Article: The Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class

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Perhaps Tyler could earn more money working in education instead of selling retail in REI?

“It’s not like anyone is expecting to make six figures,” said Tyler Mulholland, who earns about $23 an hour as a sales lead at REI, the outdoor equipment retailer, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education. “But when it’s snow storming at 11:30 at night, I don’t want to have to think, ‘Is the Uber home going to make a difference in my weekly budget?’”

www.yahoo.com

The Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class

Over the past decade-and-a-half, many young, college-educated workers have faced a disturbing reality: that it was harder for them to reach the middle class than for previous generations. The change has had profound effects — driving shifts in the country’s politics and mobilizing employees to...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
And the world should be as they want it to be, we should value their interests as much as they do…but that’s not how it works.

”And they complain of being trapped in jobs that do not make good use of their skills. Liz Alanna, who holds a bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance, began working at Starbucks while auditioning for music productions in the early 2010s. She stayed with the company to preserve her health insurance after getting married and having children.

“I don’t think I should have to have a certain job just so I can have health care,” Alanna said. “I could be doing other types of jobs that might fall better in my wheelhouse.””

Maybe her husband should tell her that after 12 years as a Starbucks barista it’s pretty clear that she’s in her wheelhouse.
 
I am just spitballing here, but if these jobs are not making good use of your skills,....... could it be possible that your "skills" are not as in demand as they have been branded? I skipped college and went to a trade school. I have never regretted that choice.
 
I do sympathize with anyone who undertakes an education pathway because the school misleads them about the job prospects of that pathway.

But these two have no excuses. If you get a Master’s without actually having a job lined up that requires that degree…

And “opera performance”? I’m guessing that she can sing, but not well enough to win an audition? That is something you need to figure out before enrolling.
 
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

associate degree in computer science,

bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance

political science degree from Siena College in 2017,


I'm seeing a pattern here. Also the typical BS of "college educated" are smarter and more affluent that non college educated. If these examples are so much more smarter and affluent then why are they working at Starbucks, Amazon warehouse, and such? Maybe they didn't do their homework on careers and followed their passion instead.
 
College hasn't been worth it for most people in a long time. Society is just slow to catch up to that fact, because everyone is used to relying on a college degree as a signal that someone isn't a total idiot.

There are exceptions (maybe for engineering degrees at a good school), but mostly you're paying 5 or 6 figures a year for your kid to get thoroughly propagandized by leftists and then become a barista who will need financial support from mom and dad for the next 20-30 years.
 
JimB said:
And the world should be as they want it to be, we should value their interests as much as they do…but that’s not how it works.

”And they complain of being trapped in jobs that do not make good use of their skills. Liz Alanna, who holds a bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance, began working at Starbucks while auditioning for music productions in the early 2010s. She stayed with the company to preserve her health insurance after getting married and having children.

“I don’t think I should have to have a certain job just so I can have health care,” Alanna said. “I could be doing other types of jobs that might fall better in my wheelhouse.””

Maybe her husband should tell her that after 12 years as a Starbucks barista it’s pretty clear that she’s in her wheelhouse.
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This is hilarious. These snowflakes take the idea that you should find a career “doing what you love” a little too far. There still has to be demand for your skills. No one is obligated to pay you a comfortable living wage for coloring inside the lines just because that’s what you love doing 🤦‍♂️🤣

Of course it’s someone else’s fault that they chose to get degrees in the most useless areas possible i.e. opera.
 
cold1 said:
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

associate degree in computer science,

bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance

political science degree from Siena College in 2017,


I'm seeing a pattern here. Also the typical BS of "college educated" are smarter and more affluent that non college educated. If these examples are so much more smarter and affluent then why are they working at Starbucks, Amazon warehouse, and such? Maybe they didn't do their homework on careers and followed their passion instead.
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You can get a job with degrees in education. Also political science and computer science. It may not be your "dream job", but these people lack the humility and work ethic to start at the bottom end earn their stripes.
 
shackleford said:
College hasn't been worth it for most people in a long time. Society is just slow to catch up to that fact, because everyone is used to relying on a college degree as a signal that someone isn't a total idiot.

There are exceptions (maybe for engineering degrees at a good school), but mostly you're paying 5 or 6 figures a year for your kid to get thoroughly propagandized by leftists and then become a barista who will need financial support from mom and dad for the next 20-30 years.
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What makes me mad is places like my old company that none of the upper management has a degree, but they require people moving up now to have a degree. It seems so hypocritical.
 
A woman attended Columbia University earned her divinity degree and than her Master's. Six figures of student loans and ended up at a small congregation in the midwest with a $25K stipend. Just nuts.
 
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Fred said:
So the secret to getting a good job is having an anti-consumer legal monopoly that prohibits competition?
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I don't know if other medical specialties do the same thing. But their governance organizations cap the number of residencies in such a way so that there won't be any glut of neurosurgeons. Interesting thought though about competition.
 
Same ol story... "I got 200k in loans for my underwater basket weaving masters degree so I could not have to work and concentrate on my studies! I am the best to ever exist! I was top of my class!! How was I to know that the only career choice was as professor of such? Who knew they were all tenured and don't retire until age 75????".

"Woe is me, I deserve my part time, student/retiree minimum skill level job to allow me to live my life as I choose! I have a stupidly expensive (unrelated) degree that shows I'm smart!"

🤣🤣🙄🤬😞
 
Get degree in Egyptology.
Can't find job as Egyptologist.
Become professor of Egyptology.
Sell students useless degrees in Egyptology.

The ultimate pyramid scheme.

On a more serious note, I worked in my field for 6.5 years before getting out because of low pay. Some below poverty line. Not doing that. Not taking a $10k a year job that requires $50K worth of training, skills, and certs. My downfall was managing to get hired at the highest paying organization in my field, in the country. No where to go but down when I left. One of the recessions closed the program I was working in and the program I moved to was a disaster.

My first full paycheck after switching to in home furniture delivery paid twice what the job in my field paid. And my salary in my second field has doubled since then.

We are guiding our kids to not make the mistakes we made.
 
I fall squarely into this category. I have college degrees in education and biotechnology. I survey for a living. My reasons for ending up there are likely different from theirs, however.

Obviously these folks believe they are owed a living in their passion, and while that is ignorant and wrong-headed, they grew up in a system that reinforced that idea repeatedly to the tune of 350k student debts. Are they entitled dipshits? Yes, but they didn't raise themselves. That we keep springing the old "you need go to college" trap on everybody in the damn high school is proof we are still committed to the Ponzi scheme of American "education".

Near the end of my biotech degree, my dept. chair asked me to speak to a group high schoolers that was touring the school. I'm not sure what they expected me to say, but the gist of my presentation was "don't seek your passion, seek what you hate the least that pays the most". The feeling of hatred I received from their chaperones and teachers was palpable. I would even venture to say that finding a job that is your passion will likely make you hate your passion. I do know that working in the lab was not what I hated the least, apparently.

These people want some sort of solution for a world they feel trapped by without realizing it is their job to change, not the worlds. They were raised in a fairy tale and grew up into a bitter reality of stagnant wages, manipulative employers, and the jobs of their parents dying.

Also, post-Obama health insurance is absolute horseshit.
 
cold1 said:
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

associate degree in computer science,

bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance

political science degree from Siena College in 2017,


I'm seeing a pattern here. Also the typical BS of "college educated" are smarter and more affluent that non college educated. If these examples are so much more smarter and affluent then why are they working at Starbucks, Amazon warehouse, and such? Maybe they didn't do their homework on careers and followed their passion instead.
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My daughter likes to think that she’s the “smartest “ person in the room because she is graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a PhD. She’s one that you can’t have a conversation with because she knows things. You also can’t explain the merits of your argument because she knows she’s right. Her school told her she’s right. I’m stupid because I didn’t finish college. It doesn’t matter that I have more college credits than she does, and most are in subjects that I could use, I’m stupid. It doesn’t matter that I did 30 years in a job that I truly loved and excelled ( and made decent money) at. It doesn’t matter that I retired at 53 with enough money that I paid almost entirely for most of her schools, yes schools, with an s on the end. She’s 29 years old and has never had a real paying job, never been out of school, and never had real responsibility. She’s picked a career that I don’t know if she’ll ever make back the money that I’ve spent on her schools in her career, but I’m stupid. In the end, shes working with mentally handicapped kids, and I commend her for that, but it takes a fortune to train for a fairly low paying job, and in the end, she either trapped at undesirable places that have that job, or teaching it at a university. Who’s the stupid one now?
 
yard mongrel said:
the gist of my presentation was "don't seek your passion, seek what you hate the least that pays the most"
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I did this almost by accident. Sitting in accounting 101, which I found to be a breeze, watched more than half the class struggle and a quarter or more eventually fail. Asked the professor if there was any money in it as a profession, turns out there was along with tons of career options and job security. Changed my major that semester and never looked back. At graduation I made less than the engineers and IT guys, but caught them eventually; crushed the marketing communications folks from day 1.

College is just trade school for white collar jobs.
 
yard mongrel said:
...."don't seek your passion, seek what you hate the least that pays the most". ... I would even venture to say that finding a job that is your passion will likely make you hate your passion. I do know that working in the lab was not what I hated the least, apparently.
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I figured this out when I was still a kid.
Everybody predicted I'd be doing computer stuff. Nope, I have too much fun (and frustration) with it as a hobby.
I always liked biology and thought it was cool to learn stuff. but it wasn't like "i must biologize or i shall die"
 
They also talk about working in the public sector for ten years, the loans are normally paid off by year ten so nothing to 'forgive'. Huge scam.
UNC Charlotte added interest on construction bonds in the tuition. That new gymnasium and indoor pool sure looks nice.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Me.
Wanted to go to music school.
Actually went to Engineering school.
Could have made more money with accounting, business or law but the one good call I made when young and dumb has been good to me.

I think we make a huge mistake asking young idiots who never worked a day in their lives to choose a career path and commit to it.
 
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Curmudgeon said:
When my dad was growing up in Europe, they had a system whereby you were tested before going into high school and this determined if you went to academic type high school or a trade school.
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This is exactly what I believe should be pushed for schools now !

Some of the College bound kids are going to make a 100k a year and some of the Tradesmen are going to make 100k a year.

We need AC techs, plummers ,Truck drivers, Heavy equipment operators and Heavy equipment repair people and many many other Tradesmen. This is only a small fraction of jobs that are hard to fill.
 
Curmudgeon said:
When my dad was growing up in Europe, they had a system whereby you were tested before going into high school and this determined if you went to academic type high school or a trade school.
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I think we need to start testing earlier and have a 3rd category that gets handed a shovel.
Catfish said:
Actually went to Engineering school.
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I would like to know what they’re teaching in (electrical engineering) school today. I’ve been on the interview and hiring team for several positions and next to none of them could answer basics like questions about ohms law or power factor.
 
noway2 said:
I think we need to start testing earlier and have a 3rd category that gets handed a shovel.
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In this crazy place we're in, If you have the audacity to suggest that the crosseyed kid with a potato for a brain can't become a neurosurgeon you're some kind of monster.
 
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Button Pusher said:
They also talk about working in the public sector for ten years, the loans are normally paid off by year ten so nothing to 'forgive'. Huge scam.
UNC Charlotte added interest on construction bonds in the tuition. That new gymnasium and indoor pool sure looks nice.
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My sisters are both teachers and are counting on the 10 year payoff. I told them to look up how many actually get approved. It was 1%. They were furious and said that I was wrong. They were also mad that I had no college degree and made more money than them; both of them have masters. They are trapped as teachers because all of their financial plans have been made around the 10 year payoff.
 
chiefjason said:
Get degree in Egyptology.
Can't find job as Egyptologist.
Become professor of Egyptology.
Sell students useless degrees in Egyptology.

The ultimate pyramid scheme.

On a more serious note, I worked in my field for 6.5 years before getting out because of low pay. Some below poverty line. Not doing that. Not taking a $10k a year job that requires $50K worth of training, skills, and certs. My downfall was managing to get hired at the highest paying organization in my field, in the country. No where to go but down when I left. One of the recessions closed the program I was working in and the program I moved to was a disaster.

My first full paycheck after switching to in home furniture delivery paid twice what the job in my field paid. And my salary in my second field has doubled since then.

We are guiding our kids to not make the mistakes we made.
Click to expand...

My first degree was poli sci. I worked two jobs using that degree, one in the field, one on the periphery. The one in the field I loved but had to move back home because my mother was sick and I had to be here. The other job (newspaper reporter), not so much. Reporter? $10,500/year.

I left that to go to medic school, I worked in one system that paid me $9 and change/hour. Talk about having to love a job to stay. All of emergency services makes bupkis unless you stay for the long haul.

Catfish said:
Wanted to go to music school.
Actually went to Engineering school.
Could have made more money with accounting, business or law but the one good call I made when young and dumb has been good to me.

I think we make a huge mistake asking young idiots who never worked a day in their lives to choose a career path and commit to it.
Click to expand...

I wanted to switch majors to music. I played almost every brass instrument, and some percussion. My high school band director told me, and I quote, "if you do, you're more retarded than I thought." He said only the best of the best play professionally, the rest either teach or get out of the profession.

I landed in nursing. We work our asses off, but at east they pay us decently.
 
Every adult full time job I got I owe to the foundation training and experience I got from my Army time. My B.A. in political science minor in history made me good at trivia games but the Army gave me technical training that got me started in the civilian side. Then the CANG gave me the opportunity for a free masters and I took it.
 
Me. said:
Student loan forgiveness is not about the students much at all.

It is a university bailout scheme. The money was never given to the student, it was paid to the universities.

If the up and coming generations get a whiff of how useless college can be, the college system will get a reset bigger than a stock market crash.

The college system needs boatloads of money NOT to provide education, but instead to keep the college system afloat.



Note that the most successful students will not benefit in the slightest from debt forgiveness. They worked their way through school or already paid off any loans.
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And “most” if not all of the big schools have mega money to spend! You used to be able to get a degree in 3 1/2 to 4 years, now, with all of the diversity classes and race classes and anything else they can charge you for, you’re lucky to get out in 5! They whole thing is a scam. Back in the 50s through then mid 80s, college was affordable. The schools started this “Everyone should go to college “ crap and the government got involved. When did you ever see the government getting something right!? Anyway, a school that had an African womens basket weaving class would take it a step further. They built a new wing with the government money they loaned your kid. Hired new “Professors”. Now, you can get a degree in African Womens Basket Weaving, and do it in only 5 years! And your kid comes out with a degree that’s worth as much as an empty McDonald’s burger wrapper. Only about 25-35% of kids need to go to college, 10-15% needs to go to the military, 40% needs to go to a trade school, and the rest needs to go to jail.
I had bosses my whole career who were the products of universities. Most of them couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the bottom! It took a lot of time and effort to get them trained! Most of them wouldn’t have made a good private! Tj old saying goes, What’s the difference between a 2LT and a PFC? The Private has been promoted twice!
 
Had my first job when I was 11, had my own lawn business by the time I was 13 in FLA. Started kitchen work @14 when we moved to CT. in 88' worked my way from nothing to the kitchen manager in 5 years, continued in the restaurant industry till I got married for the first time in 96' both her and I had decent jobs, her in retail, me in wholesale seafood in MASS. Bought my first house at 21 had two trucks and life was good for a bit. Marriage turned to shit, I reinvented myself again got into carpentry, stared with a framing contractor. Continued building my knowledge and experience and after working for some decent bosses for about 7 years went out on my own as an independent contractor, best year was 2006-7 grossed nearly 60k that year. The bottom fell out of construction in 08' in Vermont, so my fiance at the time and I packed up and came to NC, construction jobs weren't abundant then here either. When we got here though, we both jumped into whatever we could, she a bartender and I fell back on my kitchen experience. I started at a local bar and restaurant as a line cook and after 3 years was the executive chef. Went the construction market picked back up here in 2012 I left the brutal heat and long hours of the kitchen and jumped headlong back into carpentry, honestly did more painting than much else but the pay and hours were much better. The college thing didn't even appeal to me till 2016, and even then it was only to attempt to get into the Criminal Justice System. I was sold on the whole career thing, my body has suffered a bit from all the construction especially the framing in Vermont. So I sought out a "career". Problem was the more I learned about the way the system is the more it pushed me away. What I truly wanted was found to be out of reach because of the cost of the degrees to get the there. For myself, I'm fine with my abilities, skills, and education level and know full well that I didn't really need to do the college thing but do not regret the education I received. I may not work within the system but the education certainly gives you a way to navigate it better. There is still more than enough construction, carpentry jobs out there for the taking, not to mention I never have to hire anyone to do any work on my house.
It is my belief that as a nation we have belittled trade schools and promoted university education which is simply insanity. Trades like carpentry, electrician, plumbing, and auto mechanics can earn as much as DRs, if you have the knowledge, drive and skills. My oldest son is almost 13 and really loves mechanic work, so I'm encouraging him to stick with it and shoot for diesel mechanic via trade school once he graduates from HS. College does not have to be something to regret, nor does it have to be a waste, but parents have to be realistic with there kids too, if any of my kids want to seek out some f'n useless degree I would strongly oppose it, but if they plan to seek out something that will better there place and add life skills which are useful, I'd fully support it.
 
Chuckman said:
There is a place for college. For some professions, you have to go. Not every school is one in which one racks up $30K debt, much less $350K debt.

The system is broken at every stop, but we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
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Why not? Some of these “Babies” need throwing out. They don’t know responsibility. They borrowed it, they need to pay it back. Most have been babied way too much! Nothing is their fault, free school, free health care, free transportation, free shelter… It’s time to go to work, either they find a in the worthless degree they have or be a waitress or a cook. Most of them usually end up in politics it seems. The easiest way out and the quickest to bring about the changes they crave so badly.
 
JimB said:
”And they complain of being trapped in jobs that do not make good use of their skills. Liz Alanna, who holds a bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in opera performance, began working at Starbucks while auditioning for music productions in the early 2010s. She stayed with the company to preserve her health insurance after getting married and having children.
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Sounds like she made bad choice after bad choice and wants to continue to make bad choices but expects someone else to pay for them. Pass.
 
I attended a university that focuses on preparing you for a job. I had a graded internship that was set up by the school. I still had some requirements for humanities credits, but all of years 3 and 4 were focused on doing the job in a supervised environment.

Graduates from “better” schools turn their noses up at me, but that worked very well for me and is a nice bridge between trade school and university.
 
Hammer12b said:
Why not? Some of these “Babies” need throwing out. They don’t know responsibility. They borrowed it, they need to pay it back. Most have been babied way too much! Nothing is their fault, free school, free health care, free transportation, free shelter… It’s time to go to work, either they find a in the worthless degree they have or be a waitress or a cook. Most of them usually end up in politics it seems. The easiest way out and the quickest to bring about the changes they crave so badly.
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Metaphor: Expense. Financial aid. Loans. Tenure. Who they hire to teach. That's the bathwater.

I don't care what people major in or study. Just pay for it.
 
Hammer12b said:
Why not? Some of these “Babies” need throwing out. They don’t know responsibility. They borrowed it, they need to pay it back. Most have been babied way too much! Nothing is their fault, free school, free health care, free transportation, free shelter… It’s time to go to work, either they find a in the worthless degree they have or be a waitress or a cook. Most of them usually end up in politics it seems. The easiest way out and the quickest to bring about the changes they crave so badly.
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Scariest part is the politics part as even the article admitted, AOC is one of these millennials who failed to do anything with their degree so jumped into politics. Now she is the face of the liberal progressive left. That's all we need a bunch of Masters of Opera in the DC Swamp!!!
 
The Biden administration is canceling the student loans of 28,000 student borrowers who attended a chain of cosmetology schools that no longer exists. Any student who borrowed money to attend the Marinello Schools of Beauty between 2009 and 2016 is eligible for the relief, which totals $238 million. It's the latest move by the Biden administration "to address the politically charged issue of student-debt forgiveness," says The Wall Street Journal. Around 40 million people in the U.S. have student loan debt.
 
Chuckman said:
Metaphor: Expense. Financial aid. Loans. Tenure. Who they hire to teach. That's the bathwater.

I don't care what people major in or study. Just pay for it.
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I get it, believe me. I footed my daughter’s bills for the last 11 years of Higher learning. But I do care what they study, they do 5-10 years getting worthless degrees and they can’t pay for them. They default on the loans and WE, as in taxpayers are the bank. Its a grand scheme and don’t think the politicians aren’t in it neck deep with kickbacks and cushy board member jobs after retirement. Anything they give up to universities came from us, the taxpayer.
 
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