At Wesleyan University today is the first day of classes, and many people are annoyed to be losing their last long weekend of summer, or imagine that we are sending some kind of signal to add further insult to the many injuries already suffered by the labor movement. We've actually started on the first Monday of the month for more prosaic reasons having to do with hours in the classroom (and faculty and student schedules). But it really does make perfect sense to focus on labor as we begin the academic year.
Labor is much on the mind for our students as they begin the term. Some of that is in the nature of choosing classes. A few students want to know "how hard is this class?" "How much work will I have to do?" This is almost always an impossible question to answer just by looking at the syllabus. Some professors assign ten books or more to read during the term, while others focus on one or two. The truth is that most classes offer increased intellectual rewards the more work you put into them. And at small colleges and universities around the country, faculty and students are working very hard. Last year's educational shocker Academically Adrift showed that far too many students were not being asked to work very much at all outside of class. But the noisy keg parties and tales of spring break madness shouldn't allow us to forget that across the country thousands of young men and women are writing papers or engaging in lab experiments every week, doing tons of reading, and wrestling with sophisticated conceptual frameworks. And their professors are working at least as hard to mentor them.
But labor is on the mind of our students and their families in a more general sense this year. The awful job situation in the United States has lasted far too long, and each year frosh begin their college years hoping it will be better by the time they graduate. At the end of last week we learned that the US economy created no new jobs in August, and in a few days President Obama is scheduled to give what is billed as a major address on jobs. It's about time politicians focused on what has become an epidemic of joblessness. The real wages of working men and women in America have been declining for several years now, as the gap between the rich and the rest grows impossibly wide. The most pressing question facing the American economy for the next decade is how we will create and sustain decent jobs. Everything else is a distraction.
It's no wonder that already parents have begun asking me how I think a university education is going to equip our students as they head off into the job market in the spring. One can certainly understand their anxiety. Although a college degree is clearly an advantage, the job market is just terrible -- even for grads with an impressive diploma. After four years of a liberal arts education, what kind of labor will open to our new alumni?
The answer isn't simple, but it is clear that employers are often looking for workers who can think creatively, solve problems, seek opportunities and be self-motivating. Employers, when they are able to hire for good jobs, are looking for people who can learn while they are working -- folks who aren't just wed to a tool they learned to use to tackle yesterday's challenge. At Wesleyan we believe deeply in the translational liberal arts -- a broad, pragmatic education through which one learns how to apply modes of thinking and innovation in a variety of contexts. Even as the contexts change (whether that be through technology, politics or the economy), we believe our students will be well equipped to make their way in the world. We believe that graduates with a broad education will be at the forefront of those creating and sustaining the jobs. The future will not be shaped by those who hone a single skill relevant only to a single problem. The future will be shaped by those whose skills can be translated into new forms as different problems arise and new opportunities are created.
But this isn't just an article of faith. Colleges and universities today also offer practical advice, internship information and personal connections through career resource centers. Undergraduates often find their way to these centers in their first or second semesters, as they begin to think about labor: about how to translate what they are learning on campus to creating opportunities off campus.
Happy First Day of Classes! Happy Labor Day!!
What is the wage rate for working labor day ? Double time ?
Shows a lack of respect for the day and for their employees.
College does not prepare you for a career, or even give you a clue what it will be like. As to liberal arts majors, the young ones I know work retail if they work at all. Starting salaries for college graduates declined over last decade. The US has a surplus of BAs, drives down wages.
Entitlement programs as a result of giant past money makers are way, WAY out of hand and need to be cut way, WAY back.
Look at the post office. 80% of their cash outlay is for employees as opposed to UPS which is just over 50%.
It's no mystery why the Post Office is going out of business...
We are in over our heads and spending cuts are the ONLY answer...
But if you don't mind paying a high tax percentage to the government and then letting THEM blow it to create jobs.....
Well, good luck with that...
I'm sure you can use the tax money you pay to the government to employ imaginary workers...
Spending cuts means more unemployment. How does that help?
Manufacturing is not coming back --
So your solution is?? More unemployment?
SS is a Ponzt scheme... It CAN'T do anything except got bankrupt...
We are still the biggest exporters in the world meaning the biggest manufacturers in the world...
The government does not create jobs, private business does...
Now lets talk about government pensions...............
All his speech will do is continue the narrative that politicians are at the root of the problem. It is the CEOs and executives who have to be exposed and held accountable for the job-shedding activities of their organizations, not government. The public is irresponsibly encouraged to blame the wrong entity out of some out-dated sense that any criticism of industry will immediately be followed by unmanageable Bolshevism in downtown Pasadena.
I find it actually offensive that government is somehow exclusively to blame for this situation and it is their mandate to somehow encourage "job creators". It's not Obama's job to focus on jobs, unless he choses to hire directly. Governments have to stop coddling industry. No more tax breaks, no more handouts. Neither seem to generate jobs at all. Start shutting the borders to domestic firms that abuse cheap labour abroad simply to pad their balance sheets.
On the other side, people say that the higher education system has become a puppy mill, churning out supply that exceeds market demand and that the future is trades and so the refocus should be there. Well, I know three people who graduated as plumbers from the local CC and are still as unemployed as I am. The problem is obviously much deeper: the entire job market is boinked.
Get real.
www.ynyogaposes.com
Robert Reich, one of my favorite economists, says, "Washington is paralyzed, the President seems unwilling or unable to take on labor-bashing Republicans, and several Republican governors are mounting direct assaults on organized labor. So let’s bag the picnics and parades this Labor Day. American workers should march in protest. They’re getting the worst deal they’ve had since before Labor Day was invented."
This labor day with workers under attack on all fronts is a good time to start getting over the meaningless "middle class" crap and say it loud and say it proud: We are not the rich and we are not bums, we are the Working Class, we're mad as hell and we're ready to kick some ass! A real Class War would beat the hell out of the current class massacre. Have a happy and militant Labor Day.
College shouldn't be job training...