Posted on 02/24/2005 9:12:40 AM PST by Willie Green
A waitress at one of my favorite Strip District restaurants last week used one of the industry's oldest cliches. She delivered a meal and reminded me that she "really didn't do this" for a living.
Waiting tables, she explained, was simply something she was doing until a well-paying job opened up in the field she studied during six years in college.
While this is rote conversation for wait staff in places like New York and Los Angeles, where everyone with a tray of linguini in their hands is waiting for a slot on NBC's "Fear Factor," it's unusual for Pittsburgh.
Or is it?
The waitress, it turns out, spent all that time and nearly $150,000 of her family's money studying social sciences, but after graduating she became disappointed with the entry-level salary of her chosen field.
"I can make, like, twice what I'd make as a social worker waiting tables," she confided, "so I'm probably going to just stay here."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
It amazes me that the two most sucessful guys in radio-- Rush and Hannity-- are both college dropouts.
VERY lucky guys I think. Yes, they are talented, but boy, they are also VERY lucky.
I think the expense will force the change. Since most people go to college not for the love of knowledge but to learn a profession, colleges will become like vocational schools. If plumbing students don't have to take electives in literature, why should a chemistry major? I'll bet a lot of 4 year programs could be whittled down to 2 or 3. A huge cost savings.
When my baby bro who now is 35 something told me he wanted to be an english major, (he's the only member of our Colombian family born in US.) I told him study engineering. I said even a mediocre engineer can land a pen pushing job at a utility, while arts and sciences major are busing tables. I probably didn't have anything to do with it,(you should meet our mother), but he studied engineering , now he has a comfortable job, working as a civilian budget watch dog at Naval Base in Toon Town, I mean Orlando. I think Arts and Sciences is for folks with trust funds.
Thanks. He ain't a DH, just an H. Things have been bad for years. IT's been a rough road. I hope I can get something that gets us out of the hole (the onehe put us in) and so I can be the one to provide for my children. I have tried so hard over the years to make it, in so many ways, and I have failed every single time. I know the old saying, that the sucessful person is the one who tries one more time than he fails, but I am not sure what other options I have to exploit, I have tried so many. In spite of the fact that I am about to graduate from a presitgious school of music, I feel I have no future, and that I just did this whole 4 years of grad school- blood, sweat, and tears-- for NOTHING.
If I didn't have a defective back I might try watiressing, too, at this point.
Today the "book" includes the study guide, software, the internet password to the publisher's site and other stuff. It's really ridiculous.
That's about right. My son is attending Pepperdine University in Malibu CA. Tuition, housing, meals and books/supplies are running $38,000 per year.
Fortunately he's on an athletic scholarship. Otherwise he would be attending one of our State Universities which is less than 20% of that amount.
I went to Iowa State, and they pretty much geared you to finding an internship or coop after your first year. I had no problem finding a job. I wanted to work in grain processing, and interviewed with two companies, one of which offered me the job.
I guess my skill set was a bit different than some others. I had some process experience, and made it clear that getting dirty was something that appealed to me.
If you are still looking, contact some head hunters. Every job since my first I have landed because of a head hunter.
Easy on the pocketbook, but how is it on your child's soul? Placing your child in a vice-intensive zone is very risky, no matter how good his upbringing.
I think the real point here is that she really didn't want to be a social worker, and if it was just a job like any other, she could make twice as much waiting tables as doing social work -- and probably have more fun doing so. Social work was not her passion -- or calling. The best-paying job is doing what you really love to do. If a job makes one miserable, it's not worth $100,000 a year, and you'll probably not stay in it very long, or a lot of problems will arise if one does. In many cases, such unhappy workers just bloat up -- to look like human pigs who exist for no other reason but to eat at the trough. Their lives have become totally meaningless -- and their appearance and attitudes reflect the way they feel upon themselves and their lives.
Finding one's true calling and niche is an individual journey and so each has his unique experience and story. It is the generalization that the sure path to success is simply piling on more education and degrees as a guarantee of success and happiness, that is the fallacy. One has to discover the person they are -- with their talents and predispositions. If one is the best greeter in the world at WalMart, that's far better than being a mediocre and indifferent brain surgeon -- or more likely, public school teacher whose only reason for remaining in their position, is the demand for higher pay at the next contract negotiation. And that is their only concern because they never talk about the challenge and excitement of teaching as though it was the expression of who they are. Instead, they disparage and denigrate it as a justification for more pay, creating their own resentment and bitterness at what they do. If teaching, or any other thing in life is not what you would do if all jobs were paid equally, you're in the wrong occupation and have to be in that field in which one has that advantage, that love, that fulfillment. That is the ultimate achievement of every life -- is finding out what one can do that nobody else can, and that is one's greatest service to the human race, human society.
As the Baby Boomers mature further into retirement, the really successful people realize this challenge to every life. Even if they don't pay you anymore -- what would you do, how will you create meaning in your life? If you don't, you will certainly shrivel up and die, waiting for the next health crisis to afflict you. But those who have a purpose and meaning, have the greatest reward of their lives. Is that worth $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000? At age 65, would you rather have $1,000,000 or feel like $1,000,000?
This is the answer beyond the question. Did you create a life of respect and enjoyment, or did you only have an existence of resentment and bitterness that will haunt you for the rest of your life?
During high school, I also attended a Vocational school where I learned Drafting and Design. I loved it and thought I could expand my knowledge by going in the military. I went in the navy and became a radioman. From 76 to 80, I did time at three commands and was basically a tape ape. Got out in 80 and reenlisted in 82. During those two years, I worked as a cab driver, gas station attendant, 7-11 clerk, went to college for one year, and was working construction before I went back in. From 82 to 96, I was still a tape ape in the Navy but picked up a lot of computer skills - mostly software - and was able to land a contractor job instructing people how to use the MS Office Suite. Did that from 96 to 2003, while going to school part time. In 2003, I got a job as a tech writer and graduate with an English major, holding a TS clearance - thank you USN! Now, I work as a Documentation Specialist and while I am not making the money I want, at 47 I am doing okay and each job I go to, I earn more. I have changed job titles and learned new stuff all my life. Basic question - what is wrong with these idiots!
"To many American university students would rather spend their college years pulling bong-hits while they major in "Literature of Contemporary Protest" and "Peace Studies" and leave the mechanical engineering classes filled with students named Amir, Singh and Mohammed."
Not necessarily. I was an undergrad in mechanical engineering only two years ago, and my graduating class of 21 students had only three non-US citizens (one from Vietnam, the others from former Soviet Bloc countries). No one from India or the Middle East. At least in mechanical engineering, undergrads were almost uniformly white American males (with a smattering of women and minority men).
The grad students, however, were overwhelmingly from China and India. One professor's lab was known by a rather derogatory name since he was Turkish and had only Turkish men as his grad students. I was friendly with several of the Indian grad students. For the most part the Indians were pleasant and often willing to help undergrads with coursework. Most of them planned to return to India after getting their doctorate. I cannot say the same for most of the grad students from other countries.
In this state, most employers of mechanical engineers are companies in the defense industry. You can't be designing nuclear reactors or submarines for the Navy, or fighter enginers for the Air Force if you're not a citizen - and you usually need a security clearance as well. There is a ready market around here for entry-level engineers with citizenship. I had three job offers from defense contractors AFTER I'd already accepted my current position in the civilian sector.
But I agree, too many students would rather have a fluff major and spend 4-5 years partying instead of working hard and having a good job after graduation. As I told my dorm neighbor (an Urban Studies major) - what's the point in moving out to go to college if you're going to have to move back home with Mom and Dad after graduation?
Oh well, we need someone to flip hamburgers...might as well be the Peace Studies majors...
"I can make, like, twice what I'd make as a social worker waiting tables," she confided
Seems like an English degree would open more doors for her.
All she has to do is throw in some "you knows", and she will be considered one of the smartest women in the world, ala Hitlery! Maybe she should run for Senate or President!
My opinion is that college for most folks is a total waste of time. This is based off of my experience in college. My degree would be worth much more to me if the college had focused more of my required classes on my degree itself instead of forcing me to take classes such as Anthropology. Easily half of my classes had nothing to do with my degree in an effort to make me a "well-rounded individual". What a load of crap. I wasn't there to learn about the world, what I think of it and how that makes me feel. I was quite able to do that on my own thank you very much. I was there to learn skills to get a job in my field. Which I graduated with a BA in Graphic Design and have done quite well for myself. But most of the skills I use today for my job in my field were pretty much self-taught. I did minor in computer science and have built on those skills to be a designer that knows his way inside and out of a computer. So I've worked on computer games, Playstation2 games, 3D software and the like.
My current job? Did I get it because of my degree? Not really. "You have a degree? That's nice. What have you done since?" I get jobs now based off of my accomplishments SINCE college, not because of my degree. I could have possibly just entered the work force with some work examples and would have been ahead of the game. I have several friends that went this route and never looked back. In fact, one of them is sitting right next to me here at work, he has no degree and has almost the same job I do. After all, design is not rocket science although you need the artistic talent to keep a job. Some people try that route because they think it's easy but they can't find or keep a job because they do not have the talent for it. Hence the large number of art students that don't work. College should be reserved for people who wish to pursue teaching (to teach in their field instead of the stupid all encompassing education degree) or industries that require sciences and math. Everything else could be learned at a trade school level and be better off then traditional college.
I have a newborn daughter and our plans for her after years of home schooling is to suggest to her to pick a career and then pick the path that will get her there the quickest with the most useful skills without the additional crap that comes from a traditional college. And without the added extra wasted expenses.
I would say get your kids into construction and have them learn about the major areas: electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry. After a few years, they can get a general contractors license and make millions.
The people making the real bucks are the developers, who hire illegal immigrants, pay them nothing, and slap together a few houses. Meanwhile, the rest of us subsidize all of this thru property taxes and get rewarded with a lower standard of living because of the increased traffic, crime, pollution.
That's funny. I got ya.
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