What’s more important, getting a job or getting an education, considering the two are not mutually exclusive?
We are not manufacturing much in the United States anymore. Just look at the bottom of the coffee cup that you are drinking from, or the new purse you just bought. Chances are it says “Made in China.”
We are outsourcing to other countries that work dirt-cheap. Therefore, a student pursuing a degree in business management will not be able to find a job because there will not be anyone to manage, which means the degree becomes obsolete.
A job in sales, however, cannot be outsourced because someone needs to communicate with the public, but that job does not require a college degree. It is more about personality; that’s what sells.
In times like these, we need to re-examine our priorities. Jobs need to stay here. Let’s not think about getting cheap production elsewhere, but about providing jobs for average Americans.
If you felt that getting an education was important, let it be known that California is producing college graduates far less educated than those of 35 years ago. If unaddressed, “the state risks a serious shortage of educated workers to compete in [the] global economy,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
At the university level, we see the intake rate of students exceeding the graduation rate. Today, most take the five-year plan over the four-year plan, resulting in pressure on the universities.
I know students who just graduated and cannot find jobs. Many are considering graduate school in the hopes that more education will equate to more job offers.
According the L.A. Times, the state ranks 29th for people between 25 and 34 attaining an associate degree, but the state ranks near the top nationally for residents over age 65 who have at least an associate of arts degree.
I hope that when I graduate, people still need to have their public images maintained because public relations is my career aspiration.
Many issues are intertwined here and this matter is by no means simple, but I think that the main concern is re-establishing the link between higher education and job attainment.
Attending college these days does not get you a job. It just gets you a lot of debt — who can afford that?
Monique McCollum is a senior communications major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.