Huckleberries Online

Holly: Grads Face Desperate Times

Posted by DFO

March 31, 2009 5:20 p.m. • 7 comments

It’s sad that when this year’s graduating seniors were in high school, they were told even a four-year degree would give them a distinct advantage over their peers who decided to stop their education after high school. Now, those students who did go to college are scrambling to find what few professional, entry-level jobs are available, while many of their high school friends who entered the workforce right away have accrued four solid years of practical working experience. Not only are university graduates competing with newly laid-off, experienced baby boomers — they’re now being forced to, out of desperation, fight for lower-paying jobs that hold little or no relevance to their advanced degrees. Even positions that require advanced degrees are declining in pay/Holly Bowen, UI Argonaut. More here.

Question: What advice would you give a high school graduate today re: college?

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

BrandonHansen on March 31 at 6:26 p.m.
Go straight to the NBA.

Brandon Hansen
Just South of North
www.justsouthofnorth.com
jazzyvandal on March 31 at 7:00 p.m.
Start interning early in your desired field. Get your foot in the door and make connections. It’s hard to figure out what you want to do right out of high school. I think the educational system is partly to blame for that. Students should be able to prepare for a career in high school.
mia on March 31 at 10:00 p.m.
I feel that a college education is very valuable! Anyone who has the opportunity and desire to go to college should! An economy is transitory by it’s very nature, that being the case, it will not stay down forever. A college degree can serve a person well throughout their life, and they should be richer for the experience.
Escapee on March 31 at 10:47 p.m.
Maybe, try to get Governmental Grants and just be a professional student forever? I knew some folks in Vandalville who’d gone to school there before I arrived, and who’d be there long after I left. I suppose, though, that after you’ve been taking classes for a couple of decades, and your hair is graying and the knees can’t handle the stairs to the classroom in the top of the building, it would kinda start to lose its lustre…

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.