Parts I and II got me thinking about this current election and how I am constantly frustrated by the dishonesty... no, not dishonesty... that's probably the wrong word choice. Refrainment, perhaps? The refrainment from being honest about our current employment situation. I remember having an argument with my mother a few months ago about our unemployment rate. "We just have to get those jobs back."
I want a politician to be honest and tell the public, "Those jobs are gone. They're not coming back. They don't exist anymore." New jobs need to be create. New industries need to be formed; current, modern industries need to be expanded. But those old jobs? Those industries that are disappearing or have left our country? Those jobs are gone.
My husband's former company laid off 30 employees during the height of the unemployment crisis a couple years ago. They laid off that many people, not because they were in financial distress (in fact, they were thriving), but because the economic crisis gave them an excuse to cut costs. Why not have one person do the job of three when you can? Those jobs are not coming back. They have not hired 30 more employees since then and they won't be in the near future. When the economy was booming, companies hired more people than they needed to because they could. Now they've cut back. Those people aren't getting their jobs back. I wish a candidate would just say that. But I guess they can't. Because like the example in the book about Bob Inglis and the man at the town hall meeting who he was honest with about Medicare, being honest doesn't always get you elected.
In addition, as discussed in Parts I and II, the IT revolution and globalization are causing many jobs to disappear. Industries that used to take decades, generations even, to evolve, now change every few years. I look at my father's industry as a perfect example of this. He owns an independent film company and in just his career alone he has gone from selling films on Beta and VHSes, to LaserDiscs, to DVDs, and to our current electronic form. He has had to evolve very quickly and change his business in order to survive.
I think this is why it is so important for our students to leave high school with a well-rounded set of skills. As the book states, it is rare anymore for a person to do the same job their entire lives (our profession is a rarity).
Kristina,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that many of those jobs that were lost are not coming back. There is a need to see what the future occupations will be. When I looked at some websites earlier this summer, the jobs that were growing dealt with technology, health care, alternative energy, and customer service. I think many of our students could be successful in these fields.