste-system that allows middle-
class families to have servants). The article/comment I remember reading
seemed to imply that it was the women being brought over as the spouses of the
visa-holders that were disappointed that they had to do things for themselves
even though they were middle-class (and who then pushed for the both of them
to move back to India).

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olegk
> _But seven months later, after getting rejected from every permanent job I
> applied to, I was feeling pretty discouraged._

Seriously?

Either he applied for 5 jobs in seven months, or there's something seriously
wrong with the guy (horrible personality, horrible grades, can't answer
interview questions).

~~~
ibsulon
It's much harder in the non-tech world, especially competing against people
with specific skillsets. If you spent your time as an editor, nobody is going
to look at you for a secretary when there are 50 resumes for secretaries
staring you in the face.

Editor jobs dried up.

