It does not help anything that corporate salaries have increased 1100% in the last 30 years while the average worker salary has increased only 10.9%. An Amazon worker would have to work for 204 years to earn what Jeff Bezos earns in one hour. And thanks to AI he needs even less staff because he can use AI for customer support, AI to write product descriptions, AI to monitor the staff and AI to issue warnings and termination notices - all while paying less taxes than a McDonald's employee.
Most people will be totally oblivious to all of that and the few who notice will villainize him instead of realizing he is only capitalizing on laws that allow him to do exactly what he's doing and the real problem is the people holding up the system that permits all of this. Ugh. Sorry for the rant. Great piece Michelle. For anyone reading, if you don't have her book, do get it. It's great!!
Don’t even get me started on how Business is not a real subject because it relies on economics for theory and that is why an MBA is very often a terminal degree. And I firmly believe the rise in BBA/MBA graduate has contributed to what seems like a general diminishing of critical thinking skills.
This is because critical thinking skills are really cultivated in the humanities. That high school language arts class was the backbone of the entire four-year curriculum. And this bears out in testing: the median GRE scores are highest among humanities students — higher than engineering grads, and natural sciences (at least this was the case a while ago; I doubt trends have completely transformed).
Capitalism has hollowed out higher education. And somehow everyone now believes that the purpose of an education is to get a job — a necessity given the astronomical costs of that education. But this has never ever been the purpose of education! A classic liberal arts education, the education of leaders, was always intended to train you how to think. In a democracy, the function of public education is to cultivate critical thinking skills so voters are not drawn in by the first charlatan to promise them the moon.
Anyway, great article! I can relate to a lot; I do have all of the advanced degrees, but all that awaited me were adjunct positions with low pay, no benefits, and no future. Education is no guarantee of job security; it is, however, a sort of insurance that we can remain ahead of AI. Without it, there’s no chance.
You would like the book Second Class. There's s statistics and then there's how people feel. And there's a disconnect between the two. How people feel always wins.
Yes, I dedicated most of my life to telling people facts, and that turns out to have been the wrong thing. I ought to have concentrated on making people feel things.
Nobody cares about facts at all.
I didn't actually learn this until He Who Must Not Be Names was elected president, and then it all made sense.
I’m grateful for my BA degree and for my education, including my second year (sophmore) when I stopped attending classes in favour of roaming the library and reading everything that caught my eye. I caught the end of nearly-free tertiary education here in Australia so I’d paid off my HECS debt by my mid-30s.
Too many people don’t appreciate the massive human labour that goes into nearly everything.
Wow very hard hitting and somewhat depressing article. Truth! Except, imho your last statement about Covid lockdowns- I too was an English lit major and am as a result a thinker. I associate lockdowns with Orwellian control and Lord of the Flies top-down (political) bullying and need for control. Anyhooo…really great piece.
Hi Michelle, love your work, been reading you for a bit since Medium.
I was just listening to this podcast by Adam Conover which is completely enlightening me as to why local journalism basically died and has a lot to do with at least the first part of your article.
Thank you so much for your writing and here’s a link to that podcast if you’re interested.
It died as a result of two things. One, publishers resisted paywalls and online subscriptions for reasons that I will never understand. We BEGGED them not to give away the farm, but they gleefully gave away the farm. Two, hedge funds completely screwed over many papers, including the one where I worked. If you read my book, The Trailer Park Rules, I give a fictional but realistic account of what hedge-funders have done to plunder papers. The character of Jonesy is very much like me.
I gotta pick up your book. Thanks for commenting back. I feel like the plunder across the board is becoming so so apparent. And the fact that it killed such an important vital part of our society is just… It’s hard to put into words. Unconscionable terrible tragic vicious evil. Sorry for the lack of commas I’m talk texting texting this one 😅
You’re very welcome to subscribe for free. I’m grateful that some others who have more resources are willing to pay voluntarily — it allows me to keep writing for everyone. If you win the lottery/inherit a fortune you can start paying then. :)
It does not help anything that corporate salaries have increased 1100% in the last 30 years while the average worker salary has increased only 10.9%. An Amazon worker would have to work for 204 years to earn what Jeff Bezos earns in one hour. And thanks to AI he needs even less staff because he can use AI for customer support, AI to write product descriptions, AI to monitor the staff and AI to issue warnings and termination notices - all while paying less taxes than a McDonald's employee.
Most people will be totally oblivious to all of that and the few who notice will villainize him instead of realizing he is only capitalizing on laws that allow him to do exactly what he's doing and the real problem is the people holding up the system that permits all of this. Ugh. Sorry for the rant. Great piece Michelle. For anyone reading, if you don't have her book, do get it. It's great!!
Thank you, Linda! And you’re right on all counts.
Don’t even get me started on how Business is not a real subject because it relies on economics for theory and that is why an MBA is very often a terminal degree. And I firmly believe the rise in BBA/MBA graduate has contributed to what seems like a general diminishing of critical thinking skills.
This is because critical thinking skills are really cultivated in the humanities. That high school language arts class was the backbone of the entire four-year curriculum. And this bears out in testing: the median GRE scores are highest among humanities students — higher than engineering grads, and natural sciences (at least this was the case a while ago; I doubt trends have completely transformed).
Capitalism has hollowed out higher education. And somehow everyone now believes that the purpose of an education is to get a job — a necessity given the astronomical costs of that education. But this has never ever been the purpose of education! A classic liberal arts education, the education of leaders, was always intended to train you how to think. In a democracy, the function of public education is to cultivate critical thinking skills so voters are not drawn in by the first charlatan to promise them the moon.
Anyway, great article! I can relate to a lot; I do have all of the advanced degrees, but all that awaited me were adjunct positions with low pay, no benefits, and no future. Education is no guarantee of job security; it is, however, a sort of insurance that we can remain ahead of AI. Without it, there’s no chance.
You would like the book Second Class. There's s statistics and then there's how people feel. And there's a disconnect between the two. How people feel always wins.
Yes, I dedicated most of my life to telling people facts, and that turns out to have been the wrong thing. I ought to have concentrated on making people feel things.
Nobody cares about facts at all.
I didn't actually learn this until He Who Must Not Be Names was elected president, and then it all made sense.
"There's s statistics and then there's how people feel. And there's a disconnect between the two. How people feel always wins."
Our ideas our superior because they take human nature into account.
If people aren't behaving the way our theories say they should, then something must be wrong with the people.
I’m grateful for my BA degree and for my education, including my second year (sophmore) when I stopped attending classes in favour of roaming the library and reading everything that caught my eye. I caught the end of nearly-free tertiary education here in Australia so I’d paid off my HECS debt by my mid-30s.
Too many people don’t appreciate the massive human labour that goes into nearly everything.
Wow very hard hitting and somewhat depressing article. Truth! Except, imho your last statement about Covid lockdowns- I too was an English lit major and am as a result a thinker. I associate lockdowns with Orwellian control and Lord of the Flies top-down (political) bullying and need for control. Anyhooo…really great piece.
Agree.
Hi Michelle, love your work, been reading you for a bit since Medium.
I was just listening to this podcast by Adam Conover which is completely enlightening me as to why local journalism basically died and has a lot to do with at least the first part of your article.
Thank you so much for your writing and here’s a link to that podcast if you’re interested.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577?i=1000657134078
It died as a result of two things. One, publishers resisted paywalls and online subscriptions for reasons that I will never understand. We BEGGED them not to give away the farm, but they gleefully gave away the farm. Two, hedge funds completely screwed over many papers, including the one where I worked. If you read my book, The Trailer Park Rules, I give a fictional but realistic account of what hedge-funders have done to plunder papers. The character of Jonesy is very much like me.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYW3MRRB
I gotta pick up your book. Thanks for commenting back. I feel like the plunder across the board is becoming so so apparent. And the fact that it killed such an important vital part of our society is just… It’s hard to put into words. Unconscionable terrible tragic vicious evil. Sorry for the lack of commas I’m talk texting texting this one 😅
Thanks Michelle! You work is excellent. I wish I could afford a paid subscription. ❤
You’re very welcome to subscribe for free. I’m grateful that some others who have more resources are willing to pay voluntarily — it allows me to keep writing for everyone. If you win the lottery/inherit a fortune you can start paying then. :)
I'm already a free subscriber. Thanks for the great reads! 😍