Now that the promise of college is being used to motivate some of our most disadvantaged public school students, we wonder if those kids need to go into debt when they can have fine careers as legal assistants and plumbers with less risk to their financial security and self-esteem. ~ Excerpt from "Class Struggle" (The Washington Post).
Ouch. There are visions of plumber's crack dancing in my head, even though I know a good plumber probably makes more in one year than I do in five.
Since when did we get lumped in with plumbers in terms of educational requirements? Last time I checked, most legal assistants need two-year degrees, or even better, four-year degrees to compete for the better-paying jobs with reputable legal employers.
Source: The Washington Post
7 comments:
Wow! What an interesting parallel between plumbers and legal assistants! Now I know the profession's reputation has hit rock-bottom. Geesh!
LSD, I agree - I found the comparison disheartening. Maybe we should go leave comments at the actual article? You and I both have college degrees :o
1) plumbers do not make as much as you think; they are billed out at more than they make, but as we paralegals are; and
2) it's electricians who have issues w/their cracks showing because plumber's tools are too heavy to wear them on their belts, so they don't
Hmmm, maybe plumbers are victims of stereotyping? Or lack of belts?
I think that the parallel isn't as much being drawn between plumbers and paralegals as it is a commentary on the ubiquitous advertisements for career training - those that say "Legal Assistants [or plumbers] are in demand - train for this high-paying career today at Ridiculous Tuition Online University."
Take a peek at the popular job boards (Yahoo's Hot Jobs, CareerBuilder, etc.), and depending on the metro area, there are a ton of these sneaky "career training" posts disguised as actual job listings.
I think that the parallel isn't as much being drawn between plumbers and paralegals as it is a commentary on the ubiquitous advertisements for career training - those that say "Legal Assistants [or plumbers] are in demand - train for this high-paying career today at Ridiculous Tuition Online University."
Take a peek at the popular job boards (Yahoo's Hot Jobs, CareerBuilder, etc.), and depending on the metro area, there are a ton of these sneaky "career training" posts disguised as actual job listings.
Nichole, I agree with you. Those ads for "paralegal training" pop up everywhere - even in spam comments to this blog (I won't publish them). I encourage paralegal students to do their homework before committing to an expensive degree program, especially one that most legal employers won't recognize.
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