Share or Die: Heartbeats and Hashtags

In the book Share or Die, Hannah Brencher tells us about her decision to become a volunteer worker for a whole year. She thought it was just going to be a waiting period to get through the recession but ended up being so much more. She was 22 and dedicating her first year out of college (still owing on loans) to being a volunteer for a place in the Bronx, New York. Even though most of her major living expenses were taken care of, she still knew it was going to be tough stretching out her money from week to week because living in New York is so expensive.

When she tells her friend about her decision to become a volunteer she already knew what he was thinking, just like what the rest of society thought. She was crazy. When he asked her why she wanted to be a volunteer she wasn't real sure but that question is what made her want to figure out a good answer. She knew when she told people she was a volunteer they thought of a poor girl with a huge heart and someone who is full of hopes and dreams. 

Hannah was volunteering in a non-governmental organization's office. Just two weeks into her volunteering she was already pressing to find more opportunities to help out in the neighborhood. Her urge to get to know the borough took her to Sister Margret's community life center, which was right near her apartment. Hannah decided she could help out there when her other job wasn't asking for eight hours every day. 

Even though the desk Sister Margret gave her was small, cramped, and cluttered it was warm and felt like home. She helped her update her website so people could learn more about the center. That was where the center was falling apart because before Hannah came along the website hadn't been updated for years. When people was looking for a website for the center they saw it was old and out of date and it was turning them away. 

I read more than one section in Share or Die but this one story stuck out the most to me. This girl, to me, was obviously not that self-centered or really too worried about what society thinks or even how much money she would make being a volunteer. I think her original reason to be a volunteer was to be able to have some experience in whatever she was doing because like we've been talking about no one wants hire someone with out experience. I can see where experience would really be essential for a job in New York because there are so many people that live in that area and so many wanting the same jobs. 

The thing that stood out to me the most was her helping Sister Margaret out when she had time. People these days only want to do things for others if they are going to get paid. It's sad but true. Sister Margaret’s center is a great example of how society is becoming all about technology and internet. Most of the older generation is computer illiterate because they have never had to worry about technology like that until now. They have always been a face-to-face or over the phone kind of society. She had been running her life center for 30 years and now was slowly going under basically because of her non-updated website and lack of information of the place on the internet. Not because of terrible service or anything that she had done it was just something as simple as her website. 

That brings me to the question, why do we rely on the internet for everything that we do and all of the information that we receive? I'm sure that there are plenty of places like this that have already had to give up their business because of the simple lack of updated information on the internet. If people went for so long with out it and made it just fine then, why can we not be more like that again? I’m not saying lets convert back to like horse and buggy time or to like 1999! I just think we are starting to rely too much on the internet as our resource, and I think it might be good if we think about starting to go back to having more face to face confrontation with people. We could even start checking out what we are finding on the internet with our own eyes, and getting our opinion on things instead of someone else’s who might see things different than we do. 

Is College Enough?

People are asking the question now is college enough? Just about everyone is going to college but what is the good of it if nobody can get a job? With the economy being so bad these days it’s hard for anyone to get a job with or without a college degree. Granted having one does help in a lot of ways, but experience has just as big of an impact as the degree its self in some jobs. If there is any way you could have experience and a degree that would put you in a perfect position to get the job you’re looking for.

If you look at some of the weird, probably unneeded or unnecessary classes that are offered by your school you think yeah that would be a neat class, but why the heck would anyone need that for? There are so many classes offered now that just won’t help you in your place of work. You might have to take classes like that even though you can’t seem to understand why. Many people are just taking classes so they can hurry up and get that degree. College: Enough Bang for your Buck said “While I do not intend to argue that we should actually have fewer people going to college, but rather that college students–once they have arrived at the lecture halls, dorm rooms, and common spaces that will fill their days for the next four years–should stop and think seriously about what classes they are taking and why.” Really I think that is a good idea. Why go to college and take classes that are not needed? Make sure you know what classes you have to take and why. Because if you're not careful all your doing is making your college stay longer. 

Even though there is a big percent of people who say college was just a waste of their time and money, but there is just as big percent that disagrees with that. An article in The New York Times talks about how some people say it helped them intellectually, grow and mature as a person, and actually helped them prepare for their job. Most of all they said they thought it was a good personal investment. This makes me think college can be what you make of it. There are so many different opinions of what people think about college and their degree it makes me wonder if their perception of college was how they went about doing things while they were in school. A lot of people say that being involved helps out tremendously while being at college and that people who aren’t involved end up hating it. Being involved helps you be more interactive with people who you don’t know, make a new variety of friends, and keeps your grades up because of some of the requirements that whatever club or association you joined with. 

Today, colleges in America are not living up to the people's expectations. More than 80 percent of high school sophomores plan on going to college. This is more than ever, but what they don’t know is college is not what everyone makes it out to be. There are crazy classes, not a lot of students end up graduating, and poor employment rate even after getting a degree. 

By the way everyone talks about college you would never think that 50 percent of students don’t graduate, or 30 percent of students drop out before they even start their second year! The amount of unemployed graduates doubled from the year 2008 to 2009 not only just that companies are starting to hire 21 percent less of recent graduates than in the past. Even if a graduate manages to find a job they get paid substantial less amount of money compared to the people who graduated in a better economy. There is an estimated of about 2 million people with a college degree who are unemployed today. 

It seems as over the years it has been getting easier and easier to get a college degree. It’s like they will give a degree out to almost anyone. In 1961 the average studying hours were close to doubled compared to the hours students studied in 2008. Over the years grades that are given out have basically been swapped. Our percentages of a letter grade A that are given now are about the same percentage as the grade of a C was gave out in the 1960’s. What has made it seem so much easier to be able to get an A in college classes? Are the people getting smarter? Or are the teachers being more lenient with their grading methods? I think either of these ideas are possible because we have so much technology nowadays that helps us out with our work but in the same way can hurt us by the way it is so distracting. In the 60’s they didn’t have computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Internet, or WI-FI to help them look up information. They just had books, pen, paper, and typewriters nothing compared to the things we have today. But with that in mind did they have as much of a distraction as we do these days? It’s not just the students who get distracted by all of the technology it’s the teachers too. 

President Obama stated in a speech what high school guidance counselors in America are telling their students, "In this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job." The Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell responded to that by agreeing and saying, "All Americans agree that a young person needs a world-class education to compete in the global economy." Every statistic shows that he is correct. Even though people do make better money with a degree than without one, should the economy still be pushing all students to attend college even if they are not very well suited for college? Some signs that suggest that they might be pushing too many people is that in 2007, 20 percent of people who had a degree were working jobs that did not require the degree they had. Another one is all they got out of college is debt. The good news is that there have never been more options to the traditional college. Certification tests could be made so that in many businesses bosses could get more useful knowledge about a job applicant than just if they have a degree. Career and technical education could be stretched out to be half of the cost of college. Occupational licensure rules could be more lenient to help create opportunities for people without a higher education. 

Every job wants you to have experience, but how can you have experience if you cant land a job? Industries are so afraid of losing knowledge that they are keeping people well over the average retirement age. With them doing this it’s leaving the younger generation always trying for jobs but being turned down because of lack of experience, or them just not hiring people because all the job spots are filled with the elderly people. Where does this leave us, the younger generation? How will we ever be able to gain the knowledge like the older people if industries never even give us a chance? Jack Vincent says, “Even in industries that are intertwined with rapid technological, legal, and medical advancement, experience is the door opener and closer.” 

Always remember there are people who are out there in the exact same field as you and working just as hard or just as hard to get the same job. So after college it is crucial to set yourself out from everyone else to be noticed so you can find a job. You may think its outrageous that anyone would tell you to this, but after you graduate if you are having trouble finding a job for your degree John Wilpers says to try writing a “passion blog.” He says this method works because it raises your profile in your line of work thanks to all the interviews you’ll conduct with the most important people in your field. The most important people almost always say, “yes” to an interview request. You are providing them with your skills and making business connections. It helps them remember who you are when you call later on because you sent them a link to your blog and then began following them on social media and commenting on their blogs, which keeps reminding them of you and how much you want this job.