What Would You Do If Your Grad Was Not Looking for A Job?

<p>“Until he finds his dream job, he might drag himself into his local school district and pick up the substitute teacher package.”</p>

<p>Don’t know where he lives. School districts around here (actually statewide) have been laying off, experienced certified teachers left and right, and they are taking the substitute positions. And, yes, we did have a McDonald’s hiring, and more than 400 people turned out for 5 part-time positions. </p>

<p>And if I’m a McD’s manager, I’m definitely not going to hire a recent MIT grad over a high school grad, knowing full well that he’s looking to leave the minute he gets the job. This is a clear case where a prestige degree might actually hurt rather than help.</p>

<p>That said, it’s only 3-4 months. There are plenty of people out there with job experience and degrees who have been out of work for more than 99 weeks. Give the kid a break (and we don’t know the whole story…)</p>

<p>Mini, the OP said that thier district is begging for sub. teachers. So it is an option there. I know some districts are laying off, and others begging for teachers. We are seeing the same thing in nursing. There are actually a few places that have laid off nurses, and other states still in a nursing shortage. It’s crazy!</p>

<p>Did the OP actually TELL the kid that their district is begging for sub. teachers? How close is it to him? Does the kid have a car? Could he even get one?</p>

<p>Don’t make assumptions…</p>

<p>Yes, Mini, read post #72 and #75 written by the OP.
I am not making assumptions here, I believe you are.</p>

<p>mini – As I said, my H is a well-respected school principal. If MIT grad wanted to work as a substitute teacher making $25/hr, a recommendation from my H would get him a job. There have been no teacher layoffs in our county. My husband has to hire many teachers from out-of-state because there are not enough local new grads to fill all the teaching positions. The job market for our metropolitan area is still very strong compared to the rest of the country. There is always a shortage of people to work in lower paying positions.</p>

<p>Why do you assume he doesn’t want to work? Has he told you that? Did your H TELL him they were looking for substitute teachers? </p>

<p>Are you offering him a car?</p>

<p>I am not trying to excuse the recent grad. It’s possible/likely he’s confused, and maybe depressed. He may have applied for 25 jobs this year without a single interview. (That wouldn’t be uncommon these days.) It may take him some time to gather himself. He might not be ready to flip burgers, and hasn’t gotten the teaching thing in his craw yet. It is, after all only 3-4 months. My guess is that things will work out fine.</p>

<p>But the current unemployment rate for recent grads is roughly 40%, the underemployment rate higher. It is about 50% higher for African-Americans. I am sure it is lower for MIT grads, and I imagine it is higher for those who finish in the bottom quarter of their classes.</p>

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<p>This. Laughed out loud.</p>

<p>Daughter, who is a junior, already has her job lined up for when she finishes school…I think, unfortunately, for the above reason!</p>

<p>Mom up. where is the like button when you need it?</p>

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<p>I would think the only reason OP has started this thread is because she knows, maybe by speaking with the mother or the son. I don´t see why OP would assume or make it up. </p>

<p>If the graduate really wanted a job, he wouldn´t be waiting for OP´s H to tell him. My kid would have contacted OP´s H herself. When D1 was looking for a job senior year, she contacted my friends by herself, I didn´t tell her to do that. What, it´s OP´s H responsibility to go to this kid to offer him a job?</p>

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<p>DD (HS senior)'s response when we told her she’d always have a home to come back to: “I’d rather live under a bridge in Chicago than come back to [our town].”</p>

<p>I think that’s a reaction to the town and not to her loving family - at least I hope it is!</p>

<p>In any event, I suspect that after a week or so of bridge life, she’d be happy to come home for awhile.</p>

<p>mini – My H spoke to him in person over a month ago. He told him that the county schools are hiring substitute teachers. He instructed him how to apply for a job. He also offered to give him a personal recommendation. His mother also works for the county schools in a cafeteria. When he spoke with him last week, he had decided not to apply for the job.</p>

<p>His mother told us that he hasn’t applied for any jobs since he moved back home in May. Why would she lie to us about that?</p>

<p>No, we are not offering him a car. If he had worked during the summer when he was in college, he would have some money saved up to buy a car. His sister works two jobs to pay for her car and auto insurance. Our D (who is a college freshman) worked as a paid intern this summer and took home over $5,000. She has now paid off her car. He will need a car in order to work, so he could start by getting an old “beater.”</p>

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<p>Because you told us she likes to play the victim, so this really works to her advantage…oh poor her, supporting her lazy son while she works so hard. Great fodder for drama. </p>

<p>Maybe it’s all true what you say about this kid though. I just don’t know why everyone cares and is so indignant. It’s really not anyone’s business. </p>

<p>His mom has no obligations here-- maybe if she replaced words, whining, complaining with action, things would be different. But only these two can solve the situation.</p>

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<p>Be careful with such claims. 70% “flunkout” rate in introductory chemistry or biology could mean that 70% got grades less than A-, which seriously hurts one’s chances of getting into any US medical school. At schools with relatively high freshman admissions selectivity, actual D and F grades are far less than 40%, even in so-called “weeder” introductory science courses.</p>

<p>Schools with lower freshman admissions selectivity may have a higher actual flunkout rate (as in actual D and F grades), since the introductory science courses are necessary prerequisites to other courses, so course rigor and grading standards cannot be lowered too much.</p>

<p>This makes me very angry.</p>

<p>After years of making donations to MIT one of my priorities (H and I and his parents and brother are alum…)— we have made only minimal donations in the past several years. 2 reasons.</p>

<h1>1. MIT and several other similar universities give a subset of young people an entirely free education. I believe this devalues the education. Anyone who has the opportunity to attend MIT needs to understand that it has value to them, it is worth their investment, or their parents’ hard earned investment, in them. This young man paid $0 for his education and so I feel this is a part of the reason he can walk away from it so easily. MIT doesn’t ‘take care’ of anyone any better or any worse than any other comparable school. It is worth $20,000 in loans at a minimum for any student… Maybe if this young man had loans to pay off he would get off his butt.</h1>

<p>MIT students are successful because they take advantage of what MIT has to offer, not because they have the credentials to be accepted to MIT. This young man had all the credentials, evidently, except one- the willingness to work hard. </p>

<h1>2. A you likely know, MIT does not have a ‘legacy’ policy aside from the fact that the application gets ready by several reviewers. Our son was an entirely credible, if atypical MIT candidate who was wait listed in a year when they took no one from the wait list. Had he attended MIT he would have done what he ultimately did at the fine Uni he ended up attending. He would have participated actively in student activities, aggressively pursued internships, worked part time and graduated with honors. And, he would have had immense pride as a 3rd generation alum. When I read about kids blowing their opportunities at MIT, it gets me very angry as I know that my son, and many other kids, would have eaten it up.</h1>

<p>If this young man is depressed it is of new onset. It is not the reason he did nothing for 3 straight summers, not the reason he did not take advantage of his MIT education. A depressed kid does not make it through 4 years at MIT… it requires much too much mental energy… You almost have to avoid opportunities at MIT. </p>

<p>Every school makes mistakes. Someone needs to be the bottom 25% at every school. Not all these kids are mistakes. This young man… was a mistake and the policy of not charging for a first education only facilitates the apathy and lack of motivation.</p>

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<p>Apparently, the US armed forces do not agree with you when it comes to educating future military officers (at the academies and through ROTC).</p>

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<p>There are students at just about every school who blow their opportunities there. Admissions officers cannot perfectly predict the success of the applicants as students there. If they could, they would be able to admit students who would have a 100% graduation rate.</p>

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<p>That is a ridiculous logic. By this standard, all the wealthy kids, and those on scholarship would be big slackers. It simply isn’t true. The vast majority of kids aren’t even paying their own tuition (but their parents are), and they aren’t any less motivated. </p>

<p>We have NO IDEA whats really going on in this real life situation somewhere so you probably should save your anger. All we have is some ****ed off relatives telling us about some kid. Who knows how much is true and how much is exaggeration to justify their outrage. Who knows IF this kid is as unmotivated as they claim or WHY he might be. Its been four months, big whoop. Go visit the other threads and read about all the unemployed graduates of great schools. There are many. </p>

<p>Or if you want more indignation about the unfairness of life, just sit there and imagine that at every school your amazing son didn’t get into, someone else did and they aren’t taking full advantage of it either. It really is the case, even if you didn’t read about it on CC.</p>

<p>D1 was responsible for 10K each year of her education, even though we could afford to do full pay, for the precise reason of having some skin in the game. I think it is not rediculous for colleges to require students to pay for some of the cost.</p>

<p>This is not indignation about the unfairness of life. This is about a waste of my hard earned money donated to MIT over the years. At a school like MIT or Harvard or Princeton which can fill a class several times over with comparable candidates, there is inherent financial value in the education. I believe that when there is inherent value, the person receiving the valued item should have some financial accountability. I am not saying that every person who gets a free ride doesn’t take advantage of it (and by report he has not been taking advantage of it for years, not just for 4 months). I am saying only that it should not be free. If the parents can’t afford it, the student takes loans of at least some amount. It doesn’t kill them to be $20,000 in the hole when they graduate. </p>

<p>My kids did not pay for their education. They absolutely knew, however, what was being expected of them because we made sacrifices throughout their lives so that we could pay for them. We did not buy new cars, they did not get whatever they wanted and they had jobs. </p>

<p>MIT was the only school I wasted my money supporting… hence the particular frustration with this case…</p>

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<p>What schools have you donated to that have not had a single student on financial aid fail to graduate or otherwise blow their opportunity there?</p>

<p>UCBalumnus… since when is are ROTC or the military academy free? Last I heard kids had to pay back with time (ie. years of their lives) … me thinks this is worth something. Sometimes something like their lives… Not at all the same.</p>

<p>The kids at MIT are not on financial aid. They are paying nothing. Zero, nada. The kids at the other schools we donate to might have scholarships, but their educations are not free. They have work study, they have loans. At MIT, kids with family income below a certain level have NONE of these. They have no financial responsibility at all. Again, not at all the same.</p>