The future for college graduates is rather grim. College debt is at an all-time high, and graduates tend to bounce from one job to another, sometimes settling in a field unrelated to their schooling. Kind of makes you wonder what exactly we paid for by going to school.
In her recent book "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead," Tamara Draut follows the trials and plights of college graduates in an effort to understand why it seems to have become so hard to get ahead. What she found is not surprising; students are graduating into debt, intermittent employment and low-paying jobs. She goes on to classify this generation of graduates as "jugglers," who work multiple jobs, and "bouncers," who change jobs and careers often.
I personally am a juggler, working two - and for a while, three - jobs to get through school. Draut's conclusions typify modern thinking: People, especially families, need to band together, the credit industry needs to be considered with greater caution and the government and businesses should work toward better things. Sadly, these solutions seem to be more like treating the proverbial symptoms while ignoring the disease. I'm not talking about being "nickled and dimed" here in the United States or being cheated out of benefits. I'm referring to something a little deeper.
The book "Henry and the Great Society" by H.L. Roush tells a sad tale about a man whose life is destroyed by what the author calls the Great Society. The story isn't one of some brave new distopian world, but rather of our world and our society. The story is a reflection of the effects of the rat-race society, in which man lives on man. And what Roush suggests and hints at through the tale of Henry - a farmer dealing with the changes brought on by modern conveniences - is not intervention by government or business. It is not credit companies or even fiscal irresponsibility that needs to change. It is our mindset.
We have built such a dependence on modern conveniences for our survival that we have forgotten how to survive. This was the Great Society, a system, a self-perpetuating cycle in which man was trapped.
Similarly, graduates must face the metaphoric Great Society beyond school. Some call it the "real world," and others call it "growing up." The point is trying to start from a foundation of dependency - whether that be school, debt or lacking job security - will always leave people short. Does this mean we should trade in our books and education for a plow? Not necessarily.
What the story of Henry and the Great Society reminds us is that there was a time when man was dependent on himself to survive. Now we depend on our jobs, our cars and sometimes even the government. But above all, we depend on money.
What does this mean for graduates? Consider the top emerging market among graduates: entrepreneurship. A little bit of self-sufficiency can go a long way to getting back on one's feet.
I'm not suggesting we should pursue Tyler Durden's Fight Club anarchy because society has become a monster. I'm just throwing something out there for everyone to think about as we plod on along the human race.
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