I watched a Twitter-rant-piece this afternoon...coming from a older Alabama lady an how the American-dream is no longer possible.
Her logic? She has a son who graduated from college....has some debt....and this job-business is no working out so far. She says that she always preached to the kid....if you work heard, you get ahead, and life gets easier. So far, the kid is not believing the edge, and she's losing her faith as well.
I pondered over this. I grew up in the 1960s, and left the farm in 1977 (46 years ago last week). My dad would have preached her 'talk'....that if you work hard, avoid trouble, and just think about things before you screw up.....you would get ahead.
I would have said in the mid-1990s....something was going on in the US, and there was a evolution underway. More stupid people were leaving high school (and college), debt was being dumped on people without thinking, booze and drugs were plentiful, and stupid people were advancing in management and politics.
It's to a point today that some company would pay Hunter Biden to be a board member, when he knows next to nothing about their product. In fact, several companies feel that way.
Is the American dream dead? I'd say that it's turned into some kind of Frankenstein-dream, and getting ahead is a 'state-of-mind'.
I'd also say if you were looking for the American-dream in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NY City, SF, or LA.....you probably need to restage your adventure and head off to some other location.
But in the end, you have to ask.....is anyone running off to find the France-dream, the South Korea-dream, or the Ecuador-dream?
1968, at 16yo, I left high-school for a trades program at the local junior college.
ReplyDeleteWelding fabrication.
At 18yo, San Diego, California, I built titanium components for submarines.
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Four weeks ago, I bid on a gig fabricating tungsten alloy components for surgical gear:
* us$250 an hour plus us$300 per diem (although we live a ten-minute walk away).
They are fine with my hourly, but countered at $250 per diem.
Apparently, I am the only one with the essential certifications.
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I see zero value in a four-year degree.
How many graduates do I know pimping coffee drinks or alcoholic beverages?
Heck, I know a dentist -- ten years of multiple degrees -- selling cars.
I know a lawyer -- eight years at uni -- teaching Emotional Freedom Technique tapping... plus doing astrology charts.
About 11 years ago, I had to fly into a airport late, and attempted to get a car with the last 'open' rental car shop. It was the 'boss'...a recent college graduate gal...sole person left there.
ReplyDeleteWe chatted. This position would have typically been a older gal/guy, with no college. This gal had been unable to get a job after graduating and took this...at roughly $25k a year. I didn't say much, but it was obvious that her degree was of marginal value.
I would say almost one out of three college graduates (four-year types) are walking down a screwed-path. Even the requirement for teachers to have a four-year degree....I consider worthless at this point.