Caught in the Education Glut
YAGERMAN, HOWARD
Perspectives CAUGHT IN THE EDUCATION GLUT BY HOWARD YAGERMAN There is a subway advertisement in New York City that exclaims, "Now you can earn a college man's salary without four years of...
...My wife, who I thought would be safe from the perils of the so-called minidepression because hers is a Civil Service job, has—along with 125 other junior staff members?just received a letter from the director of the Brooklyn Library system stating: We are sorry to inform you that due to the financial crisis blah, blah, so forth, etc...
...dents, I drove a cab...
...My wife, also a product of the middle-class-education ethic, had received her master's in library science that year, too...
...While she was going to school, she worked in the Boston Public Library system as a preprofessional...
...Right now I'm hanging on to my job by the grace of a special project...
...I was subse-the only one who was employed in his college-trained field...
...to go as far as they can in school...
...It was back-breaking and no more than semi-rewarding...
...If you are unemployed, it is hard to refuse any kind of work in your own field, especially after making large financial and emotional investments...
...What next...
...As the college degree continues to decline in value more rapidly than the dollar, everyone may indeed be able to earn a college man's salary without going to college...
...When I graduated from college in 1970 with a degree in political science, I was hired by a New York bank as an auditor trainee...
...I then went to work on the assembly line of an educational toy manufacturer, packing boxes, stacking and loading...
...We each had jobs in our own fields...
...Where do we put all those people armed with their diplomas and their high expectations...
...As a result, she became a typist—do you type 40-words-per-minute...
...you have one week left on the job...
...The man to my right, one of the best packers anywhere, was a PhD candidate in history from Harvard...
...I was so giddy with success, I decided to go to law school at night...
...My employers were pleased...
...She received $88 a week gross, about $68 net...
...America is a postindustrial society that continues to emphasize educational industriousness...
...your legs begin to hurt after the second hour...
...The younger ones smoked pot, the old-timers drank ruby port...
...Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been advertising regularly in the New York Times that they need trained personnel, yet in all good conscience I can't see my way clear...
...In 1972 in Boston, an MA in anything was worthless...
...I had driven a car for five years without an accident and thought, what the hell, it's tough but it will do until something better comes along...
...Wrong on both counts...
...My wife and I are perhaps merely one of many educated young couples facing the economic caprice of our times...
...The last one was serious enough to make me look for a different job...
...The fact of the matter is, education is now overrated in the United States...
...I was accepted with a teaching assistantship, wrote my master's thesis and in 1972 received my reward—an MA in political science...
...You have to ask the foreman to go to the bathroom...
...Since my only salable skills were in research, and at least a master's is required for a research job, I applied to a graduate program in Boston...
...Should we give them all shovels and tell them to go dig...
...Metropolitan New York—which seems a microcosm of our society's present ills—offers a clear example of the education glut...
...I had earlier gotten the bright idea that a Jewish agency might be interested in my master's thesis, and my intui-quently hired as a researcher...
...After all, PhDs are a dime a dozen but a law degree is multipurpose, right...
...As for my wife, she applied to several borough library systems and to various agencies, and was eventually hired by the Brooklyn Public Library...
...You had to work six days a week...
...In six weeks at the wheel of a cab, I had three accidents...
...We were the perfect couple...
...Perspectives CAUGHT IN THE EDUCATION GLUT BY HOWARD YAGERMAN There is a subway advertisement in New York City that exclaims, "Now you can earn a college man's salary without four years of college.' The line may qualify as a graphic illustration of the clever copywriter's deception, since the prospect it holds out is in truth hardly very promising, but the irony it underlines is not a Madison Avenue invention...
...First, the bottom fell out of the stock market, and as the stock market goes, so go the contributions to any public service organization...
...For 10 hours of driving, you could look forward to earning $30 a day gross, about $24 net...
...On my line, I was among the least formally educated...
...It seems like every time you move you have to punch a clock...
...Standing on an assembly line is a symphony in boredom and regimentation...
...There seemed to be more opportunities in the Big Apple, and I had received an encouraging letter from a national Jewish agency that hinted at employment...
...to work hard at improving themselves in their youth so they will be able to relax and enjoy their old age...
...At break time?5 minutes in the morning, 45 minutes for lunch, 10 minutes in the afternoon (punch that clock)—most of the workers would get stoned to maintain their a) dignity, b) composure, c) sanity, d)all of the above...
...All this and heaven too, for $84 a week gross, about $65 net...
...In a crowded job market it may actually hinder someone looking for employment because he or she may be deemed "overqualified...
...I was tion proved correct...
...I was paid a pittance...
...I'm sure the Saudis and the Kuwaitis feel the same way...
...At the end of the summer of '72 we decided to move back to New York City...
...Still, I suspect many young Americans may not turn down alluring Arab inducements...
...You not only face the difficulty of being overaualified for an increasing number of lower-level jobs, your specialized training narrows the range of upper-level jobs open to you as well...
...It insures little...
...Then the lawyer market became tight, which means I will have another worthless degree...
...Thank you, no...
...When it's finished, I am, too...
...Your shoulders begin to ache about an hour into the routine...
...From early childhood most middle-class children are urged to study...
...As you climb the academic ladder your position becomes more precarious...
...But I would suggest that the problem goes deeper than market fluctuations...
...After all, law skills are important to a researcher, right...
...My friends were amazed...
...So, like other unemployed graduate stuHoward Yagerman, at the moment, is serving as Project Coordinator for the Trends Analysis Division of the American Jewish Committee...
...The City University alone, exclusive of the many private colleges in the area, has approximately 250,000 undergraduates in its two and four year colleges, while in the past five years New York has lost 400,000 jobs...
...She was semiskilled labor, I was not...
...In fact, that subway advertisement may have a perverse kind of accuracy to it...
...Upon graduating, her preprofessional position was terminated and she was told there were no vacancies for librarians because Boston was undergoing a municipal job freeze...
...It's a wonder the day's work got done...
...the man to my left, slow but careful, had already earned a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics...
...In addition, most employers demand one-to-three years experience for advanced slots, so the new postgraduate must either lie at his interview or be fortunate enough to have been an intern in his field and to find a possible employer who will take that into account...
...Things were no better for librarians in private industry...
Vol. 58 • September 1954 • No. 17
