Overeducated And Unemployed

[Mad Scientist]

There is no such thing as "over educated".

The title of the tread is "Overeducated AND Unemployed". Learn to read.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

If the only reason we urge kids to go to college is so they'll become more well-rounded, we need to stop trying to convince them that a college degree is the key to a middle class life. Promising a job/career and only delivering better dinner table convo is a terrible betrayal of their expectations....and that debt enslaves them for life.

The problem is that it is fast becoming the case that skipping college isn't a ticket to middle class life either. There are fewer and fewer jobs that you can do without a college degree that can actually allow you to afford home ownership, a family, etc. I'm very willing to admit that college isn't for everyone. My brothers are doing just fine without it. It's just getting harder and harder to get by without a college degree in Computer Science, Engineering, etc.

I know when my son gets to college age, I'll encourage him to go. If he tries to major in Art though, I'll have to have a serious talk with him.

 

[MikeK]

By the end of week one, they all know it won't be easy. And it isn't. But Christ onna cracker, at least some kids smart enough to get through law school could handle engineering. (Not all, I grant you.) We're starved for MDs, engineers, any sort of scientist.....why do we insist on running higher ed as if it is predominately a country club for professors?

This problem arose during the days of milk and honey when it was true that any degree from an accredited school would guarantee one a good-paying job. So the bs BAs became popular objectives. Ed., BusAdm, Psych. Any course one could Cliffnote their way through was the way to go.

This is also the reason why there are so many totally incompetent teachers in the public schools. Obtaining a degree in Ed. is and has been a simple matter of putting in the time and buying crib notes.

 

[eagleseven]

In labor economics, there is a known market inefficiency with higher education, simply because it is impossible to know the job market conditions post-graduation before you choose your major. Even the most-informed students cannot consistently predict the future.

Thus, highly-educated professions have always been plagued by wild swings of scarcity and oversupply.

The problem today, I think, is that student loan availability, plus twenty-years of "education will always pay off" propaganda, combined with the poor quality of the nation's lower education system, has resulted in a massive oversupply (and student debt) bubble. My generation will be the one to suffer, as usual.

 

[eagleseven]

The problem is that it is fast becoming the case that skipping college isn't a ticket to middle class life either.

The problem is that there is no longer a ticket to the middle class.

In order to make it into the middle class, you have to either work your way to a degree which once ensured your upper-class position (MD, JD), which is prohibitively expensive for many, or be willing to rapidly adjust your entire life to market patterns and hope for serendipity.

There's no set path to middle-classdom anymore, and it can be very frightening...rather like hopscotch where the squares keep moving.

 

[rdean]

There is no such thing as "over educated".

There sure as hell is such a thing as "unemployed".

and unemployable because you're over-educated for the position. Especially today, when most applications are online, so you cannot express your desire, need to be loyal for a period of time you'd commit to. It's been happening to me all summer. Yes, I'd work in supermarket, I've done it before. I need the benefits and would need the second job for at least 18 months-2 years, AFTER I find a full-time teaching position. But now I've 3 BA's and a MS, so can't get part-time hire, at least so far.

3 BA's and a MS

No offense, but it sounds more like BS than BA.

 

[Annie]

There sure as hell is such a thing as "unemployed".

and unemployable because you're over-educated for the position. Especially today, when most applications are online, so you cannot express your desire, need to be loyal for a period of time you'd commit to. It's been happening to me all summer. Yes, I'd work in supermarket, I've done it before. I need the benefits and would need the second job for at least 18 months-2 years, AFTER I find a full-time teaching position. But now I've 3 BA's and a MS, so can't get part-time hire, at least so far.

3 BA's and a MS

No offense, but it sounds more like BS than BA.

I must say I'm surprised that you were the only one, liberal or conservative to say something vaguely mean. Thanks for that. To paraphrase as they say in the rep, may you be lucky enough to have it returned.

 

[Old Rocks]

An economy can support only so many highly-educated positions. You need far more construction workers, than you need engineers.

Due to government loans and cultural emphasis, we have pushed far too many people into higher education. As a result, we have many unemployed educated workers, and educated workers doing unskilled or low-skill work.

Did I mention how fortunate I am to be at this hospital?

Health care is pretty much the only industry not flat on its back right now.

Take a one or two year course in wind mill technology, or solar, for that matter. The jobs will come to you.

 

[Old Rocks]

Interesting. I work with people that a bad year is 60K. And a good year is double that. They do not have college degrees, and get dirty, sometimes filthy dirty. They are industrial electricians and millwrights.

Now many have made fun of the blue collar tradesman. Casting him as some kind of knuckle dragger. Yet, now when the chips are down for so many, who still has the middle class jobs? And middle to upper middle class incomes? The jobs we do are neccessary, no matter what the economy is.

You want a good middle class wages, go to tech school, and consider regular college classes a hobby.

 

[eagleseven]

Take a one or two year course in wind mill technology, or solar, for that matter. The jobs will come to you.

We have *one* windmill in Cleveland, but over 100,000 unemployed.

Unless it takes one-thousand people to repair a windmill, you're selling a pipe-dream. No jobs are coming, not for these folks.

 

[Madeline]

and unemployable because you're over-educated for the position. Especially today, when most applications are online, so you cannot express your desire, need to be loyal for a period of time you'd commit to. It's been happening to me all summer. Yes, I'd work in supermarket, I've done it before. I need the benefits and would need the second job for at least 18 months-2 years, AFTER I find a full-time teaching position. But now I've 3 BA's and a MS, so can't get part-time hire, at least so far.

3 BA's and a MS

No offense, but it sounds more like BS than BA.

I must say I'm surprised that you were the only one, liberal or conservative to say something vaguely mean. Thanks for that. To paraphrase as they say in the rep, may you be lucky enough to have it returned.

That was a truely shitty post, rdean.