If you are prepared to put money on that, I think that you may end up poor ;-) Bullshitters are, as a class, the most successful people in history, I would guess. Politicians, high-ranking clergy, business men, aristocracy, etc. would mostly fall under that umberella, and have managed out society since it started. The last 100 years or so have been the most meritocratic we've ever seen, and I would be surprised if we don't slide back a little soon...
Not true. Society nowadays in the US is actually relatively immobile, compared to the 19th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_historical_f...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Vanderbilt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor
All five were from poor/middle class backgrounds. Compare to Bill Gates, whose father was a name partner in the largest law firm in Seattle, Preston, Gates & Ellis, and whose mother knew the CEO of IBM.
Employers created this system... You can't blame your friends with A, B, and C on their resume for expecting to get that cushy 9-5 job when employers openly say they are looking to hire people with A, B, and C on their resume. For them, meeting this criteria is their top priority. There's nothing wrong with having different goals and values from yours.
Have employers really hijacked the American educational system? I think this is how it always has been. Americans are very pragmatic. Education in America is very pragmatic. If you think college should focus more on academics for the sake of academics, you can have that experience too, but let's not cry about the system being broken.
The entitlement problem lies simply in overcompetition for these cushy 9-5 jobs due to the relative ease of getting A, B, and C on one's resume over the past few years. Pair that with the downsizing, cutbacks, and layoffs of the financial crisis, and the economics just don't work in recent grads' favor at all. (Look at our unemployment rate...)
I don't have a cushy 9-5 job, but my expectations aren't shattered at all. I didn't optimize my resume for A, B, and C because I enjoyed pursuing X, Y, and Z much more. I thought A, B, and C were mostly bullshit... I think employers are perfectly content with hiring bullshitters.
> "Bullshitting is the most valuable skill to have." (unknown)
I think it's just inconvenient that academia is mixed up with careerism. Neither group really cares much for the other, but unfortunately, the former is dependent on the latter. You can still choose your path and set realistic expectations though, and I think most people do this.
The entitlement of success that seems to follow from attending college is what's broken. The expectation that you will get a cushy 9-5 job in return for that diploma is what's broken. It in essence is a laziness of the mind, an unwillingness to chart out one's own path, the very idea of which is quite unacademic.
Totally spot on. I have friends with this exact mentality. From this crisis we face today - employers will recognize this fact and stop hiring bullshitters. Luckily nature has corrected itself for millions of years.