When you’re a writer who talks about big trends and ideas, it really does help to live outside of the DC/NYC bubble. Back when I was an education reporter, I regularly went to parent-teacher meetings and local school board meetings just so I could spot the early trends. It gave me an edge over my competition, who had never sat through a five-hour budget meeting or attended a school fundraiser.
I spotted the shitty job market for young college graduates long before the mainstream press, because my son and my friends’ kids were all faced with similar problems. I’ve talked about the poor options for young college grads for a couple of years in this newsletter, and the mainstream press is just getting caught up on it.
When that happens, I revert to the oldest sister mode. In my head, I’m shouting, I TOLD YOU SO!
I also started tying the bad job market together with AI back in May. I wrote:
My kids are the vanguard of the new job market—working multiple jobs, making themselves irrelevant by contributing to the growth of AI systems, and working jobs that typically don’t attract college graduates. I like to think that their situation is temporary. Perhaps they’ll find permanent positions at these AI companies. Perhaps they’ll find a solid place within the waves of the new economy.
Now everybody is talking about the crappy job market and AI.
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A while back I listened to a podcast, an interview with the owner of a commercial bakery. He was talking about food price inflation. One really important point he made was that most of the time he can’t raise prices. Customers won’t stand for it. He could raise prices back during the pandemic-induced inflation, because he had an excuse.
Finding an excuse to do the thing the business needed/wanted to do anyway was really important for customer relations. That’s what I think of every time a big company says they’re laying everyone off and replacing them with AI.
Anyway whether it’s AI or not, the data suggests we’re already in the early stages of what will be a nasty recession.
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Happy belated birthday! And so glad both of those young men are doing well.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to deal with AI in my online classes. Some students are sort of doing the assignment but then using AI to dress it up, because they don’t think their version is good enough. It’s more than just the “thesaurus problem”; it adds in terminology and concepts and convoluted (sometimes sensible, sometimes not) wording.
My latest plea is: I want to work with you based on your actual level of understanding. And I want your classmates all to feel comfortable with their level of understanding because they see that you are on that level too. I think I sold one student on that yesterday.
af
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Thank you, af! And thanks for caring so much about your students.
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