I'm all for education, but I wonder if these people were mentored at all when deciding what to go to college/university for. I have many friends who's kids are currently in college for journalism, arts, or some sort of dead language, and find it heartbreaking that the parents (my age) hope their kids will find a nice secure job at a newspaper or working as an artist or author. These aren't exactly hoppin' career paths today.

Listen, if you want to 'grow up' to be an artist, you may not exactly need training in art history or study Picasso. My opinion is that you will need to learn how to make a living from what you want to do, manage your fiances, learn about contract laws, marketing, small business management, how to write well, etc. 

My little brother, who is now 25, wanted to go to university for a degree – I don't remember what – that I had him go and search for jobs. There were none and a flood of people looking with decades more experience than he would have out the gate. I had suggested a more general business management degree, and with that he could have a wider pick of industries. Now he's working at an elevator company making a killing straight from college and has multiple job offers from competing industries on a regular basis. 

I am all for living your passion but you need to look forward and look at the current and projected job market (if you are not inclined to be an entrepreneur). No one ever thinks "I want to spend $110k on my education and be in debt for 20+ years and be un/under employed the entire time." Everyone wants to earn a lot of money. I hope that more people are willing to step up and honestly mentor the upcoming generations to help guide them to looking long term all while following their passions and creativity. I for one have stepped up to the plate <grin>

Now, I'm not saying that anyone in this article that went to school for engineering or the sciences made a bad choice. I'm thinking that they could use some solid mentorship to help guide them into their hopeful fields of employment. The farther you get from where you want to be (say, flipping burgers rather than working in a R&D lab) the farther you are from the very people and contacts that can help you rise up.

#blog  

Reshared post from +Guy Kawasaki

(Sat01) Great photo essay of seventeen recent graduates who are not working in their desired fields:

http://m.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/not-where-they-hoped-theyd-be/100320/

Photo credit: Reuters/Peter Andrews

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