Economic Resource Episode 1

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Economic Resource Episode 1. Economic Resource could mean anything: books, websites, podcasts, and news. Here, I will be recommending some economic resources that I found helpful (besides my own blog) that are worth recommending to you.

    Okay, so after I found myself deep in the human capital resource rabbit hole, I came across Malcolm Harris's book "Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials". Kids these days, the elders always say as an expression of disappointment towards the younger generation. Now, Gen Z says that to Gen Alpha; in 2016, when Harris wrote this book, those exact words pointed towards the millennials. Sure, the millennials were relatively young and new to society. The older generation believed millennials had it good -- stability, fine condition, and technology.  According to human capital resource theory, one should be able to get ahead in the job market if they have education, skills, and experience. However, some underlying problems arise with the millennial generation that continue to intensify with Gen Z, and possibly Gen Alpha: securing a spot in the job market has become more difficult. In "Kids These Days", Malcolm Harris addresses the challenge of millennials in terms of getting ahead in the job market from childhood, college, and adulthood.  

    Starting off with a millennial childhood, Harris referenced the metaphor of Danny Dunn and the homework machine, which I found particularly interesting. Danny Dunn wanted to use the homework machine to complete his and his friends' homework early so they would have more play time. However, once their teacher found out, she argued that kids should learn to reduce the time spent on homework without actually reducing the time spent on homework. In other words, the amount of homework increased as Danny was able to spend less time on each homework. Although at school, kids use computers for homework, which is technically much more convenient than handwriting stuff and searching for textbooks, the time kids spend on homework never actually decreases. Teachers started assigning more homework because each homework is so quick to do. Therefore, technology no longer gives any advantage. Similarly, many of my high school classmates took a total of twelve to thirteen AP classes. In the past, this amount of AP classes might've given them an edge in college applications. But these days, twelve to thirteen AP classes in high school have become a trend, resulting in the college application process becoming more competitive. None of us are slacking off, but "more people are working harder" (Harris). The competition will only become more intense for us.

    To continue with the life of a millennial, let's take a look at college. College education technically should give anyone an edge in the job market due to the education, the extra years spent working on certain skills. Things changed. During the past few years, many people started questioning the value of college, whether it is a scam these days, because college no longer guarantees a good future. Harris brought up the problem about high tuition and student loans. What you learn in college is the same as what the last few generations learn; however, each piece of information became more expensive due to the growing tuition. In other words, you are getting less while paying more. Moreover, while college is suppose to set you up for financial success, it is letting many people down with student loan, which chase you down your whole life. You don't just get away with student loans by filing bankruptcy. Compared to the older generation, we may be more educated, but we are not more well off. 

    Although succeeding in the job market is difficult, I think one of the most important takeaways from Harris is that we are way more than our resume, our education. Since childhood, from taking all those AP classes, we are crafting ourselves like a specific resume with the sole purpose of surviving in this system. Our parents have been drilling the idea of getting into a good college and going into a high paying job into our mind. These days, more and more college students began losing hope in their future and the possibility of their job being replaced by AI. The competition of getting into a good college became more intense. While we are doing everything to secure a spot in this system, we are drowning ourselves in it as well, all in the name of stability. No one has had it easy being in this system; no one came by without a challenge. However, we still have to remember that we are much much more than that. Maybe you don't always have to follow the footsteps of going into a college. Maybe our lives don't have to be that hard if we are willing to change our ways.

    Overall, I strongly recommend you to read "Kids These Days" by Malcolm Harris. Although Harris had an opinionated view in this book, it still gave a strong analysis over the human capital resource system in our society and what it meant for the future. This book was written in 2016, which was almost a decade ago, but some continuities of some trends in the job market still remain. The competition in the job market is only going to intensify. I strongly recommend you to read this book and think about what role will you play in shaping the future of our job market.

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