Before you read this blog, please accept my apologies for it being written in a disjointed way (I am sitting in remedies class now). I would like to thank Ezzie for letting me post this. Just so you know a little about me-- I too grew up in Cleveland with Ezzie, and attended the same grade school that he did. Ezzie and I have been friends for about 18 years and we still continue our friendship (it was thru him that I met my wife). I've been married for about 18 months and I am the father of a beautiful son (he is four months old). Thank G-d life is good.
I read the post about the frum economic crisis and I've had some of my own theories of why this is so. I have been pondering these ideas for about two years and I've spoken these theories with Ezzie numerous times--he agrees with me. So I decided I must post my theories. Here it goes...
Back fifty to sixty years ago, when all the holocaust survivors moved to America, they knew nothing of college, and especially nothing about graduate schools. The ones who survived the horrible massacre moved to America, worked hard, I mean real hard, and started businesses (they where known to be business smart). A large amount of them became extremely successful in things like nursing homes, hotels, real estate, construction companies etc. So they had children, and those children took over those businesses. If you looked 15-20 years ago nursing home owners owned one or two nursing homes, or one or two buildings. Now, nursing home owners own ten nursing homes and real estate owners own ten buildings. Business has become monopolized.
People speak of "street smarts" or "business savvy" as if it means something in this day and age. That's not true. We now live in a world in which a frum person needs to got law school, medical school, dental school, or become an accountant to be comfortable. I am in law school, and let me the first to tell it' not for everyone. I feel I could be much more successful as business man, but that doesn't mean anything, what business am I going to do. People cannot create new businesses anymore, there is no such thing. I mean the two wealthiest people that I know (really know, not just heard of them) never stepped foot in college, probably never even went to high school. Those people run huge businesses, but I bet if they started today they wouldn't make it. People can’t be creative anymore, they can only be innovative. I know what everyone is going to say “look at the owners of google and yahoo, they started businesses!” The creators of google and yahoo, took technology and made it better, they innovated. They didn’t actually create anything.
So what is the point of the aforesaid information? Let me explain.
Due to the fact that that people cannot rely on "business smarts" in the present time, they feel a justifiable need to go to some sort of graduate school, be it law school, medical school, dental, school, business school etc. That causes an influx of people in professional school which makes the job prospects once they're done minimal. People fall into debt, as a result of graduate school loans they spend the next thirty years paying them back.
The above is the reason for the frum economic crisis.
Ezzie will expand on this idea.
I don't agree with your reasoning being a "frum" thing. In general, it is much harder to get a decent job these days. It used to mean a lot to have a Bachelor's degree from college, now it means virtually nothing (for various reasons). You need a Master's degree in order to get any kind of job that could be termed a "career." This means that people go into more debt than before to obtain that schooling, that they start having a real career later in life and the rack up credit card debt in the meantime. Additionally, the standard of living and level of materialism present has dramatically increased over the past 50 years. All of this is general financial strain - nothing that is specific to the frum world.
ReplyDeletePlenty of people went to college (and even grad school) after the war. It took longer for many, some were forced to drop out because they needed to work, lots struggled when they dropped out-- most didn't begin successful businesses.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree...much like Shoshana already explained, academics also do not carry the same weight anymore...
ReplyDeleteThere will always be innovation. There will always be ways to innovate. Needs change and someone will be there to accomodate. Others create a need...(Did we ever NEED car seats that move into position recognizing your personal car key?).
The true difference in parnasah hinges on job security. Becoming a professional means a consistent pay check to budget from, and hopefully a clear path up the ranks in the company. Entrepreneurs may be making smart risks, but they are risks nonetheless.
In our capitalist society we will ALWAYS see both types of people.
Shoshana & JH - I think you're actually agreeing with dgesq, based on what he said to me last night over the phone (though he skipped here). Degrees don't mean much anymore, partly because every person has one (and, as you said, other reasons). And, as he said, this means that everyone needs a Master's - which creates debt. Is it *just* a frum thing? No. Is it worse in the frum world? Perhaps - maybe that's what I'll discuss. But while dgesq was saying this in regards to the frum world, I don't think he meant as opposed to everybody else: I think he meant it in general.
ReplyDeleteAs for innovation (JH) - that was a point I want to cover. The level of "need" is drastically reduced today versus (say) 50 years ago. People's "innovations" in the past were things that seriously increased quality of life. Even if people now "need" some things which don't, it's much harder to come up with an innovation that people can point to and say "we *need* that".
Student debt is a HUGE problem, (not just in the frum world). In fact, I read recent Wall Street Journal article addressing the issue and its social and financial effects.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in the frum world, parents saving for their children's college degrees (much less grad degrees) becomes a near impossibility because of the demands of tuition, and it creates a particularly difficult situation in the long run.
I know frum couples with student debt exceeding $200,000(!)--easy to do if both a husband and a wife went to grad school. It is unfortunate, because the wife is left with little to no flexibility and her income ends up barely covering her own student loan and day care.
I think that often when young people take out student loans, they have no concept of how much of their earnings will need to be used to pay off these loans. They just don't understand that $100,000 is like having a 30 year mortgage, or an additional yeshiva tuition to pay for the next 15-30 years.
I don't know what to say. Having a way to earn a living is necessary, and the frum world has created ways to bypass a regular 4-year education and go straight to grad school (not that these methods are free). But, for parents who don't want their children strapped with tons of debt in the long run, they might want to encourage a number of things from living at home, to regular work, to community college, to getting some coursework out of the way during HS.
I disagree. I dont think student loans are a significant cause of a frum economic crisis, if there is one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Google and Yahoo were creative. They did create new technology, as well as innovate on the business side of things.
Most businesses, whether online or off, fail. I don't see why your friends would have been anymore likely to fall outside that statistic had they not inherited a business.
To say that there are no business opportunities nowadays is ridiculous. YOu need to use your head and work. Having a degree may/may not help you, but there are plenty of opportunities.
ReplyDeleteObviously, if your goal is to be a multi-millionaire overnight, then yes, your options are limited. But if you are willing to go out on a limb to start your own business and then hope and pray that it grows, you may just find that you make some decent cash.
I see the root of the problem as being the lack of motivation to be innovative - a very common attitude that comes from growing up with a silver spoon in our mouth. Are there *less* options nowaday? Maybe, but there are still plenty of niches that you can go into and start a good business for yourself. All you need to do is to be brave, and have some entrepeneurial (sp?) spirit - which is sorely lacking in todays day and age.
Then again, it's all fine and dandy for me to write this, b/c I'm in med school :-) (but I do have a business that I run on the side to make ends meet)
I disagree. I dont think student loans are a significant cause of a frum economic crisis, if there is one.
ReplyDeleteGreg-Can you please enlighten us why you do not believe there is a frum economic crisis or impending crisis?
I too grew up in Cleveland
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear this. Good therapists can help fix the damage. ;)