“I was so upset and disappointed in myself because growing up, I was told that if I get an education, if I go to college, then I’ll be successful,” Santos told Business Insider—and she’s not the first Gen Zer to complain about feeling tricked into pursuing further education.
Just last month, 27-year-old Robbie Scott similarly went viral on TikTok for insisting that Gen Z isn’t any less willing to work than generations before. Instead, he said, they are “getting angry and entitled and whiny” about the prospect of having to work hard for the rest of their adult life, only to “get nothing in return.”
A growing trend in business news journals is to tell people that pursuing college degrees is some kind of trap. It is downright sinister how the response to the student debt crisis has simply been to lie to young people about their future job prospects without a college degree.
If a Fortune Magazine reporter comes at you with a microphone, remember that you are acting in self-defense when you draw and fire.
Yeah, I remember being in high school, unsure of what I wanted to go to college for and being told
Which, let me tell you, does not help at all
I've gotten all of my jobs because I knew someone
I've landed a jobs because of a recruiter and a couple others from applying online. Good corporate jobs, too. But it's an enormous slog compared to having someone already in the firm who will vouch.
That said, college is a big exception to the rule precisely because of how much effort businesses make to hire directly from senior classes.
The degree matters, but surprisingly less than GPA. If you've got a 3.2 or better at a state school or big city college, it's a ticket to practically any employer in the country.