Real Life Does Not Work Like School
A good friend and classmate of mine from Dartmouth sent along the following excerpt from this New York Times article, with a note that read simply, "This is embarrassing."
“We did everything we were supposed to,” said Stephanie Morales, 23, who graduated from Dartmouth College in 2009 with hopes of working in the arts. Instead she ended up waiting tables at a Chart House restaurant in Weehawken, N.J., earning $2.17 an hour plus tips, to pay off her student loans. “What was the point of working so hard for 22 years if there was nothing out there?” said Ms. Morales, who is now a paralegal and plans on attending law school.
Some of Ms. Morales’s classmates have found themselves on welfare. “You don’t expect someone who just spent four years in Ivy League schools to be on food stamps,” said Ms. Morales, who estimates that a half-dozen of her friends are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A few are even helping younger graduates figure out how to apply. “We are passing on these traditions on how to work in the adult world as working poor,” Ms. Morales said.
Unfortunately, Ms. Morales had to learn that real life does not work like school the hard way. But for those of you still in school, simply pay close attention to Walter Russell Mead's advice.
Life in school is life in bureaucracy. You follow the rules, do what you are told, and rewards follow.
The real world was never very much like that, but the parts of the real world that look most like school (like for example law firms, universities and government and private sector bureaucracies) have their heads on the chopping block. By the time today’s students are in their forties (and that is MUCH closer than you think, kids), most of those organizations are going to morph into something very different. Or they will die.
Inmates who spend a long time in prison become institutionalized; they adapt so well to the conditions of prison that they can no longer function in the free world. Something similar can happen to students. From age six or even younger, students are immersed in a predictable world that runs by the rules. Then you get out of school — and expect that this pattern will continue. If you go to a good law school and do well, you will become an associate at a successful firm. Do your job well, work hard, obey the rules and wash behind your ears and in due time you will make partner.That’s the old system; the new one won’t work that way. Creativity, integrity and entrepreneurial initiative will pay off; following the old rules and hoping for the old rewards is a road to frustration. You have to fight the tendency of the educational system to turn you into a timeserving baby bureaucrat, following the rules and waiting for the inevitable promotion.
As you go through college, think about ways you can fight the pressures of institutionalization. Work or volunteer — not just for money, but to keep your hand in the real world. Live off campus. Start a business. Shake things up.
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Oct '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
What's worse is that many students are coming out of school with a tremendous amount of debt and even if they do land a mediocre job they'll spend years trying to pay it off.
Sep '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
So, she is surprised that she couldn't find one of those six-figure entry-level "Arts" jobs?
Dec '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
The story of a naive art student graduating into and unwelcoming world is almost cliche, but it does seem to point to something important.- Who among us had serious and/or specific conversations about what you would do after college before you started, or at least before you committed to a field of study?
May '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Where's the shame? Food stamps for a young able-bodied college grad with no family to support? And she admits it?
We're doomed.
Sep '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Scott Reusser: Where's the shame? Food stamps for a young able-bodied college grad with no family to support? And she admits it?
We're doomed. · Sep 1 at 6:24pm
She "needs" food stamps, so I guess she can't afford to buy food. I wonder though if she can afford a smart phone with a good data plan, a computer with high-speed internet, and cable TV?
Also, "$2.17 an hour plus tips" might sound bad but the Chart House isn't cheap. I would think the "plus tips" could add up pretty quickly.
Edited on September 2, 2011 at 3:55amMar '11
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Ah, a common story from the scam that is higher education: a young grad with no real job skills or future finds out the hard way what employers think of her art history degree.
Even worse: she thinks the answer is to become a lawyer. Because there's, you know, a shortage of those.
Oct '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Recall long ago being told,
Do not think anybody is going to hand you life on a Silver Platter. Old wisdom.
When the newly educated are released and face the trevails of the real world today makes one wonder why they are so taken aback.
Did nobody spare the time to open their eyes prior to the journey ?
Jul '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Some years ago I overheard a student complain that he had gone to college so he could get a job, but that when he got there, no one told him what to do.
Besides having fun unpacking that complaint, there’s also this. There was a time when going to college was to become educated. In many areas. But that was just the beginning of one’s education. Exposure to the classics, math, science, a foreign language, history, the arts and music, psychology, etc., enabled one to explore these subjects more fully throughout one’s lifetime. Or at least not be bamboozled when subjected to media reports on ‘studies’ on various topics like AGW or the latest psychobabble fad. Back in the Dark Ages when I attended college, these subjects – outside one’s major – were a requirement for graduation (lucky us). And how many of us majored in a field we didn’t pursue but found something much more fascinating to follow? This not always by choice, but by circumstance and good luck.
Jul '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
(Cont)
Moving from research in chem/bio (which I found stultifying) to director, international licensing then director, strategic planning was one helluva’ fun ride, filled with many twists and turns. There is this, though. Majoring in math, the sciences, or engineering gets one’s foot in the door in so very many companies even if that’s not what one wants to spend one’s life doing or even if it’s not a company’s focus. At least they know you’re semi-literate and can easily adapt to their environment. Too many are graduating with a degree in something – and there are scads of ‘somethings’ available like _____Studies (fill in the blank). Even an undergraduate degree in business is pretty useless and not just in today’s labor market.
The point is that students need to become savvy in choosing majors so they’ll be prepared for the inevitable turnaround of the economy (once we’re back in the driver’s seat!).
Jul '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
(Cont)
Moving from research in chem/bio (which I found stultifying) to director, international licensing then director, strategic planning was one helluva’ fun ride, filled with many twists and turns. There is this, though. Majoring in math, the sciences, or engineering gets one’s foot in the door in so very many companies even if that’s not what one wants to spend one’s life doing or even if it’s not a company’s focus. At least they know you’re semi-literate and can easily adapt to their environment. Too many are graduating with a degree in something – and there are scads of ‘somethings’ available like _____Studies (fill in the blank). Even an undergraduate degree in business is pretty useless and not just in today’s labor market.
The point is that students need to become savvy in choosing majors so they’ll be prepared for the inevitable turnaround of the economy (once we’re back in the driver’s seat!).
Jul '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Sorry 'bout the double post. My hand (and head) is still shaking from reading about lobster guy spending 8 years in jail - and oh yes, the Federal Family nonsense...
Apr '11
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
What are these kids (and their parents and their guidance counselors) thinking when they decide to pursue a BA in art history or English literature or all of the other fascinating but not totally non-marketable degrees? Yes, if you get outstanding grades you may be able to go on to grad school and ultimately become part of the academic bureacracy. And you can embrace the forlorn hope of finding one of the exceptionally rare jobs that really does require a degree in comparative literature. But isn't the real problem that universities, seeking to sell their product aht has no concrete value in the real world affirmatively mislead their students about what they are getting for that $ 50,000 in student loans?
Oct '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Entitled to a good life because I have the Ivy League degree is so pre-Obama. Irresponsible students and Universities believe in a fantasy world that does not exist. Yet, everyone kills to get their 3 year old in the $30K pre-school to get that Ivy degree. It is about being a valuable asset and not being entitled. Unfortunately, the essence of the Ivy League is the entitlement. Too many Ivy Leaguers graduate and feel they deserve to retire in retire in place.
Jul '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Government service comes about as close to academe as you can get in most places. Rules raining from on high, lots of go along to get along, no shortage of slow kids screwing up the whole class, er, office. Long on credentialism, short on can-do.
There are exceptions, and I have even been honored to work with a couple, but not as many as we need.
Apr '11
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
For 16 no...17 years I spent my time and energy to become good at school. Good at doing well on tests, writing reports, and appearing to be smart and knowledgeable. That is what school teaches, well one of the things it teaches. If you are quick and sharp you can breeze through school with little effort and good performance.
I haven't come out of academia yet, I'm still getting my PhD, but frankly the thing I feel I'm most qualified for is going to school. I'm really good at that. I always joked that I'll just keep getting degrees until I'm 60 then I can retire. I'm not even sure I would not like that. It's a very carefree life that I am accustomed to. I don't think it's sustainable or even desirable, but man, once I'm no longer a student I'm just unemployed.
I sympathize with that poor art student. There are no clear paths of progression, education is a giant set of stairs, and when you reach the top you have to jump into a sea of unknown.
Oct '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
One alarming statistic I've heard is that student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt, and cannot be written off via bankruptcy. So if the economy does not improve soon, many grads will be hounded and have bad credit for years.
Jul '11
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
It's not so much that many students choose a degree program that's going to give them about a zero head start in the job market once they graduate. It's that the colleges actively encourage the pursuit of these degrees. They market them, heavily, as a way to broaden horizons, encourage diversity of ideas, and engage in discussions with fellow students. Etc. What this really means is that opinions become over-valued and rewarded, while real-world skills like math, finance, science of any kind, are happily by-passed on the way to the dorm with a pool and ubiquitous wi-fi.
We're training legions of students to fail, and making them pay for the privilege. There is no easier task master than a "studies" teacher, or a comparative literature professor, or the "Economics of Marxism" PhD who smells a bit funny but is an easy A. STudents think this is what the real world is like - until they actually have to live in it.
I've worked at a college at one point, for 5 years. If I was a student and really knew what was going on, I would be hoppin' mad.
Dec '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
From a 23 year old“What was the point of working so hard for 22 years if there was nothing out there?”
Working for 22 years? Did you start work immeadiately after leaving the womb?
May '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
Is there any value added by an Ivy League degree when hoping to work in "the arts"? Seems like you could save a lot of money by going straight into waitressing. Not like anyone looks at your degree and says "impressive; you must be really good at the arts". Well, music maybe, but that's more technical.
She should really try to narrow it down to an art that she's good at. Just because you got a scrap of paper doesn't mean you're particularly good at any art, much less all of them.
Oh, and hey, Steph, a little news for you. When you worked so hard for 22 years you weren't actually working hard. College is easy, even the Ivies.
Jun '10
Re: Real Life Does Not Work Like School
I have zero sympathy for these whiners. During the Carter recession my college educated friends were selling shoes and glad to have the work. The only right you have to a living is the one supplied by your own two hands.