Being a Movie Star vs. College

On Natalie Portman
By The Liberal Arts Dude

I was at the movies earlier today. The advertisements before the movie starts show different stuff on the screen like obscure movie and celebrity quotes to keep people entertained. One of the celebrity quotes they showed was from Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala from the Star Wars movies). She said:

“I will be going to college. I would rather be smart than a movie star.”

That struck me as one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Let us dissect what she said.

1) Being a movie star is not smart
2) Going to college is smart
3) Going to college is a better life decision than being a movie star

I don’t know about you but that is absolutely the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard in my life. Let me address the implications of her statement one by one.

Being a movie star is not smart
I don’t know about you but earning millions of dollars, getting tons of media exposure and gaining instant credibility on any issue you choose because of your celebrity status is very smart in my book. I would choose this type of life and the options it will give to me in an instant over the struggling, harried life of a college student any day of the fricking week. Oh yeah, don’t forget that as a famous movie star you won’t have to worry about student loans.

Going to college is smart
If you are regular Joe Schmoe, yes college would be a good move to improve your life. But if you are already rich and famous like Natalie Portman, hell no! If I were Natalie Portman I would actually have the type of life, income, contacts, and resources most people—college graduates included—could only dream about. Hell, most people with college degrees could barely fathom how to gain the type of name recognition, income, contacts and sheer personal marketability that comes with being a famous movie star. If I was already a famous movie star I would not be so quick to downplay the benefits of movie superstardom in favor of the life of a struggling college student.

Going to College is a Better Life Decision than Being a Famous Movie Star
I don’t know about you but this reeks of self-righteous naivete. On one hand Natalie Portman extols the virtues of higher education. On the other she slams the livelihood that has allowed her to make millions and gain worldwide recognition. Point #1: most college grads start out making a living at less than $30K per year. That is a fact. I doubt if Natalie Portman is willing to throw away her current earning power in Hollywood for that type of lifestyle. Point #2: higher education doesn’t necessarily lead one to lucrative, stable careers. There are plenty of people who work in the nonprofit world, for example, who earn a ridiculously small amount of money in comparison to their educational credentials and the position they hold. Are you telling me that type of life is preferable to being a famous movie star?

What I think Natalie Portman is really saying is that she would like to be a role model to young people. To stay in school, finish their degrees and to get good grades. This goal is so important to her that she was willing to go the extra mile and say that getting a college degree is more important as a life goal than her current profession of being a famous, rich, movie star. Which is all commendable and good. I just think she is going about it the wrong way.

If I was her this is what I would say:

I’m a famous movie star. I earn millions of dollars a year and have contacts and opportunities for careers ordinary people could barely fathom. I am extremely blessed and lucky to be in the position where I am today. I know for a fact that becoming a famous movie star is beyond the reach of those of you who are not in Hollywood. For most of you out there your best bet in life is to get a college degree so you can become competitive in the job market. So go to college. Get that degree. Education is very important. Especially if you have no hope of ever becoming a famous movie star like me. If I wasn’t a famous movie star already that is what I would do.

Copyright 2005

Thirty and Broke

Thirty & Broke
The real price of a college education today
Business Week Online
November 14, 2005

Paige Nichols has a certain stoicism about her, which has helped her overcome disappointments big and small. She was born in Oklahoma City in 1975, a time of plenty for her family. Her father was prospering as a commodities trader, and he liked to spend his money. Paige would turn out to be the same way. But by the time she entered college in 1993, their financial situation had become, she says, considerably more "volatile." Her parents had been able to pay for the education of her two sisters, 11 and 13 years older than she, but told Paige they couldn't do the same for her.

She finished up at the University of Tulsa in 1997 with a business degree and $20,000 in student loans, which makes her, by official reckoning anyway, a typical graduate. She is now paying off her loans, $300 a month; at that rate it will take her until she's about 50. "Twenty thousand isn't even that much, but it feels hefty," she says. "I'm not making any headway."

Like many who emerged from adolescence amid the promise of the late 1990s, Paige never imagined that money would be the issue upon which crucial decisions in her life would turn. But it is. She has been fascinated with forensic psychology ever since reading a book in college about a woman who studied serial killers, and she was accepted into a master's degree program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2004. Before long she reconsidered. "I dream big," she says, "then reality seeps in." Paige would have had to borrow at least $32,000, which seemed like "way too much to think about," especially since afterward she might earn less than she would in the corporate world. "I could not justify putting myself in that financial jeopardy," she says. "But it could have been my life's passion."

Paige belongs to the first generation that came of age with the Internet, grew up marketed to at every turn, is too young to remember the Vietnam War, Watergate, or the Beatles: There are all kinds of ways to describe today's 30-year-olds. But what may really come to distinguish them is that they could be the most indebted generation in modern history.

To read the rest of this excellent article click here
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Liberal Arts Dude sez: when you link to the article check out the comments section. Very interesting.

Toxic Employees and Co-Workers

Hello all

Here's another interesting article that I thought would be good reading. I focus a lot of my early writings on the how tos and the difficulties of finding and getting a job as a Liberal Arts grad. But what the heck do you do AFTER you finally land a job -- and you find out it is an environment teeming with nasty creatures like gossipers, backstabbers, and immature and unprofessional types? Here's an interesting article that deals with these types of situations.
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Toxic co-workers: When a bad attitude becomes infectious
By Sharron Kahn Luttrell, Globe Correspondent, 9/22/02

There are federal regulations to keep workers from being exposed to hazardous material, bloodborne pathogens, noxious fumes. But what about when the workers themselves are toxic?

As far as I know, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not require employers to screen their people for a chronically bad attitude. Yet, such workers can be as harmful to their colleagues as cadmium in the water cooler. They spread their poison throughout the organization, sapping motivation and weakening the entire culture.

Most every organization has at least one toxic employee. Their risk to others varies according to the culture of the workplace and the susceptibility of those exposed. Some environments are ripe for infection, so even when the source is discovered and removed, it eventually pops up again in a different carrier.

Toxic co-workers infect others through mouth-to-ear transmission and can cause symptoms ranging from mild irritation to critically low levels of morale. At their most dangerous, they result in a workplace teeming with virulent strains of hissing and grumbling employees.

In my experience, there are several classifications of toxic employee, each distinguishable by their mode of delivery and their effect on others.

To read the rest of this excellent article click here

It's Not Easy Out Here

The Truth about the Nonacademic Job Search
By Elle Madison
Chronicle of Higher Education Careers
November 1, 2005

After an unsuccessful year on the academic job market, I decided to test the proverbial nonacademic waters for a year. I have watched colleagues struggle through years of uncertainty, low self-esteem, and pennilessness while adjuncting, and I imagined (rightly or not) that the nonacademic world had to be much better.

Upon receiving my Ph.D. in comparative literature last June, I spent the summer applying for writing and editing jobs, consulting career counselors and job-search books, and generally trying to determine which path to take. The nonacademic job, however, has not been as easy to obtain as I had fantasized in my post-dissertation stupor.

Furthermore, I found that the transition into the real world bears little resemblance to the success stories and promises of those job-search books. So I decided it was time for someone to tell the truth about the nonacademic path.

To read the rest of the article click here