Reading this I understand why young people today are screwed: Every drop of wisdom here is pointless unless you are pursuing a career as a “creative.” Do we really need more podcasters, bloggers, YouTube celebrities or influencers? How about plumbers, electricians, pulmonologists and firefighters?
Don’t forget machinists, tool makers, die makers, welders, aircraft mechanics, pipefitters (different from plumbers), robotics technicians, HVAC technicians, hydraulics and pneumatics technicians, carpenters, woodworkers, custom shoemakers, tailors, tinsmiths, steel roofers, etc. Too many to list, here, but essential in our society.
You neglected to mention what might be the most critical subject in higher-learning: The SCIENCES! I’ve completed many college courses in The Humanities. While interesting, they were largely useless except for one aspect: They taught me, to some degree, ‘How to Think about and question what was being taught.’ I became a multi-degreed Scientist in Biology and Biochemistry. It has served me well.
I am also a multi-degree scientist (Biochemistry, Genetics) and I too can say it served me well. But my humanities and history courses (all electives, as they did not count toward my major) remain the ones I treasure the most. I love science and math, and they have given me a comfortable life, but it is my love of literature and the arts which makes that life exciting and worthwhile.
The value of humanities classes is so that you trim your expectations of a scientific career, if it is in any way tangential to public policy. Politicians will consult you for technical advice, ignore most of it and pervert the rest, and then blame you and your kind for "arrogance" when their command & control strategies fail. In the humanities track, you will meet some of these people, and marvel at their indefatigable hubris.
Classes in the Humanities, along with Science and Technology, could help to dispel the huge and growing gap of wealth and power inequality.
Many students at the elite Ivy League schools study “liberal arts” to be prepared to be high-level executives in their wealthy parents’ companies. Graduates who have the necessary “connections” don’t apply to “help wanted” ads. Their job openings have been made for them by the time they are in Middle School.
I have found that most of my Science, Engineering and Mathematics colleagues and coworkers — with MS and PhD degrees— are clueless about politics, Economics, Sociology, Justice, Ethics, etc.
You say, “I have found that most of my (science) friends are clueless about politics, sociology,…….” Again, you say “I have ‘found’…..” I recommend that you look more closely. You might “find” something different. What you ‘find’ depends largely on your skill at ‘looking’. You might want to bone-up on your ‘observation/listening’ skills. Just a thought.
I didn’t say “all” of my STEM friends and associates. I said “most”. You don’t know them, but I have known them for decades. They are highly focused within their specialties, and don’t care for much else.
Several of them work for defense contractors and disassociate themselves from the fact that they have been developing bombs and other weapons that are currently destroying Gaza and other parts of the world. They are highly intelligent people with very narrow focus.
I should have specified that my observations were about my “US American” associates. Those from Europe and the UK have had broader educations and perspectives. Many of those are socialists.
I could offer several counter opinions, but I will limit it to one all-encompassing truth: The outcomes of WWI and WWII would have been far different were it not for the scientific development of hugely successful USA defense weapons. Also, let’s not forget the power of ‘deterrence’ when suitably-armed nations make ‘consequences’ obvious for an aggressor. I am not a warmonger; I am a ‘realist’. I encourage a rebuttal; I’m open-minded.
I agree. This is not a rebuttal. Indeed, many if not most of the technological developments of the past 100 years or so have been made by what is now known as the military-industrial complex of the USA and of the USSR, with enormous subsidies from taxpayers of both. British, French, German engineers and scientist, plus those from a few more countries also contributed. Those technologies include, but are not limited to, radio and television communications, digital computers, the Internet, earth-orbit telecommunications satellites, laser systems, laser welding, electron beam welding, powdered metal sintering, CNC machining, Additive Manufacturing and all other CAD/CAM/CAE software modeling and controls systems, Global Positioning Systems, etc., etc., etc.
As for the role of the USA in the outcome of WWI, the USA was a minor actor that entered the scene just before the end of the final act. The USA had not serious aircraft technology or Air Force. The British, French, Italian and German aerospace engineers had the advantage. The Army didn't have enough weapons to arm all of its soldiers for training prior to being sent to Europe. The Navy was still burning coal to fire the boilers of its steamships.
As a result of it lack of preparedness for "modern" warfare, the US government learned a lesson from WWI and was able to commandeer US manufacturing industries to become major suppliers of materiel for WWII. What I learned from the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming's team about the quality of the US production for WWII was that the USA was great at mass production of products of dubious quality. What the US manufacturers lacked in quality was resolved by increased quantity. Some of the best military weapons were developed by German and Japanese engineers.
The USSR provided far more soldiers to defeat the Axis forces than the UK or the USA. The USSR, USA and UK were allies. At the same time, Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Watson (of IBM) supported the Nazis, along with IBM, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, Texaco and other US corporations. Those companies supported both sides, with the expectation that regardless of which side would be victorious, their Capitalist business enterprises would continue. They did, however, fear Communist or Socialist control that might occur after the war.
As for the deterrence factor, one may conclude that every country on Earth should have a massive nuclear weapons arsenal to deter aggressors. Unfortunately, the engineers and scientists have not yet developed fail-safe detonation systems that are actually fail-safe, and none that prevent suicide attacks.
Many of my STEM associates say, "I don't kill people. I don't make bombs. I only make components of bombs that my firm sells to the government." Their keen focus upon their specialties keeps them willfully oblivious to the root causes of conflict that result in the use of their products. Perhaps more emphasis on the Humanities and Liberal Arts may have persuaded them to develop other approaches to prevent armed conflicts.
Humankind really does need to find more creative approaches to identify the needs of all living creatures and to develop solutions for the benefit of all. STEM, alone, is failing to do that. Capitalism, as we have known it, is continuing to increase the gap of wealth and power between the elites that are hoarding the control of more wealth than they will ever need in a thousand lifetimes at the expense of the poor and working classes that sustain them. The entire basis of "large C" Capitalism is based upon the concept of "give a little, take a little, but take a little bit more" until you have taken it all. Every CEO who is not a sociopath knows this.
Not in my experience!!!! I live in a rural area and—let me think—my plumber, my HVAC guys, my hardwood flooring/repair neighbor (who is an excellent craftsman beyond flooring), the woodworker who creates & installs gorgeous kitchen cabinets (wish I could afford them!) & my car mechanic guys, among others, are ALL thoughtful, curious and creative and aware & engaged. As we have all recently experienced with this administration, an elite Ivy League education also produces spectacular putzes, so choice of a career should not be a pigeonhole!!!!
While I agree with the points being made here, we have to remember that we're on SUBSTACK, and this is the SUBSTACK post. This is a platform catered to creatives, more specifically writers and journalists. Of course this post would also be catered to "creatives." I don't really think most aspiring firefighters are musing their days away on here.
I’m an old Soldier. Should I be on Substack? Or should I seek out a platform better suited to my obvious limitations? 😉
Just kidding…you’re probably right. But as the post was directed at “graduates” I thought I’d vent some of my frustration regarding the inability of some people to imagine a life without sterile office work.
OMG...EXACTLY RIGHT! I feel so bad for the young kids today...They will NEVER know what we once had...It's gone...I pray for my 22-year-old beautiful granddaughter and young nephews...It is getting dire out here...
Not only this; but as complex and ever-changing as emotions are, I don’t believe “Trust Your Feelings” should be a bolded topic here. Lots of things go wrong because we don’t think logically and make decisions based off how WE feel, and then that just opens up a whole other topic on selfishness and why we need more community but I digress.
“Trust your feelings” is only ONE of many considerations on the path to career choices. Trusting your feelings, BY ITSELF, is likely very bad advice in most instances. Question everything, consult friends and experts, read, then read some more on your path to a wise decision.
Amen to that. Trust your feelings is a poor way to put it. Especially when others are telling you what you already want to hear. My college education was outdated 6 months into my "career." Talk about change happening in the world. That 1988 through 1990. I eventually started an online business in 1998. Today, I'm in my late 50s. Looking back, it was an adventure through and through (the best of times and the worst of times all rolled into one).
College is decidedly NOT useless. College can go a long way in teaching you how to think, how to question what you’ve been ‘taught’, how to communicate respectfully, how to stand your ground when appropriate, and how to win an argument effectively. College CAN be a gold-mine.
What you are describing are concepts that are taught in classic Liberal Arts / Humanities and praised in the Ivy League schools.
All too many community colleges and state universities have been putting much emphasis in educating technical employees for jobs in industry. Many schools have been seeking to operate as for-profit businesses that sell degrees and credentials.
Students who are hard-pressed to pay for their tuitions are not too interested in paying for classes that are not in demand by potential employers. Many employers are only interested in hiring technical minions.
Very few position descriptions include proficiency in Philosophy, Sociology, English, History, Logic, Argumentative Writing or Speaking.
Law Schools still emphasize Argumentative Writing and Speaking, but even Law schools graduates are having difficulty in finding employment as lawyers.
Especially now that there's so many of them, there's pressure for them to be short, shallow, and swollen with bait and buzzwords in order to capture attention.
Nearly ALL of this advice comes from media people. Get some advice from people with real jobs: plumbers, deck hands, engineers, hospital workers, bus drivers, etc.
What? I am unaware of a ‘union’ in my field: Biochemistry. Biochemistry is critical for food production, farming, all manner of industrial processes, energy production, environmental science, etc. etc. The list is nearly endless. I believe ‘unions’ are largely uninvolved in biochemistry and most of the ‘sciences’. Unless I’m mistaken, unions provide little advantage to the broad spectrum of The Sciences. What am I missing? Like any good scientist, I will listen, contemplate, agree, or rebut your assertions. Let me know!
If you can’t find one, you may organize one. Salaried engineers, scientists and mathematicians in the defense industry have been unionized since WWII.
Scientists and biochemists who are tenured professors are in a sort of union, with job security and pensions.
If you are truly unique within your field of expertise, and are existentially essential to your employer, you may or may not benefit from membership in a professional organization. Otherwise, your bargaining power regarding salary, pension, healthcare, job security is virtually zero.
If your employment contract includes a non-compete and/or non-disclosure agreement, you may be doubly screwed if you become a random victim of “downsizing”.
Many thousands of my Science, Engineering, Technology, Mathematics colleagues in the aircraft, automotive and defense industries were stunned when they were selected at random for “cost reductions” during the Great Recession. Those over the age of fifty years were never able to get comparable employment, again, due to age discrimination.
Also, I knew several scientists, biochemists and pharmacologists who were canned after Pfizer acquired their employers’ firms. Then even more were discharged when Pfizer shutdown most of its operations in Groton, CT.
I also know several physicians who were employed at a major hospital group who were “let go” after their hospital was acquired by a venture capitalist consortium. None of them ever believed they could be disposable.
In my formal Management classes, I was taught that my responsibility was to pay employees such as yourself only as much as was necessary to keep you from quitting. My employer paid consulting firms that conducted nationwide surveys to determine how little I should pay my subordinates without motivating them to seek better compensation elsewhere.
More ‘open-mindedness’ from you, Jamie? Are ‘some’ elections rigged? Likely, but that does NOT obviate the value of letting your opinions being heard and considered by others. Your cynicism might not serve you well. Be alert and always question your own thoughts and your resultant conclusions.
I stand by my assertion that the vast, vast majority science nerds (like me) have been treated well and became prosperous in the absence of a union. I’ve been in the Pharma industry for years, as a Supervisor, Manager, and Director, I managed 100’s of degreed scientists in 5 very large organizations. Unions offered zero advantage during any part of my long career. However, I understand my experience might be a bit different for non-scientists.
You mean roll over and give up? I guess this means you have no issues, then, with any particular administration? Don’t vote, don’t complain about the results. Why not get engaged instead…start locally and expand from there….try to be part of the solution to the problem you perceive. As for me, when I vote, I research information available on ALL the candidates….all the way down ballot to county judges & city council and choose the one I think will do the best job; no one is 100% perfect, so I choose, IMO, the best qualified. My voice is my vote (tho’ not exclusively, I otherwise share my opinions/feelings when called for). The way I feel about it: Jackson Browne Til I Go Down (1986) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
Don't vote is one of tge most wrong-headed advice I can think of.
A lot of outcomes are decided by a few hundred votes. P residential elections are just one type. Everything from the school board on up to the state legislature is an election, and impacts our lives big time. Votes for sherriffs, judges, local town councils, city commissioners, you name it.
The only people I have heard say don't vote are disillusioned working class folks. The ones who need unions the most.
As for biochemists, maybe you don't need a union. But if you think you do get busy.
This was nonsense. It is super easy for any successful entrepreneur to advise that generations follow their path when they forget their own monumental fear when they started and the letdown when events didn't transpire as planned. If life and suc ess were as easy as stared above, no one would be an employee. So there is a reason there are.
The best move is find something as an employee that you are half decent at and plan for retirement immediately. You will be 40 in a blink of an eye and corporations stop hiring at that age. So add a side hustle while working for someone to see how entrepreneurship feels. Build that up until it retires you early from the job. Be sensible and learn from your mistakes.
If I were graduating high school all over again, here’s exactly what I would do:
First, I’d aim to score as high as possible on the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). This test determines your job options in the military. Scoring high is like walking into a car dealership pre-approved with excellent credit—the recruiter (like the salesman) will want to fill certain slots, but you’ll be in control. Don’t settle.
Do your homework beforehand: research the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) you want. Avoid combat arms and pick a support MOS instead. Why? Because support roles give you time to take care of yourself—get dental work done, take college classes, and plan your future.
If you're a Combat Engineer or Artilleryman, you won't have that flexibility. Combat arms soldiers must always be ready to deploy, which means no braces, no college, no downtime.
Instead, consider fields like biomedical engineering or nuclear medicine—they pay extremely well after service.
Only sign a two-year contract. During that time, use your benefits: earn an associate degree plus 40 more credits. That gives you 100 transferable college credits—enough to qualify for OCS (Officer Candidate School).
Here’s the payoff:
After OCS, you’ll enter as a First Lieutenant, earning what a Sergeant First Class (with ~7 years of service) makes.
After completing your bachelor’s degree, you’ll receive your first commission as a Captain.
Why the Army over other branches?
Because the Army is the largest, which means faster promotions and higher pay.
If you enlist at 17–19 and serve 20 years, you can retire by 37–39. Then work part-time in your MOS field as a civilian—and live comfortably.
If you don’t mind discipline, integrity, and honor, the Army could be the smartest decision you ever make.
Ehh I kinda disagreed with this one. Some advice is okay at best. But as a fellow Gen Z grad from 2023, here's the real advice: go live your life NOW. You probably won't get a job or have a career or buy a house or buy a car. If you can, live with friends and family and enjoy life. Take things one day at a time. Appreciate the small things in life. Spend time off electronics and outside at a park/nature or in a library reading.
Geeee! More targeted cynicism! No job? No career? No house? No car? NO SENSE! You have already LOST by throwing-in the towel before the very tough race has even started. My advice? Get help. I wish you well.
Trust your instincts, not your feelings. Instinct is the ‘still, small voice’ that speaks to feelings, often in contrarian fashion. Never put all of your weight down on your feelings. Your feelings may be right, they may be wrong, they may be indifferent. They cannot, however, be trusted.
Lots of good advice here, as well as some selection-bias cliches. "Shoot first, aim later" is a good approach if you're talented, charismatic, or lucky enough to land on your feet. If you're not that sort of person, which is hard to know in your early twenties, you may end up like many who are in prison because they struggle with impulse control. Makes a sexy commencement speech, but for some reason nobody asks ex-cons to expound on the life-changing virtue of acting without considering the consequences.
Quite honestly - life (including education) is a drunken sailor's walk! You think you are headed THERE, and then something changes and you turn 90 degrees THATAWAY, and you decide to change careers going??? This article so encapsulated the craziness. And Grandpa always said - if you do not have at least three (3) major career changes, you are not stretching yourself!
These people all seem to be "influencers" like the Kardasians. Their advice is fine if you want to do that. Not so good if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, academic, architect: professions where you need discipline and knowledge of how to do certain things. You dont move fast and break things if you are building a bridge or are an oncologist. Not everyone can be an influencer (than God).
Do not get caught up in the Lies before you. Do your Due Diligence to find the Truth, as it is out there. Find it, and make your decisions based on what Truthful Information you have found.
Reading this I understand why young people today are screwed: Every drop of wisdom here is pointless unless you are pursuing a career as a “creative.” Do we really need more podcasters, bloggers, YouTube celebrities or influencers? How about plumbers, electricians, pulmonologists and firefighters?
Don’t forget machinists, tool makers, die makers, welders, aircraft mechanics, pipefitters (different from plumbers), robotics technicians, HVAC technicians, hydraulics and pneumatics technicians, carpenters, woodworkers, custom shoemakers, tailors, tinsmiths, steel roofers, etc. Too many to list, here, but essential in our society.
Here in Texas our HVAC technicians are Gods between May and October. I never miss an opportunity to thank them for their service.
YES! I omitted the skilled trades in my comment - big mistake. Same applies to those professions.
You neglected to mention what might be the most critical subject in higher-learning: The SCIENCES! I’ve completed many college courses in The Humanities. While interesting, they were largely useless except for one aspect: They taught me, to some degree, ‘How to Think about and question what was being taught.’ I became a multi-degreed Scientist in Biology and Biochemistry. It has served me well.
I am also a multi-degree scientist (Biochemistry, Genetics) and I too can say it served me well. But my humanities and history courses (all electives, as they did not count toward my major) remain the ones I treasure the most. I love science and math, and they have given me a comfortable life, but it is my love of literature and the arts which makes that life exciting and worthwhile.
The value of humanities classes is so that you trim your expectations of a scientific career, if it is in any way tangential to public policy. Politicians will consult you for technical advice, ignore most of it and pervert the rest, and then blame you and your kind for "arrogance" when their command & control strategies fail. In the humanities track, you will meet some of these people, and marvel at their indefatigable hubris.
Classes in the Humanities, along with Science and Technology, could help to dispel the huge and growing gap of wealth and power inequality.
Many students at the elite Ivy League schools study “liberal arts” to be prepared to be high-level executives in their wealthy parents’ companies. Graduates who have the necessary “connections” don’t apply to “help wanted” ads. Their job openings have been made for them by the time they are in Middle School.
I have found that most of my Science, Engineering and Mathematics colleagues and coworkers — with MS and PhD degrees— are clueless about politics, Economics, Sociology, Justice, Ethics, etc.
You say, “I have found that most of my (science) friends are clueless about politics, sociology,…….” Again, you say “I have ‘found’…..” I recommend that you look more closely. You might “find” something different. What you ‘find’ depends largely on your skill at ‘looking’. You might want to bone-up on your ‘observation/listening’ skills. Just a thought.
I didn’t say “all” of my STEM friends and associates. I said “most”. You don’t know them, but I have known them for decades. They are highly focused within their specialties, and don’t care for much else.
Several of them work for defense contractors and disassociate themselves from the fact that they have been developing bombs and other weapons that are currently destroying Gaza and other parts of the world. They are highly intelligent people with very narrow focus.
I should have specified that my observations were about my “US American” associates. Those from Europe and the UK have had broader educations and perspectives. Many of those are socialists.
Anyway, I appreciate your suggestions.
I could offer several counter opinions, but I will limit it to one all-encompassing truth: The outcomes of WWI and WWII would have been far different were it not for the scientific development of hugely successful USA defense weapons. Also, let’s not forget the power of ‘deterrence’ when suitably-armed nations make ‘consequences’ obvious for an aggressor. I am not a warmonger; I am a ‘realist’. I encourage a rebuttal; I’m open-minded.
I agree. This is not a rebuttal. Indeed, many if not most of the technological developments of the past 100 years or so have been made by what is now known as the military-industrial complex of the USA and of the USSR, with enormous subsidies from taxpayers of both. British, French, German engineers and scientist, plus those from a few more countries also contributed. Those technologies include, but are not limited to, radio and television communications, digital computers, the Internet, earth-orbit telecommunications satellites, laser systems, laser welding, electron beam welding, powdered metal sintering, CNC machining, Additive Manufacturing and all other CAD/CAM/CAE software modeling and controls systems, Global Positioning Systems, etc., etc., etc.
As for the role of the USA in the outcome of WWI, the USA was a minor actor that entered the scene just before the end of the final act. The USA had not serious aircraft technology or Air Force. The British, French, Italian and German aerospace engineers had the advantage. The Army didn't have enough weapons to arm all of its soldiers for training prior to being sent to Europe. The Navy was still burning coal to fire the boilers of its steamships.
As a result of it lack of preparedness for "modern" warfare, the US government learned a lesson from WWI and was able to commandeer US manufacturing industries to become major suppliers of materiel for WWII. What I learned from the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming's team about the quality of the US production for WWII was that the USA was great at mass production of products of dubious quality. What the US manufacturers lacked in quality was resolved by increased quantity. Some of the best military weapons were developed by German and Japanese engineers.
The USSR provided far more soldiers to defeat the Axis forces than the UK or the USA. The USSR, USA and UK were allies. At the same time, Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Watson (of IBM) supported the Nazis, along with IBM, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, Texaco and other US corporations. Those companies supported both sides, with the expectation that regardless of which side would be victorious, their Capitalist business enterprises would continue. They did, however, fear Communist or Socialist control that might occur after the war.
As for the deterrence factor, one may conclude that every country on Earth should have a massive nuclear weapons arsenal to deter aggressors. Unfortunately, the engineers and scientists have not yet developed fail-safe detonation systems that are actually fail-safe, and none that prevent suicide attacks.
Many of my STEM associates say, "I don't kill people. I don't make bombs. I only make components of bombs that my firm sells to the government." Their keen focus upon their specialties keeps them willfully oblivious to the root causes of conflict that result in the use of their products. Perhaps more emphasis on the Humanities and Liberal Arts may have persuaded them to develop other approaches to prevent armed conflicts.
Humankind really does need to find more creative approaches to identify the needs of all living creatures and to develop solutions for the benefit of all. STEM, alone, is failing to do that. Capitalism, as we have known it, is continuing to increase the gap of wealth and power between the elites that are hoarding the control of more wealth than they will ever need in a thousand lifetimes at the expense of the poor and working classes that sustain them. The entire basis of "large C" Capitalism is based upon the concept of "give a little, take a little, but take a little bit more" until you have taken it all. Every CEO who is not a sociopath knows this.
I agree. Why is the first piece of advice to drop out of school? Don’t vote? Such bullshit.
Nihilism has never been more fashionable amongst the so-called intellectual community.
Except for that brief period between the invention of movable type and today.
To be fair, I don’t think most aspiring plumbers are on Substack
They’re probably listening to Joe Rogen and streaming on Rumble.
Not in my experience!!!! I live in a rural area and—let me think—my plumber, my HVAC guys, my hardwood flooring/repair neighbor (who is an excellent craftsman beyond flooring), the woodworker who creates & installs gorgeous kitchen cabinets (wish I could afford them!) & my car mechanic guys, among others, are ALL thoughtful, curious and creative and aware & engaged. As we have all recently experienced with this administration, an elite Ivy League education also produces spectacular putzes, so choice of a career should not be a pigeonhole!!!!
What about the advice to work with your hands, quality and such. I think this is pretty balanced and creativity and humanity is the anti-AI.
While I agree with the points being made here, we have to remember that we're on SUBSTACK, and this is the SUBSTACK post. This is a platform catered to creatives, more specifically writers and journalists. Of course this post would also be catered to "creatives." I don't really think most aspiring firefighters are musing their days away on here.
I’m an old Soldier. Should I be on Substack? Or should I seek out a platform better suited to my obvious limitations? 😉
Just kidding…you’re probably right. But as the post was directed at “graduates” I thought I’d vent some of my frustration regarding the inability of some people to imagine a life without sterile office work.
OMG...EXACTLY RIGHT! I feel so bad for the young kids today...They will NEVER know what we once had...It's gone...I pray for my 22-year-old beautiful granddaughter and young nephews...It is getting dire out here...
Not only this; but as complex and ever-changing as emotions are, I don’t believe “Trust Your Feelings” should be a bolded topic here. Lots of things go wrong because we don’t think logically and make decisions based off how WE feel, and then that just opens up a whole other topic on selfishness and why we need more community but I digress.
“Trust your feelings” is only ONE of many considerations on the path to career choices. Trusting your feelings, BY ITSELF, is likely very bad advice in most instances. Question everything, consult friends and experts, read, then read some more on your path to a wise decision.
Amen to that. Trust your feelings is a poor way to put it. Especially when others are telling you what you already want to hear. My college education was outdated 6 months into my "career." Talk about change happening in the world. That 1988 through 1990. I eventually started an online business in 1998. Today, I'm in my late 50s. Looking back, it was an adventure through and through (the best of times and the worst of times all rolled into one).
College is decidedly NOT useless. College can go a long way in teaching you how to think, how to question what you’ve been ‘taught’, how to communicate respectfully, how to stand your ground when appropriate, and how to win an argument effectively. College CAN be a gold-mine.
David Wynsen,
What you are describing are concepts that are taught in classic Liberal Arts / Humanities and praised in the Ivy League schools.
All too many community colleges and state universities have been putting much emphasis in educating technical employees for jobs in industry. Many schools have been seeking to operate as for-profit businesses that sell degrees and credentials.
Students who are hard-pressed to pay for their tuitions are not too interested in paying for classes that are not in demand by potential employers. Many employers are only interested in hiring technical minions.
Very few position descriptions include proficiency in Philosophy, Sociology, English, History, Logic, Argumentative Writing or Speaking.
Law Schools still emphasize Argumentative Writing and Speaking, but even Law schools graduates are having difficulty in finding employment as lawyers.
Especially now that there's so many of them, there's pressure for them to be short, shallow, and swollen with bait and buzzwords in order to capture attention.
I did like Roy Woods idea😀, wish I had the capital to leave America in its decline.
F*ck this was GOOD read
Indeed
Nearly ALL of this advice comes from media people. Get some advice from people with real jobs: plumbers, deck hands, engineers, hospital workers, bus drivers, etc.
Here’s some advice: take a hike, go fishing, go camping, spend time by a campfire telling stories or making s’mores.
Whatever I think you’ll realize during the moments—I don’t have to explain them, you’ll figure it out.
And take marshmallows for toasting!
Advice I'm telling all new grads as well as high schoolers - Find a trade that you can like and learn it. And never vote Democrat
I tell them to join or form a labor union, and to become an active participant in union leadership.
What? I am unaware of a ‘union’ in my field: Biochemistry. Biochemistry is critical for food production, farming, all manner of industrial processes, energy production, environmental science, etc. etc. The list is nearly endless. I believe ‘unions’ are largely uninvolved in biochemistry and most of the ‘sciences’. Unless I’m mistaken, unions provide little advantage to the broad spectrum of The Sciences. What am I missing? Like any good scientist, I will listen, contemplate, agree, or rebut your assertions. Let me know!
If you can’t find one, you may organize one. Salaried engineers, scientists and mathematicians in the defense industry have been unionized since WWII.
Scientists and biochemists who are tenured professors are in a sort of union, with job security and pensions.
If you are truly unique within your field of expertise, and are existentially essential to your employer, you may or may not benefit from membership in a professional organization. Otherwise, your bargaining power regarding salary, pension, healthcare, job security is virtually zero.
If your employment contract includes a non-compete and/or non-disclosure agreement, you may be doubly screwed if you become a random victim of “downsizing”.
Many thousands of my Science, Engineering, Technology, Mathematics colleagues in the aircraft, automotive and defense industries were stunned when they were selected at random for “cost reductions” during the Great Recession. Those over the age of fifty years were never able to get comparable employment, again, due to age discrimination.
Also, I knew several scientists, biochemists and pharmacologists who were canned after Pfizer acquired their employers’ firms. Then even more were discharged when Pfizer shutdown most of its operations in Groton, CT.
I also know several physicians who were employed at a major hospital group who were “let go” after their hospital was acquired by a venture capitalist consortium. None of them ever believed they could be disposable.
In my formal Management classes, I was taught that my responsibility was to pay employees such as yourself only as much as was necessary to keep you from quitting. My employer paid consulting firms that conducted nationwide surveys to determine how little I should pay my subordinates without motivating them to seek better compensation elsewhere.
I hope this provides more insight.
I agree with part one of your advice. But a rule of my be is never tell my students or former students a Never, especially re. voting.
Fair enough especially if you are a teacher 😊
Love it! So true good advice, make your own way in the world is the only way to success.
never vote PERIOD. USELESS RIGGED SYSTEM.
More ‘open-mindedness’ from you, Jamie? Are ‘some’ elections rigged? Likely, but that does NOT obviate the value of letting your opinions being heard and considered by others. Your cynicism might not serve you well. Be alert and always question your own thoughts and your resultant conclusions.
I stand by my assertion that the vast, vast majority science nerds (like me) have been treated well and became prosperous in the absence of a union. I’ve been in the Pharma industry for years, as a Supervisor, Manager, and Director, I managed 100’s of degreed scientists in 5 very large organizations. Unions offered zero advantage during any part of my long career. However, I understand my experience might be a bit different for non-scientists.
You mean roll over and give up? I guess this means you have no issues, then, with any particular administration? Don’t vote, don’t complain about the results. Why not get engaged instead…start locally and expand from there….try to be part of the solution to the problem you perceive. As for me, when I vote, I research information available on ALL the candidates….all the way down ballot to county judges & city council and choose the one I think will do the best job; no one is 100% perfect, so I choose, IMO, the best qualified. My voice is my vote (tho’ not exclusively, I otherwise share my opinions/feelings when called for). The way I feel about it: Jackson Browne Til I Go Down (1986) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
Don't vote is one of tge most wrong-headed advice I can think of.
A lot of outcomes are decided by a few hundred votes. P residential elections are just one type. Everything from the school board on up to the state legislature is an election, and impacts our lives big time. Votes for sherriffs, judges, local town councils, city commissioners, you name it.
The only people I have heard say don't vote are disillusioned working class folks. The ones who need unions the most.
As for biochemists, maybe you don't need a union. But if you think you do get busy.
This was nonsense. It is super easy for any successful entrepreneur to advise that generations follow their path when they forget their own monumental fear when they started and the letdown when events didn't transpire as planned. If life and suc ess were as easy as stared above, no one would be an employee. So there is a reason there are.
The best move is find something as an employee that you are half decent at and plan for retirement immediately. You will be 40 in a blink of an eye and corporations stop hiring at that age. So add a side hustle while working for someone to see how entrepreneurship feels. Build that up until it retires you early from the job. Be sensible and learn from your mistakes.
If I were graduating high school all over again, here’s exactly what I would do:
First, I’d aim to score as high as possible on the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). This test determines your job options in the military. Scoring high is like walking into a car dealership pre-approved with excellent credit—the recruiter (like the salesman) will want to fill certain slots, but you’ll be in control. Don’t settle.
Do your homework beforehand: research the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) you want. Avoid combat arms and pick a support MOS instead. Why? Because support roles give you time to take care of yourself—get dental work done, take college classes, and plan your future.
If you're a Combat Engineer or Artilleryman, you won't have that flexibility. Combat arms soldiers must always be ready to deploy, which means no braces, no college, no downtime.
Instead, consider fields like biomedical engineering or nuclear medicine—they pay extremely well after service.
Only sign a two-year contract. During that time, use your benefits: earn an associate degree plus 40 more credits. That gives you 100 transferable college credits—enough to qualify for OCS (Officer Candidate School).
Here’s the payoff:
After OCS, you’ll enter as a First Lieutenant, earning what a Sergeant First Class (with ~7 years of service) makes.
After completing your bachelor’s degree, you’ll receive your first commission as a Captain.
Why the Army over other branches?
Because the Army is the largest, which means faster promotions and higher pay.
If you enlist at 17–19 and serve 20 years, you can retire by 37–39. Then work part-time in your MOS field as a civilian—and live comfortably.
If you don’t mind discipline, integrity, and honor, the Army could be the smartest decision you ever make.
Good luck!
Ehh I kinda disagreed with this one. Some advice is okay at best. But as a fellow Gen Z grad from 2023, here's the real advice: go live your life NOW. You probably won't get a job or have a career or buy a house or buy a car. If you can, live with friends and family and enjoy life. Take things one day at a time. Appreciate the small things in life. Spend time off electronics and outside at a park/nature or in a library reading.
Geeee! More targeted cynicism! No job? No career? No house? No car? NO SENSE! You have already LOST by throwing-in the towel before the very tough race has even started. My advice? Get help. I wish you well.
lol. That is also known as freeloading. A hobo. A bum. A failure to launch.
Trust your instincts, not your feelings. Instinct is the ‘still, small voice’ that speaks to feelings, often in contrarian fashion. Never put all of your weight down on your feelings. Your feelings may be right, they may be wrong, they may be indifferent. They cannot, however, be trusted.
Lots of good advice here, as well as some selection-bias cliches. "Shoot first, aim later" is a good approach if you're talented, charismatic, or lucky enough to land on your feet. If you're not that sort of person, which is hard to know in your early twenties, you may end up like many who are in prison because they struggle with impulse control. Makes a sexy commencement speech, but for some reason nobody asks ex-cons to expound on the life-changing virtue of acting without considering the consequences.
Einstein was a member of the AFLCIO . Enough of the doltish views about unions
Quite honestly - life (including education) is a drunken sailor's walk! You think you are headed THERE, and then something changes and you turn 90 degrees THATAWAY, and you decide to change careers going??? This article so encapsulated the craziness. And Grandpa always said - if you do not have at least three (3) major career changes, you are not stretching yourself!
lol….I’ve long called it Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride! Hmmmm…perchance enhance it to Mr. Toad’s Drunken Wild Ride???!!!
These people all seem to be "influencers" like the Kardasians. Their advice is fine if you want to do that. Not so good if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, academic, architect: professions where you need discipline and knowledge of how to do certain things. You dont move fast and break things if you are building a bridge or are an oncologist. Not everyone can be an influencer (than God).
Angels🧚🏻🧚♂️🧚🏻
Philipito Quigley
365
Angels and courage,
Deepening
Awareness and
Ability to let
Our spirits live fully
In this materialistic
World
My inner self
More tangible
than the events that
Surround me
It’s easy to
Abandon
The intuitive
Impulses
Of being
Comfortable
And happy
The things
That matter
To me
I have a
Choice of
How
When and
Why
To interact
With the
Elites that
Lie
I can be
Reflective
effective
And not
Affected
By the circumstances
Of this merry
Dance
Of those who
Leave
To Chance
One thing
I have learned
Angels grow
If I have
Awareness
Of the possibility
Of their help
And caress
Their relationship
Like a blanket
That works
To make
My inner self
More tangible
To live fully
In the reality
Of my Inner
World
Angels
A portal of
Imagination
To think
Differently
To act
In a new way
So that
Self Love
Can deepen
Can broaden
To our fellow
travellers
Each and
Every
Day
The Angel way
Do not get caught up in the Lies before you. Do your Due Diligence to find the Truth, as it is out there. Find it, and make your decisions based on what Truthful Information you have found.
Wear. Sunscreen.
👆😆