I’m 51 and considering nursing school. It will take me 3 years. I’ll be 54 then. If I don’t go to nursing school I’ll still be 54 in 3 years.

I know from experience. I’m in my early 50’s, if I lose my job it’s over for me. I am too old to retrain for anything.

You just asked your guest from L.A. a question, and then 10 seconds later cut him off and said it was time for break.

I feel like this happens regularly. Come on man!

It’s not true that all the computer programming jobs have been outsourced. Here in Boston, it appears that demand for developers is still fairly strong. Just check craigslist. Outsourcing happens, but I don’t think an experienced developer would have any trouble finding work here these days. Someone right out of college maybe, but if you’re going back to school for a computer science degree, you’ll be in good shape when you graduate in a few years.

All of that said, I’m not sure I’d recommend a middle-aged person get a CS degree. There’s a lot of age discrimination in this profession.

Another DREADFUL thought: so many jobs in textiles left Southern New England a few decades ago for a “healthier” business climate in North Carolina. But then, due to NAFTA, the jobs went to Mexico and then to Asia. What defines a HEALTHY region or a HEALTHY, QUALIFIED WORKER is not in the hands of the region or individual worker, no matter how hard they try, no matter what concessions they make! Corporations and The Market call the shots. NAFTA and Globalism, as it is now practiced, TAKE AWAY INDIVIDUAL AGENCY from people and regions!!! THAT is a PERSCRIPTION for depression! It is crazy-making!!

My personal opinion is that unfettered, under-regulated Capitalism would return to using SLAVERY if it could get away with it! As it is, too many companies just keep chasing the lowest possible labor costs WITH ALL OTHER ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL, SAFETY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL VALUES THROWN DOWN THE TUBES. WORSE yet, we KNOW that some workers throughout the world ARE CURRENTLY being held AS SLAVES. That works SO well for business!! Currently, the outsourcing of jobs EXPLOITS the third world workers by denying them FAIR MARKET VALUE. IF IT IS ONE BIG MARKET GLOBALLY, then people should be paid the SAME throughout the worldwide market!! Again, we KNOW what unfettered “Globalism” does to American workers. IF it were TRULY a GLOBAL market, wouldn’t I be buying wonderful products from India that represent India’s cultural stance(s)? Instead I am buying American-designed products or services from India. My CULTURAL range has not changed in the slightest, altho THAT is what would TRULY be GLOBALISM!!

I’ve never written THREE TIMES on any given topic before. Thanks for bearing with me!

She also points out something VERY IMPORTANT for those who ALREADY HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE, but who want to SWITCH FIELDS, perhaps not due to “whim” but due to economic practicality. IF you have an undergraduate degree, it is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to get a scholarship to STUDY A DIFFERENT FIELD. Most (all?) scholarship money is saved for those who have not yet achieved a degree. That makes SOME sense…

The only ways to do it are: 1) to chose a field that has an Entry-Level Masters degree. That term means that you are starting a NEW field of study rather than getting a HIGHER LEVEL of study in your original field. Unfortunately, not all fields have Entry-Level Masters programs. 2) Choose a field that has its TERMINAL DEGREE at the associates level. You won’t get any scholarship money, but community college tuition is much more affordable.

Perhaps this is NO longer as true as it was in the year 2000? Perhaps there are a few specialized SCHOLARSHIPS that help individuals who are going for a SECOND undergraduate degree. Seek them out, if they exist.

One of the BIGGEST PROBLEMS is that people applied themselves to ALL THE HARD WORK of GETTING A COLLEGE EDUCATION, only to see the work in their field OUTSOURCED; YET the graduate IS DEEP IN DEBT TO PAY FOR THE COLLEGE DEGREE!!! NAFTA does NOT make ECONOMIC SENSE. It DOES exploit the workers of the third world who are PAID LESS. We KNOW what it does to American workers! Best wishes to everybody who has written in!

Just as I completed the last pre-requisite, I found out I had breast cancer and had to stop schooling entirely for ONE whole year due to radiation AND the college’s schedule. Once I finally started the program, my short-term memory had been affected by the anti-cancer medications I had to take. The only schools with programs in my selected field required commutes of two hours EACH way — while lugging books and looseleafs. I was a single mother, sharing parenting half-time with my former husband, but parenting nevertheless. I could NOT keep up with the program and dropped out before my grade-point average could count and affect any future schooling (I had obtained a 4-pt, i.e. straight A, average with my very difficult pre-requisites. To go from that to being on my way to flunking out was DIFFICULT).

Instead of returning to my old field (in the arts), I decided to go for an ASSOCIATES DEGREE at the local community college in ANOTHER field within the health field so that my pre-requisites would not be a WASTE. That involved yet one MORE pre-requisite course because I had already done so many (but, read that as adding another WHOLE semester!), AND it also included waiting to be called off the WAITING LIST for that major. The course of study was extremely hard: sometimes four or five of us in study groups would NOT be able to figure out how a certain something worked. Nevertheless we all graduated. From my FIRST pre-requisite to my GRADUATION with an associate’s degree SEVEN years had gone by. During that time, my father, mother and brother — all living TWELVE states away — got fatal illnesses. I had to keep working part-time jobs: they were the ONLY jobs that allowed me the flexibility to switch my schedule with almost EVERY semester change; they were the only jobs where, once I BORROWED money from my ill family members, I could go visit them; help them move; find nursing homes for them (VERY, VERY HARD; especially when the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease already exists). I thought I was doing the very best parenting job in spite of the circumstances; yet, midway thru all this schooling, we found out a school professional had been sexually molesting our daughter for four and a half years. I am NOT making this up!!!

So: I ADMIRE completely the people who go back to school, BUT I do NOT admire the society that makes it this hard for people to do so. My MAIN SUGGESTION IS THIS: COMMUNITY COLLEGES ARE GREAT, BUT THEY NEED TO BE DESIGNED AS COOPERATIVE COLLEGES; i.e., you take a semester of classes, followed by a semester of paid work in YOUR field in a job the school helped you find by being in cooperation with local businesses. THIS IS BASICALLY A COMMUNITY-WIDE FACILITATION OF THE EDUCATION AND RE-TRAINING PROCESSES. This is asking a LOT, but it HAS to happen! So many WOMEN, especially, are taking care of children while simultaneously taking care of their elderly parents, while working for needed income. Going back to school with these other responsibilities already on your schedule is VERY, VERY, VERY DIFFICULT. I do NOT know if my breast cancer returned because it was going to anyway, or because I had WAY too little sleep during those seven years of school — many, many nights I only had four hours of sleep! Some scientists think lack of sleep and breast cancer might be related. I don’t know. All I do know, is that after graduation with our associates’ degrees, we had to pass a grueling Licensing Test. Most of us did. But, while we were in our last year of school, Medicare regulations changed, and so, with licenses in hand, instead of EVERY ONE in class getting a job, only ONE person got a job in our new field for about one and a half years after graduation!!!! I DO NOT WRITE THIS TO BE DISCOURAGING. I WRITE IT HOPING THAT PEOPLE WITH ENOUGH POWER TO CHANGE THE SET-UP OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN PARTICULAR WILL SEE THIS AND RECOGNIZE MY GOOD SUGGESTION, above. With my cancer back again in Stage Four, I have chosen to focus on several other projects for my last amount of time left, but I did want to BROADCAST a realistic assessment of what it CAN be like to go back to school, and to make my SUGGESTION ABOUT A COOPERATIVE COLLEGE MODEL. Thank you (especially if you read all the way to the end!)

However that’s not to say that people flipping burgers should make $15 per hour. That would be silly. But, this is the problem, people are trying to support families on $6, $7 and $8 per hour. You can’t make it on that at all. The average rent of a single room anywhere in this country is about $600 per month or more plus the bills. In Boston it’s about $1200 a month for an apartment.

True we (I’m a 24 year old college grad piecing together 3 jobs after serving in AmeriCorps national service for a year) do not necessarily have mortgages and families to support, standing out in a sea of applicants for entry level non-profit jobs (who are older and wiser with more degrees than me) makes it impossible for find something.

I am lucky I don’t have a house or children to support… but moving around, chasing work, isn’t easy either.

You are right, there is millions of voiceless people out there. They went down not because of lack of education or bad luck or illness.

They went down because they were defrauded. Estimated that about 2,000,000 deceptive and fraudulent mortgage contracts were written during the last 5 years and only 30-40 people were convicted.

Countrywide’s CEO Angelo Mozilo: $500 million
Ameriquest’s CEO Lee Wayne: $350 million
Argent Mortgage and 20 or so systematically corrupt/criminal institutions.

These are crimes folks. Criminals are living in their mansions and victims are shelter doors with their tears:
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/fraud/mortgage_fraud06.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/financial/fcs_report2006/financial_crime_2006.htm

Also, it’s important to note that your Plan B may be someone else’s Plan A. So there has to be constant renewal and learning. Dan Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” should be required reading. Beware putting all your hopes into careers that can be automated or outsourced. If you do the latter, understand that your competition may not just be people in your town; it’s people in Bangalore with your skillset who will work longer and for half.

People who will do best when the economy turns around are the ones who buckle down and start building or improving skills/services that will be in demand.

Secondly, Im a big fan of OnPoint and its hosts (Ashbrook/Clayson) as it really feeds my brain with the stuff that is purely helpful to overall growth of my personality and my role as a good citizen.

Thank You!!