Undoubtedly, it's a tough time to be a college student. I know many are taking a "gap year" hoping the covid thing will be sorted out next fall. I'm not so sure. I think a lot of colleges are suffering massively declining enrollment and the financial woes you'd expect from that. We may look back on 2020 as the year the higher-ed bubble finally burst. What seems certain is that a lot of schools currently beta-testing the mostly-online model will discover that they can record all the lectures, lay off the professor, and keep offering the pre-recorded class run by a couple of underpaid TAs... which is just what they need with all the new budget cuts. I see a lot of professors (teachers, too) looking for other work in the near future.
For what it's worth, my husband holds a BA (with honors!), and it turned out to be a strike against him in job searches. Any job that's actually looking for someone with a liberal arts degree wants a masters' or better. Any job that doesn't require one, looks at that on your resume and says "this guy can't tell a wrench from a screwdriver, but expects $15/hr while we teach him". He had to start leaving all college off his resume, in order to get called back for interviews!
He's now finishing up a 2-yr vocational licensing program that we hope will result in a better job. But covid is really screwing with things. We are dubious about the usefulness of online "labs" for medical training. No video is going to teach you how to clean a trach tube! IMO this graduating class is going to be leaning *hard* on OTJ training.
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Date: 2020-08-17 02:15 am (UTC)For what it's worth, my husband holds a BA (with honors!), and it turned out to be a strike against him in job searches. Any job that's actually looking for someone with a liberal arts degree wants a masters' or better. Any job that doesn't require one, looks at that on your resume and says "this guy can't tell a wrench from a screwdriver, but expects $15/hr while we teach him". He had to start leaving all college off his resume, in order to get called back for interviews!
He's now finishing up a 2-yr vocational licensing program that we hope will result in a better job. But covid is really screwing with things. We are dubious about the usefulness of online "labs" for medical training. No video is going to teach you how to clean a trach tube! IMO this graduating class is going to be leaning *hard* on OTJ training.