The Lost Generation Asks the Importance of College Degrees

Published on Monday August 16th , 2010 Having already been labeled the dreary title of lost generation, youth in my generation are forced to come to terms ith the fact that the !ob mar"et is not hat they envisioned it ould be, and their college degree is relatively orthless at the moment# As u$setting as this may be to recent graduates, those of us ho graduated a fe years ago have already acce$ted this as the current ay of life, but still onder if e could have achieved a greater salary if e had o$ted to start or"ing fresh out of high school instead of asting time and money on a college degree# %on&t get me rong, college as full of many memories that cannot be re$licated and the classes ere vastly beneficial to understanding more orldly conce$ts, but many recent grads are double guessing themselves and their education choices# 'ollege degrees are the e$itome of every student&s educational goals ( for most of middle) class America, going to college as a rite of $assage of sorts# Ho ever, ith the changing economy, it has become necessary to delve dee$er into the statistics of a college degree to determine hether it is in fact necessary for a long)lasting career# Most economists ill ans er this *uestion by agreeing that a college degree is e+tremely im$ortant for any orld economy ( an uneducated $o$ulation can be a dangerous thing, more than that, the economy goes through various trends hich affect unem$loyment, but it ill be bac" to normal before long# -hether the unem$loyed grads believe this or not is a different story# Ho ever, in my o n e+$erience, des$ite the difficulty in securing a !ob .and the hefty $rice tag/, a college degree comes ith a certain air of $ride# -hen em$loyers see that you attended a highly)ran"ed university and earned a degree from the school, they are a are that you have some form of disci$line and are able to commit to a $rogram# %e$ending on your degree, em$loyers are even able to tell if you are good ith research .as an Art History graduate/, or good ith numbers .as an Accounting graduate/# 0our college degree is able to communicate a lot about your bac"ground ithout saying much at all# 1his little bit of communication is sometimes all that is needed to $ush you above the rest of the a$$licants# And in the end, it is not so much that e can&t find a !ob, it&s mostly that e don&t ant to settle for hat a$$ears to be an entry)level $osition# -hether you acce$t the first $osition offered to you, or hold out for your dream !ob, it is still evident that your college degree is orth much more than the $rice of your tuition# 2t can lead to a lifelong career choice, and even through the smog of our current economic conditions, it is clear e on&t be the lost generation for much longer#