Many Colleges Graduates Entering Technical Schools
Bachelors Degree not enough
by Cheryl Jacobs
MADISON, WI (CPS) - After ten years
of college, Cheri McKently is getting a lit
tle depressed.
Even after she gets her masters degree
in industrial social work next fall from the
University of Wisconsin, she doesn’t think
she has much of a chance to land a decent
job.
“I don’t have any hope of getting that
$25,000 a year job,” says the 38-year-old
mother of two, who holds down a part-time
job at the university’s Continuing Educa
tion Service.
In her job, she gets to see increasing
numbers of people in situations like hers:
recent college grads who, after periods of
trying but failing to parlay their degrees
into the jobs they were trained for, are now
lowering their sights and expectations.
It is happening at similar continuing
education and retraining offices around
the country, too.
“The people coming in for counseling
are in their twenties and thirties, and they
feel angry, frustrated and betrayed,” says
Kent Lesandrini, a UW career counselor.
Especially among recent grads, “I think
there is disenchantment, and expectations
are not met,” adds Judith Gumtener, San
Diego State University’s associate plann
ing director.
“More people are being educated, think
ing this is going to open the doors,” says
Dr. William Bryan of the University of
Alabama’s Continuing Education Pro
gram. “But it is not.”
Students and recent grads “have seen a
pretty hard decade for employment,”
summarizes Paul Barton, head of the Na
tional Institute for Work and Learning in
Washington, D.C. “These people don’t see
themselves doing as well as their parents,
and that is part of the disappointment.”
“There is a feeling that people are not in
control of their future,” Lesandrini ex
plains.
He sees post-graduate depression most
often among liberal arts degree holders
like teachers and social workers, but also
among a surprising number of people who
have earned their masters of business ad
ministration (MBA). MBAs, of course,
were considered the golden job ticket of
the late seventies.
Part of the reason for the widespread
disappointment and the increasing traffic
at continuing education programs from re
cent grads is that students treat their
educations too much as employment tools,
the counselors say.
“People rely too much on education as a
singular qualification for employment,”
Gumbener contends. “The total being and
image put forth are more important.”
But the unrealistic job expectations
aren’t the educators’ fault, the educators
say.
“I don’t think anyone ever promises
anyone a position,” says Dr. William Bar
ton of the University of Tennessee’s conti
nuing education program and vice presi
dent of the nationwide Association for Con
tinuing Higher Education.
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San Diego State’s Gumbener also at
tributes the palpable “disillusionment”
among the recent grads she sees to the cur
rent recession.
Her clients “are tremendously
frustrated because the job opportunities
are not the same as they were three years
ago.”
Alabama’s Bryan says bringing down
the state’s 16 percent unemployment rate
would go a long way toward improving
people’s moods.
But Williard Wirtz of the National In
stitute for Work and Learning says much
of the underemployment and depression
among recent grads can be traced to a fun
damental shift in the American economy,
not just to a temporary recession.
“This has always happened” when
economic activity moves from one base
(say, agriculture) to another (industry),
he points out. “The disillusionment is
nothing new.”
“The computer, the chips and robots are
coming in,” he says. “Those with degrees
from a couple of years ago are finding it
difficult to compete in the higher
technology of the eighties.”
Whatever the reasons for the disillusion
ment, they are prompting a remarkable
enrollment boom at the continuing educa
tion offices and especially technical
schools around the nation.
“We are experiencing an inordinate
number of degreed students coming
back,” exults Robert L. Brown, admis
sions director for Wake Technical College
in Raleigh, N.C.
Wake’s eiu’ollment is up 42 percent over
fall, 1981.
“I turned away 1000 students last fall,”
he reports. “I’m afraid I’m going to be tur
ning away 2200 this year.” Many of them
have Ph.D.s and MBAs, he adds.
“We have a lot of students wih four-year
degrees coming back” for retraining at
Central Texas College, says Lillian Young
of the Killeen school’s Skills Training
Center.
They tell her, “ ‘I’ve gone from one place
to another, and I can’t find a job,’ ” she
says. Many of the college grads are now in
CTC’s auto mechanic, medical technician,
welding, diesel mechanic and building
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maintenance programs.
Technical school enrollment nationwide
has gone up 20 percent over the last two
years, in part because of the influx of col
lege grads, reports Christopher Davis of
the National Association for Trade and
Technical Schools.
He says most of them are eru-olling in
data processing, electronics, dental
technician and drafting technician pro
grams.
The programs “make them more
marketable for entry-level jobs,” he ex
plains.
But unreconstituted liberal arts majors
like McKently see a determinedly-
downbeat future.
“I’m facing a job market that doesn’t
want social workers,” she says. After star
ting business school, she married and had
children before returning to college for her
B.A. in social work. Her one social work
job fell victim to a budget cut. After a
divorce, she returned to Wisconsin for her
masters.
Even with the advanced degree, she
fears she won’t be able to get a good job, or
hold onto one if the economy goes sour
again. “I do still hope I can get something,
but I will always be underemployable.”
Business in
North Carolina
On Rise
The level of business activity in North
Carolina continued to expand in March,
according to the Wachovia Business Index.
The Index registered 117.9, up 1.1 percent
from the revised February level.
The rise in the Index resulted from an in
crease in new business starts and a
decline in initial claims for unemployment
insurance. The gains were tempered by
losses in building permits and non-
agricultural employment during March.
Non-agricultural employment was
slightly below the February level, with
both manufacturing and non
manufacturing sectors reporting lower
employment levels. Employment was
down in the apparel, construction and
government sectors, but was up in textiles,
furniture, trade and service. The average
manufacturing workweek was 38.9 hours,
an increase of 1.0 percent from February.
Photo-journalist
continued from page 9
He says that the small number of blacks
who are working photo-journalists is due to
economic factors. “We’re slow in photo
journalism because of the expenses involv
ed,” he says. “A camera costs you a lot of
money, but it’s an investment. “He also
says that its’ not wise to get a cheap
camera because it will tear up quickly.
“Taking pictures has to be something
that makes you shake on the inside if you
want to be a photo journalist or profes
sional photographer,” says J.P. You have
to be a freak over it and be able to visualize
a picture before you take it. He says that
aspiring photo journalists should first of
all go out and buy an inexpensive to mid
“ range priced 35 milimeter camera.
Reserve some money so you can enrole in
a Beginning 35 milimeter photography
class. And by all means go out and start
shooting pictures if you have a camera.”