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Re: work and educationhjmartin (hatch@RICHMOND.INFI.NET)Mon, 1 Jul 1996 09:55:56 -0400
>>John, >> >>Your point about the value of acquiring specific job skills that enable one >>to function in business is well made. I think that you make a sensible >>statement countering one that constructs the image of a person in a job on >>the constricting basis of a functional description, or to one that relies >>almost lovingly on 'operationalising' human work. To the examples you list >>I will add knowledge of statistical analysis, a certain competence in >>mathematical modeling/thinking and the ability to read financial statements, >>not least with a view to how they portray (and betray) business plans. >> >>Thank you for paraphrasing Bourdeiu's analysis of how academic credentials >>have deflated in value. It is apt. I see it around me every day. One >>reality for new BAs is that extended unemployment looms for many. Many work >>for temporary agencies; they often skitter about seeking 'opportunities' and >>'networking' total strangers. Others, in order to get on-the-job experience >>(oh, how shallow those words sound to me!), are placed as unpaid interns. >>Many, it is true, do find fulfilling, full-time work. Yet so many others, >>sadly, find jobs that simply do not require a lengthy and expensive college >>education. (I cannot find it in me to bash McDonalds, Thom McAn, Sears... >>for keeping hundreds of thousands of people in pocket money). Perhaps my >>outlook is too dark, but this circumstance disturbs me greatly. I feel so >>sorry for these young people and the grinding struggles they face. >>Americans tie much of their concept of self to what they do to earn money >>and thus plan & work to BE something (teacher, dancer, bidnes man, Chevy >>truck builder). Failing to BE that something is wrenching to the point of >>utter despair. I cannot resort to platitudes about trials by fire and >>exhortations to try and try to put myself in a better frame of mind about >>this. Is the personal cost of knowledge becoming too high? I hope not. >>Has the work value of an education been debased? Yes, but not for a reason >>intrinsic to education. >> >>And so: I wrote a letter to the editor to blast the guy I mentioned in the >>first post. I was _really_ cranky but she published the thing anyway. >> >>Regards, >> >>Jim > >Jim, > >This is very thoughtful and useful.Would you be willing to post it to the list? > >John McCreery >3-206 Mitsusawa HT, 25-2 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku >Yokohama 220, JAPAN > >"And the Lord said unto Cyrus, 'Shall the clay say to him who moldest it, >what makest thou? Let the potsherd of the earth speak to the potsherd of >the earth." --An anthropologist's credo > Regards, HJMartin
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