 |
| I Need You on the Job Every Day - NARA - 534704 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
It may be the case that those who are more educated as a group have better odds for employment than less educated people as a group, but when you break it down by type of degree, subject, where you went to school, the field in which you are seeking to work, your social networks and connections, and similar factors, the picture changes. The same is true for those in trades who do not have undergraduate or advanced degrees.
Nor does it reduce to what is beneficial to society, for surely people who have the drive and capacity to earn such degrees and who have talents of synthesis and insight beyond strict specialization have much to offer in a rapidly changing world that can seem confusing and threatening. Much of the current employment landscape has been shaped by powerful industries in an increasing unregulated set of markets chasing a goal of maximizing short term profits.
Many of the old patterns and rules of business are no longer reliable, nor is the public commitment to supporting higher education and other instruments for cultivating the values and ideas necessary for the welfare of society. This is happening at the same time as the losses of manufacturing jobs over the past few decades are being followed by budget cuts for public sector jobs related to education, public health and safety, and the growth and maintenance of infrastructure. In other words, the unemployment and underemployment epidemic isn't just affecting limited groups of types or work.
You can find out more about my own background and interests on this little page to see if there is a position or opportunity you know about that might be a good match for me. If you aren't sure if it would be a good fit, don't hesitate to ask. The same link is also available at the top of the blog. My sympathies go out to others who are under or unemployed and struggling to find their way. I wish you well. And for all who wish to help, thanks for your kindness and generosity.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry, not interested in ad links. Be well.
DeleteStill looking for work, still have a lot I'd like to be posting on. Hope all is going well for you, dear reader. Thanks for stopping by even though this place has been on hiatus for so long. Got my fingers crossed for some recently submitted applications. Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteIf your degree is in something like "Divinity" or "Latina/o Studies" or "Communications", you've spent years and thousands of loan dollars to get a useless degree. If you've got a STEM degree or you're an RN or even x-ray technician, you've got a good chance at a job.
ReplyDeleteIf you think that the government should be providing employment as "Diversity Coordinator" or "Multicultural Resource Officer" just so that you can feel good about the way you wasted your college years, I can only say you're a deeply selfish person.
I note your comment to my most recent post, Dave. But I decline to publish it: My feelings are not up for dispute. And you'll have to take my words at face value: They're accurate! What I will do, however, is to post - in a comment of my own - a short extraction from yours, which relates your own estimation of the new Pope's humility and kindness, based on his body language and expressions, together with how that is likely to influence the cardinals and bishops. Undoubtedly! Thanks for your confirmation of that!
ReplyDeleteBe well.
Hello TheraP. What you wish to publish is your choice, and I take no offense. I would suggest, though, that this is at least the second time that I feel you have misconstrued a comment I have left on your blog. I don't mind as they were just part of friendly exchanges about current events and opinions on topics of interest, but it caused me to think again about the challenges of understanding others in the digital age (with a reply about my comment on your blog toward the end).
DeleteAs human beings, we construct narratives about our existence that shape how we understand our experiences. Given basic biological similarities, social structures, cultural influences, and so on, we can articulate and share our perspectives through language, but this presumes a mental framework interpreting events out of a shared core of common experiences. Thus I might be able to relate to someone's experiences taking college chemistry, even if she is from Kenya and went to school in Nairobi. Not completely, but in some basic ways. But I would be much less able to understand her experiences as a mother living in an east African society.
I find communicating online can be more challenging at times because many of our cues for context, such as body language, facial expression, the tone, pitch, and volume of voice, etc, are frequently missing as text is still the common medium. Moreover, strangers are put together with no sense of each others' lives or personality. Thus we take our own version of a life narrative, with its own unique or uniquely understood major and minor archetypes, and use it to interpolate and extrapolate who is on the other end of that communication, what they intend, and what their agenda might be. Sometimes we do this well, sometimes not so much. This is further complicated by the fact that even if someone gets something right about us, we might be unable to see that aspect of ourselves and still assume we are being misunderstood even if we are being pegged perfectly.
So then, this is how I view the pitfalls of online text-based communications and larger issues of even personal communication. It's why I try to remind myself to not be bothered if my style of online presentation or interaction is taken in a way I did not intend. And I can assure you, at no time was I attempting to dispute your feelings. The opening to my reply was meant to be conversational, acknowledging the reasons people may have for possessing mixed feelings about the office of the Roman Catholic Pope and offering a subtle invitation to share disappointment about the choices and impact of Francis' predecessors. I am sorry if this was taken as a challenge to the legitimacy of your reaction to the election of the Cardinal from Argentina to the office of Bishop of Rome. Take care.