I was listening to OPB on the radio last week, and their morning call-in show Think Out Loud was hosting a discussion on teenagers in the workforce. They had an employment economist who worked for the state of Oregon, an 18-year-old just starting in the workforce, and a variety of parents and teens contribute to the discussion, but I was struck by a weird sort of defeatist tone beneath the entire conversation.
The parents, in particular, seemed to have basically given up on their kids being able to find work, due to the classic “you need experience to get experience” Catch-22. I personally found myself desperately wanting to yell back at them to stop whining, and start helping their kids out with something other than rides to the mall.
Going to school absolutely does not prepare kids for the workforce. Nothing short of work prepares people for work. There is an endemic assumption right now that the only reasonable course for a young person is through the K-12 system, then straight on to college, perhaps with a brief detour into a volunteering stint along the way to help pad the college application. This track produces exactly the kind of clueless, over-privileged 22-year-old that Baby Boomer managers love to complain about.
Admittedly, my own perspective on this is a bit skewed, compared even to a lot of my coworkers and friends. I started working in the summers when I was 14, and year-round by the time I was 16. My first job was running a summer reading program at the local county library branch, and I locked it in before the interview even started by being the only applicant to show up wearing a tie, resumé in hand. I continued working for the year I was in college, and have been supporting myself (and other people as well, occasionally) since I was 18.
Not every one of those jobs has been pleasant — packing boxes for shipping at a Mailboxes, Etc. during the Christmas season, for example, or making salads at a pizza shop — but I’ve learned something useful from each and every customer, project, and boss.
Of course, no parent would want to listen to the advice of a college dropout who has no kids of his own, right? Obviously, college and a pure white-collar background are the only real path to success.
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