The New York Times reports that there is good news coming from the recession and collapse of the finance sector. Smart kids are abandoning the path to wealth and glory as investment bankers and lawyers, and instead put their minds to good use instead.
Today, the financial crisis and the economic downturn are likely to alter drastically the career paths of future years. The contours of the shift are still in flux, in part because there is so much uncertainty about the shape of the economic landscape and the job market ahead.
“In choosing careers, young people look for signals from society, and Wall Street will no longer pull the talent that it did for so many years,” said Richard Freeman, director of the labor studies program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. “We have a great experiment before us.”Graduate schools of government and public policy are seeing a surge of applications. In a survey of its members released last week, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration found that 82 percent reported an increase in applications this year, and many saw the largest percentage jumps in several years, or ever. The most-cited reason was the expectation by students that government will be hiring.
Maybe there’s hope for us yet?
Sure, it would be better if young people sought careers that would serve the greater good because they were actually interested in the greater good, rather than speculation that the government will be the only one hiring. There stands some probability that they will see themselves as an oligarchical cabal, smarter than average bear citizen who is undeserving of the gifts of their brilliance. And there is no necessary requirement that they’ve given up hope on the BMW within the first two weeks of employment.
But at least they bring some hope that government won’t be left to the chronically unemployable anymore. It may not be much, and may required a good deal of oversight to make sure that our best and brightest don’t screw things up even worse than dumb and dumber. but I’m trying to make some lemonade here. Work with me.
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No sugar for your lemonade from me, big boy. What this country needs is less government bureaucracy, a lot less. Not more. Hasn’t “the financial crisis and the economic downturn” been proof of that?
You are so killing the buzz. But (sigh) I know you’re right. I’m just trying so hard to be a positive sort of blawger.
It doesn’t work because you’re not being you. ;]
Quote: “It may not be much, and may required a good deal of oversight to make sure that our best and brightest don’t screw things up even worse than dumb and dumber. but I’m trying to make some lemonade here. Work with me.”
Making lemondade out of Government is an oximoron; adding oversight of ‘the best and brightest’ by the dumb and dumbest sounds more like vinegar and water to me.