A little over a year ago I graduated from my beloved Southern University A&M College. As an incoming freshman from the mid-west, I was super excited about the next four years of scholastic success that I was ready to embark upon. Over the span of those 4 years, I watched the decline of our economy and the American job market. At the end of my four years, I had been left with a despicable taste in my mouth from the horror stories of the almost irrelevant need for recent college graduates in the job market.
I thought to my self, how could this be? I did everything that was instilled in me as a young child about education but the end result is not what I thought it would be. I completed high school in the top 10% of my class and graduated from one of the BEST historically black colleges in America. According to what the "American Dream" portrays for those of us who have achieved these goals, the next step is for us to get a "good job" post graduation. Well, this phase of the "American dream" is not as easy as it was portrayed to me and I am pretty sure some of you.
When I talk to older college graduates they always tell me to go back to school. Everyone says, "Go get your graduate degree!" My disposition with seeking another degree, which is supposedly going to help me get a "good job", is that if I have my bachelors degree and I am unable to find a "good job" now, why should I go into more debt for another degree that will not guarantee me a career post graduation? Does anyone else see the problem with this?
I had to sit back and analyze the structure of an educational institution. Colleges and universities are businesses. They have ties to our government. We are told repeatedly that the more education you pay an institution, your career will flourish. A vast majority of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students fund their scholastic careers with loans. I think this is a vicious cycle created between our universities and our government. If we will constantly battle with paying student loans but there aren't career paths available for this "elite" group of educated Americans, how will we EVER pay the loans back to the lenders?
This is very true..your voice sounds like one of Michael Myers titled "Capitalism in America" it talks about these schools and their best
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Work and education is a very stressful notion for so many of us these days.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand your perspective. Consider the only degrees that (somewhat) come with a job are professional ones (doctor, lawyer, etc)... Other careers, such as creative fields, are harder to get, even with a degree. It's going to take creativity to find them, and creativity to win them. It's your first chance to show'em what you got!
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