There is something wrong with my blogger account. It keeps dropping all of the blogs I follow, then they're back again a few days later. Weird. On to my rant. I know I usually post reviews and etc, but I like to vent. So here we go.
Most of my closest friends and I are in our late 20s-mid 30s. Most of us have the same problems: money, the lack of; financial strain b/c of that lack and overwhelming bills to pay, such as rent, car loans, and especially student loans ,etc; lack of job growth, fair pay, and/or employment period; and overall stress b/c of these things. A few of us have master's degrees in really awesome fields, like archaeology and psychology, but the majority of us have bachelor's degrees we don't really use, myself included. Every one of my group of friends has a job, but most aren't in their field of study or aren't where they thought they would be in it, myself included.
I feel like my generation was duped. We grew up believing we could be anything we wanted to be, that we would go off to college, have a blast, and come out with a great career which would help us pay back the inordinate amount of money we spent/borrowed to get there. That is not what has happened. When I graduated college in 2007 and moved (back) to Ma, I thought I'd go find a job in my field, psych/soc/social work, and go back for a master's. That's not what happened. Sure, I did eventually find a job in my field, but I was laid off, along with 8 other people, b/c the federal and state gov't downsized the budgets and the company shut down our department. Now it's 2013. Since then I started a master's degree which I didn't finish b/c I realized I didn't want to work in that field, I got a certification as an EMT-Basic and worked as one for a year until I switched to working at a medical facility, which I'm doing now. Don't get me wrong; I am not whining b/c I don't have a job; I realize I am lucky in that I have a place to live, a car (albeit a shitty one) to drive, money to afford food, clothes, concerts, etc. I am living a good life, it's just not where I thought I'd be by 30.
Do I blame my parents? No, I blame society. A society that duped millions of people into thinking going to college, studying what we "liked" instead of a trade, taking out millions, hell billions, in debt to do it, was going to solve our problems. Lies. Most of us aren't working in our fields of study b/c there aren't any jobs, and the jobs that are out there require MORE SCHOOL, which means more debt, more stress, and a growing amount of self-loathing, hopelessness, and despair. Do you have any idea how much a master's and doctorate cost these days?! In my newly chosen field, medicine, I really have to get a master's to make any money. I'm aiming for nurse practitioner school, which is going to be about another $60-80k which I can add on to the $70k I already owe back. I will probably have to go for a DNP too; more money. Do you think I can work while I do this? Not really, maybe 15 hours a week for two years, which means I'll rack up more debt to pay for the car, the apartment, the gas, food, clothes, books, etc.
Read this great article found on NPR-"If Employment Game Has Changed , Who's Teaching the Rules?"
link here. This is such a poignant article.
Thanks for listening, readers. I'm going to go make some gluten-free waffles now before I have an anxiety attack.
