Posted on 06/06/2014 9:56:52 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
It’s never pretty watching college graduates facing the cold, cruel world of the job market after being trained by people who have steadfastly avoided such a bracing encounter for most of their careers.
We can see this exercise played out on one of our local campuses—George Washington University. “While GW has poured millions of dollars into improving career services, the percentage of students employed within six months of graduation has hovered at about 63 percent over the past three years, according to a survey released last month,” Allison Kowalski reported in The GW Hatchet on May 12, 2014.
The efforts these students make to buck up each other’s spirits range from the seriocomic to the poignant. You can see the entire range on display in a column by Emily Holland that appeared in that same issue of the Hatchet and was entitled “Awkward family dinner conversations and how to avoid them.”
For example, she urges humanities majors to respond to parents fearful of their career prospects by saying, “Actually, the unemployment rate for people who studied the humanities is comparable to those in other fields, so I’m not really at a loss. And not everyone studying a ‘dying field’ wants to be a teacher. I can basically do any job I want. Plus, studies show that employers like to hire students with a foundation in interdisciplinary work. Do you use your major in your job? No? OK. Can you pass the bread basket, please?”
She urges budding political scientists to take a more pragmatic approach: “Almost 10,000 college students intern on Capitol Hill during the summer, so that isn’t the best predictor for my future success. Also, I could go to law school, join a nonprofit or take a year off and give myself a little bit of a break. The possibilities are endless. Just because I majored in political science doesn’t mean I’m pegged to be president.”
Wow. Public admission that the tuition is being wasted.
...
ROFL
oh man! that was rich!
100% of nursing and accounting students at Baylor gradate with jobs already secured. In fact, those students are recruited heavily prior to graduation with the best companies wining and dining them to try to get the cream of the crop.
I wanted to read the article but the link goes to a different article and I can’t find the one you posted on the site.
This is satire, right?
Ahh...ok, I get it! How silly of me! I forgot that ANYONE can teach.
If empirical evidence is any indicator, this widely held belief that teaching is for "those who can't" is absolute BULL$H*T. I have seen my share of businesspeople take to the classroom as a way of pursuing an "easy" career, only to be utterly DESTROYED by the stress associated with the job. The students gobbled these purported "superior" working-class "professionals" up from day one. These "professionals" withered under the assault of teenagers gathered en masse in an environment that many consider a cakewalk. Needless to say, many attempted to resign before the end of the 3rd grading period.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach? And if those who COULD do can't TEACH? What then?
A bigger line of bullsh*t this educator has never seen...
Ouch!
Well that's what happens when Starbucks starts closing down some of their locations.
There's still Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, however they are not quite as prestigious a career path for recent liberal arts PhD graduates.
Hope and Change, Baby.
So, these new grads will either start voting conservative for their jobs’ sake, go on govt aid, or learn nothing and live in mom’s basement.
Most would be better off learning a trade.
I majored in business. I have used it everywhere I have ever worked. Knowing accounting and being able to use Excel and Access at an expert level are important to almost every employer, big or small. Good grammar, spelling and typing along with computer skills help too.
I seldom need more than arithmetic and basic geometry. I can’t recall ever needing a T-test or a standard deviation in my career. Understanding ratios and percents and being able to handle large numbers has been quite helpful, however.
So... My advice to college students. Learn finite mathematics, accounting, selling, human resource management, and a little bit about marketing along with history, geography and government.
good advice
They give the graduates advice on how to explain away that they cannot find a job? Is this the most useful thing they learn in some colleges?
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