All I am reasonable certain of is this...
If you start out your life as an adult with a degree that is meaningless in the job market AND you're carrying $40-100,000 in college debts, too, you either have to be damned lucky or VERY WELL CONNECTED to find a job that is going to give you enough money to thrive in this economy.
Now as to how to guide your kids to find their way in this ever constantly changing economy I do NOT know.
I believe me, I sincerely wish I did, too.
Twenty years ago anyone who was even modestly comfortable around computers could make a damned fine living repairing them, or making them work.
No longer...
Now did those people really screw up?
Of course they didn't.
Conditions changed and they changed so rapidly that most people could not cope with those changes.
It is perfectly fine to tell somebody just starting out with no debts and no obligation out to change careers paths or to go back to school.
But when your career path ends in midlife?
Hey, going back to school typically isn't a real option.
And even when you do, an employer who is considering you is apt to want to hire the younger person than the returning older employee.
Our world is changing faster than it ever had in human history.
People cannot simply turn on a dime and reinvent themselves, folks.
I am reasonable certain that the older you are, the more obvious that must be to you.
It's hard for kids just starting out to get, of course, because their life is free and clear and they have years to get it right.
But comes the time when the years to try grow fewer, and your employment options are diminishing because you are older, then the world isn't nothing but opportunity waiting for you.
I would not be at all surprise if we did a study to disover that in the last ten years, MOST college degrees were NOT worth the investment.
And as the rest of the world catches up to us, and as there are more and more highly intelligent people who can do engineers and those currently GOLDEN CAREERS that exist today, I expect that some of you kids currently sitting in the catbird seat of employment are in for a terribly eye opening experience about how easily YOU can be replaced by a third world kid just out of school, too.
Education is its own reward, folks.
It is NOT a ticket to the upper crust of society.
That ticket is usually given to you at birth, not earned by pluck and luck.
If you start out your life as an adult with a degree that is meaningless in the job market AND you're carrying $40-100,000 in college debts, too, you either have to be damned lucky or VERY WELL CONNECTED to find a job that is going to give you enough money to thrive in this economy.
Now as to how to guide your kids to find their way in this ever constantly changing economy I do NOT know.
I believe me, I sincerely wish I did, too.
Twenty years ago anyone who was even modestly comfortable around computers could make a damned fine living repairing them, or making them work.
No longer...
Now did those people really screw up?
Of course they didn't.
Conditions changed and they changed so rapidly that most people could not cope with those changes.
It is perfectly fine to tell somebody just starting out with no debts and no obligation out to change careers paths or to go back to school.
But when your career path ends in midlife?
Hey, going back to school typically isn't a real option.
And even when you do, an employer who is considering you is apt to want to hire the younger person than the returning older employee.
Our world is changing faster than it ever had in human history.
People cannot simply turn on a dime and reinvent themselves, folks.
I am reasonable certain that the older you are, the more obvious that must be to you.
It's hard for kids just starting out to get, of course, because their life is free and clear and they have years to get it right.
But comes the time when the years to try grow fewer, and your employment options are diminishing because you are older, then the world isn't nothing but opportunity waiting for you.
I would not be at all surprise if we did a study to disover that in the last ten years, MOST college degrees were NOT worth the investment.
And as the rest of the world catches up to us, and as there are more and more highly intelligent people who can do engineers and those currently GOLDEN CAREERS that exist today, I expect that some of you kids currently sitting in the catbird seat of employment are in for a terribly eye opening experience about how easily YOU can be replaced by a third world kid just out of school, too.
Education is its own reward, folks.
It is NOT a ticket to the upper crust of society.
That ticket is usually given to you at birth, not earned by pluck and luck.