Non fiction

Uncontrollable Trend

It was during the year of 1963 when a girl named Annie was born. During her school days Annie was a bright student but was definitely not on the path to attend college. She worked hard in school but her family did not have enough money to send her away to University. Fortunately for Annie it was common during this time for many recent high school grads to immediately start work in an entry-level positions and not spend 4 years away at University. So, being in the situation that she was, Annie went out into the real world and got a job. Over the years Annie was able to earn job promotions, get married to a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, raise a family, and live a happy life with a solid career.

It was during the year 1991 when Annie had her first child and named her Jessica. Like her mother, Jessica was a very bright student and enjoyed going to school. Luckily for Jessica, she had two parents who made enough money to send her to college with the help of a few loans. The year being 2010, it was expected for all high school graduates to go to University and earn a degree. In this day and age it was nearly impossible to get a job without at least a degree. As Jessica spent her years attending college it was apparent earning a Bachelor’s degree might not be good enough for her to get a job. Hearing stories of recent college grads moving back home because they couldn’t find work, Jessica, along with many other peers, feel they must stay in school and earn a Master’s degree in order to stand out from the other college graduates, old and new. So, Jessica spends five years in school, acquires debt from student loans, finds work in an entry level position at a major company, marries a college graduate with a Master’s degree, raises a family, and lives a happy life with a solid career.

It was during the year of 2024 when Jessica had her first child and named him James. Like his mother, and his mother’s mother, James was a superb student. Luckily for James he had two college graduates for parents who both had decent salaries. However, it being the year 2042 when James graduated high school things are a bit different now than they were when his mum and dad attended college. Tuition prices have nearly tripled and no one earns less than a doctorate – which means 8 or more years of paying tuition. So with the help of his parents and his grandparents and scholarships and multiple student loans and working a part-time job while in school, James spends 9 years in college and earns his doctorate. After graduation James has thousands of dollars in debt, finds a job in an entry level position at worldwide company, marries a college graduate with a doctorate degree, raises a family, and lives a happy life with a solid career.

It was during the year of 2052 when James had his first child…….

Reflection

My story shows the lives of three generations in one family. Reading each story you will notice that many aspects are the same, but the college/job relationship changes in each story. For the first generation no college degree can get you a job, the next generation (the generation modelled after my current situation) a Master’s degree can get you a job, and the last generation described a doctorate can get you a job.  The main point I was trying to get across was that minimum job requirement is rising (which cost all students more and more money to stay in school) but once everyone is a college graduate with a certain level of degrees all recent grads will start in low entry level positions. We now see higher than ever unemployment rates in college graduates and we see many college graduates working positions that they are over qualified for. Lastly, I wanted to include the start of the 4th and last generation to emphasize how this trend will keep continuing to get worse over the years unless something is changed.

Haley Norton