Bleak Outlook for College Graduates...DUH!

Sunday, I watched “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour. She had a roundtable discussion with a group of new college grads--from particularly fancy colleges, and two successful businessmen.

Out of the four students participating in the round table, one simply doesn’t have a job, one will be continuing with higher education, one has two job offers—not in career fields he wants to pursue, and one was rather vague on if he has a job prospect or not. Yikes.

Here’s the link if you are interested:

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/roundtable-graduates-ceos-13713737

I have to say, I am so glad that I graduated from college when I did. Almost ten years ago, (OMG, I am old!) I was in the same shoes as these college graduates. Truly, I loved every moment that I spent at Michigan State University. I have a liberal arts degree in Social Relations. (No, I am not a professional party planner, the major is actually more about public policy.) I loved what I studied and I loved my friends from 2 South. I graduated in three and a half years and I worked my butt off. It was not easy!

My first job was at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and I worked there for eighteen months. It was not my dream job, but I needed something to pay the bills. I washed and rented cars while wearing a suit. I was in their “Management Training Program.” I made less than $30,000 a year and I worked over 50 hours a week. I was thankful for that overtime, because that mean extra money. I would scarf down my lunch at my desk in between rentals, so that I didn’t have to clock out.

After Enterprise, I worked at several other jobs—some were better, some were worse, but I still felt like I was missing something.

It wasn’t until five years ago that I found that missing “link.” It was at this time that my husband and I decided to sell our house, quit our jobs, and move to Texas. I wanted to teach and there were no opportunities in Michigan.

Thankfully, my husband is ridiculously supportive and we had this blind faith that everything would work out.

Lucky for us, it did. I got a teaching job within three weeks of moving to Texas. I didn’t get my first paycheck until almost two months later, but we made it. On the other hand, my first year of teaching is a whole additional blog post…and then some. But that is neither here nor there.

So, here is where the show, “This week” comes in. One of the businessmen who was being interviewed stated that there are tons of jobs in Silicon Valley for people who are in technical or engineering fields.

Here is where I come in. It is my job as a teacher to prepare my kids for the real world. No matter what grade they are in (Yes, even elementary age kids.) They must be exposed to STEM fields (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). They need to know what possibilities are out there—because that is where the jobs are at now and in the future. We need to teach our lessons and integrate our curriculum so that STEM is in everything we do.

I never thought I could be an engineer because I always hated math. This last year my district started a STEM magnet program for 4th and 5th graders. (I was one of the fifth grade teachers.) I have learned a bit about engineering, and I have seen what a difference it makes for kids. Kids are natural engineers. They love to work with their hands—to design and create improvements to technology. They can do it! I am sold on STEM, and I think more teachers would be if they had the proper resources.

So maybe, if we start our kids early and get them interested in STEM fields, they will realize there are fantastic opportunities out there. And, by the time they graduate from college they will not only have a job, but they will be working in a field they love to work in (and making lots of money that they can donate to their long lost teacher?)

Seriously, what we are doing is not working. We have to get our kids ready for the job market. Otherwise, things will never change.