No wonder Gen Y, that is 20somethings, is flocking to law school. Their unemployment rate is 15.3% versus 9.5% and their average educational debt from undergraduate is about $20,000 [Source Demos.] Perhaps they're pessimistic enough to bet the ranch on a time-consuming expensive degree.
At least it provides a clear path for a gen described by BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK's Tammy Erickson as "overwhelmed" by so much choice. Unlike us Baby Boomers, they have so many options that they could feel paralyzed. Erickson notes they suffer from clinical depression.
When I was going to college as a first-gen female in my ethnic family to pursue higher education, there was only one solid option: major in English to teach it. And that's what I did. But thanks to growing affluence the goal shifted to college teaching. However, like today's gen, the marketplace changed under me and I never had a shot to go on the college professor tenure-track. Instead, burdened with so much education I was stuck sorting out for several years after graduate school until I could put together a new career path.
What's universal here, at least since post-World War II affluence, is that there is a flight to the supposed safety of academic programs.
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