This post has been germinating in my brain for quite some time, and I've been mulling over how best to approach it. And now, with reams of homework that needs to be accomplished, and emails that must be sent, I have undertaken the task of finally writing it.
I apologize for the length of the previous sentence.
"I don't know what I want to do after graduation. I have no idea how I'll use my major." That is the refrain of many people my age who are in college.
Then there are the ones that do have plans... "Grad school." "Teaching credential." "Law school." "Find a job."
We say those phrases in hopes that, if we repeat them enough times, they will generate income...enough income to qualify for a mortgage and a few car payments, and pay off student loans.
However, unlike lucky Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, repeating phrases over and over again does not yield results.
Neither does just a diploma stating that we have spent (on average) four years writing papers, taking tests, and paying thousands of dollars prove that we will succeed, either. I overheard a senior tell a graduate student the other day. "I'm not that excited about graduating. All my diploma proves is that I can start and finish something." And that you spent $140,000 dollars.
The French Naturalist author, Honore de Balzac, wrote a novel titled Lost Illusions.
One of the main characters was named Lucien. He was well-educated and bright. His mother and sister has pampered him, and sacrificed much so that he could be educated and have the niceties of life that he desired He believed that with his great brain and the fact that he deemed to grace the earth with presence, that life would happen for him. A post as an academic would be granted him; his fortune would be made.
Lucien left his village for Paris. He sought to become the consort of a great lady there, but was rejected for being inelegant. He traveled around Paris, staying at different hovels, writing his masterpieces, seeking different philosphies. His novels were rejected, ocassionally accepted but at a pittance of their monetary value and without the esteem he desired. He found like-minded people, who encouraged him, as they sat starving and cold.
Lucien discovered that the world would simply not just pay for his intellect; he had to offer more.
Lost Illusions was written just prior to the beginning of the 20th century, but it tells the story of many a modern young person. Too many of us think that our education alone will yield jobs. Too many of us have never ventured out to find out to find out own jobs, and learned the art of making money for ourselves. Too many college students think that a job in college is for "extra spending money." Or that being handed an on-campus job has made them an adult.
It truly does not matter what a person is studying, if he does not understand that he must apply his own talents and abilities in hunting for a job. And, that no job is too lowly for a person. A resume must have a starting point. Graduating college only to find one's self at a minimum wage (or nearly) paying job is only something to be ashamed of, if a person does not dedicate himself to moving upward.
Lucien's main flaw was that he thought himself entitled. Entitled to a job in academia, when he had not the life experience to warrant that.
Labor omnia vicit. #Virgil
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