Share or Die

In the book Share or Die by Cory Doctorow it has story called “Thing’s as Which I’ve Been Asked to Dress”. Naturally with the word dress in the title I thought it would have something to do with fashion. Boy was I wrong. Granted had I read the sub heading that said “Life in the Nonprofit Industrial Complex” I probably would’ve gathered that. Instead it was about a woman who became a professional activist.

I wasn’t familiar with this term “professional activist” until I read this story. Nor did I know it was an actual career. This woman worked at a woman’s anti war organization. With there being so many different types of non-profits to give us a good mental picture of what type she worked for she called it the “crazy aunt”. That could also be used as a description for the jobs she had to do. She did many jobs most of us would call odd. Some of the things she said she has done include chaining herself to an oil barrel and building a blockade out of school desks. 

Those weren’t even the weirdest. For some protests she had to wear different costumes. One involved her wearing a dress with one nipple exposed covered by a pink peace-sign nipple pasty. To harass a congressmen who made comments about “social security, tits, and milk cows” she and a few others dressed as cows. As if those aren’t bad enough  to signify a media whore she wore a French maid lingerie costume with major news corporation logos covering her exposed parts of her body.
One of the mini stories that I found extremely interesting is when she attended an event where Hilary Clinton was speaking. She convinced security she was an intern and managed to get in the same room as Clinton then proceeded to yell that she was a war monger and was doing nothing for the women of Iraq but voting to keep bombing there homes. My first thought when I read that was "WOW!".  To do something like that is borderline crazy. But if you believe in what you are saying then kudos to you for being brave enough to say it.

She said in the beginning of the story that working in corporate America with the downtown offices and and people dressed in suits repulsed her. So this line of work seems to be right up her alley. To me this as a job would not be ideal. I am much more conservative and would not be comfortable with the assorted outfits or just being so outspoken about my opinions. But I do think it is cool that she is able to have a job that allows her to stand up for what she believes in. Although it may be odd to her it's much better than some average desk job.

Is college good enough?

Teenage years are very stressful for many different reasons. For me I found myself constantly wanting to pull my hair out especially when it came to college. That may be a little bit over dramatic but the reality of the situation is that there was a lot to take into consideration when thinking about college. As if the cost wasn’t enough to send you over the edge, reports and articles started coming out about how a college degree did not guarantee you a job and things like that. There are a few reasons that really make you wonder, “What’s the point in even going to college?”

            What most college students lack when up against other job candidates, who have been previously employed, is one word: experience.  That is what sets “us” apart from “them”. Yes, you may be doing internships and such but that can only get you so far. Financiallypoor.com says it perfectly: “It’s hard to land a job without experience, but you can’t get experience until you land a job.” That’s precisely one of the problems. How are we as college students going beat out people who have been in the field for 5, 10, maybe even 15 years? The fact of the matter is we probably won’t. Not only are we not gaining experience, but also lots of college grads don’t think college even really prepares them for a job. And that goes beyond just the experience.

            In a poll done by the Time magazine it shows that 74% of college grads say that college gave them intellectual growth. 69% said that college gave them maturity. And only 55% said that college prepares them for a job. Well at least college teaches us something right? Wrong. We need to demand more from our institutions of learning and the faculty who teach there. In an article for the New York Times written by Gary Gutting he says” They (students) see most of their courses as intrinsically “boring,” of value only if they provide training relevant to future employment or if the teacher has a pleasing (amusing, exciting, “relevant”) way of presenting the material.” He then states that professors expect this and in turn give B’s or higher for at it’s best “adequate” work. We need to be challenged. We as students need to buck up and learn that college isn’t just about partying and having a good time. I’m not saying don’t have a life but people need to realize that in as short as four years maybe less (depending on what year you are) you will be on your own…also known as adulthood. We are setting ourselves up for failure by not showing up to class everyday ready to learn and not putting as much effort as possible into completing assignments and studying. This by no means is all on us though. Professors need to expect us to be ready for class and to study and to penalize those who don’t. If they would rather party all night and not give time to their assignments and studying so be it, and let it affect their grade. Don’t clump everyone in the same group and assume that that is everyone’s prerogative when they start college.

        Now that I have finished all my ranting and raving, I’ll bring a more optimistic viewpoint to this topic. College in it’s own way actually does somewhat prepare us for being apart of a workforce. In an article by College Parents of America it states that college teaches us deadlines and being on time matters, there is a limited number of sick days and personal days, we have to have good communication skills, and such.  So if and when we do get a job we will have been taught the very basics about what to expect when dealing with bosses and fellow employees. Not only is it doing that, but some big-time schools are making it possible for people who wouldn’t normally be able to go there get some form of schooling from that institution.

            In the article “The Crisis in Higher Education” by Nicholas Carr he says “This fall, many of the country's leading universities, including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton, are offering free classes over the Net, and more than a million people around the world have signed up to take them.” This was news to me. With some college degrees adding up to around $100,000 this is a great way to get a college education without spending all of you and your parent’s cash flow.

College is definitely being put under the microscope, as it should be. It has its flaws like the lack of experience your receive, complete un-preparation for jobs, and it’s decreasing un-rigorous curriculum. But it does have its positives like how to deal with very basics scenarios and norms of having a job and it is making it easier for financially unstable people to get a degree. Hopefully as time goes on these kinks with college will get ironed out but for the time being we should try to soak up as much helpful information we can so that we at least leave college with something.