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Re:For 20-Somethings, Ambition at a Cost by oinksoft on Saturday March 02, 2013 @03:36PM (#5310917)
What a utilitarian way of looking at things. Maybe the teenager won't be some top-dog talent scout, but you sure can find work in the music industry if that's your thing. Or taking care of sick dogs, teaching infants, whatever floats your boat.

It will make you less than an ideal cog, so you probably won't make as much money as you could in other professions, and you'll probably struggle at first rather than being recruited. You might struggle a great deal, in fact. But if your aim is not riches and you can squeeze to put food on the table, so what?

I hope that consideration was your reason for skipping the lecture on fellatio, and not mere propriety.

Re:For 20-Somethings, Ambition at a Cost by rohern on Saturday March 02, 2013 @03:44PM (#5310953)
I think OP's comments about being a good Asian parent are pretty silly, but the kind of wishy-washy "everything works out in the end" reasoning that you use here is exactly what has gotten so many young people stuck in the position described in the NYTimes article. One must to consider the economics of things to plan for the future. You cannot get a liberal arts degree on the hope that things will work out. Well, you can, but then you're going to spend a decade in unpaid internships before you finally suck it up and learn to program.
Re:For 20-Somethings, Ambition at a Cost by oinksoft on Saturday March 02, 2013 @03:47PM (#5310968)
It seems like snake-oil education is culpable, with folks enrolling in college for nebulous reasons. Young people are having problems because of student debt tied to degrees that aren't doing anything for them. The "everybody should aspire to college" ethos is dying quickly, but not without collateral damage.
Re:For 20-Somethings, Ambition at a Cost by rohern on Saturday March 02, 2013 @03:49PM (#5310974)
I completely agree about useless degrees, but we're talking about 18-year-olds smart enough to get into college. They are responsible for wisely choosing what to study.
Re:For 20-Somethings, Ambition at a Cost by pnathan on Saturday March 02, 2013 @03:52PM (#5310984)
Sometimes you just want to be able to pay the bills and have a prayer of not working two jobs.