General Discussion

I can't tell you how many people I know see a college degree as something to monetize, or a way to get a job.

I never saw my English degree as something that would get me a higher paying job or even as a way to get a job. I went to college to gain knowledge. Period. Yes, there were people pursuing professions (doctor, lawyer nurse, engineer), but it was generally because they were interested in those fields.

I've had a few different jobs with my English degree, but eventually settled in at law firma and there is a sea change with younger employees. They are often smart enough, and are very nice as far as accepting (I particularly see that they are far less prejudiced against gays). But their original thinking is almost non-existent. They want to use tools more than their own thought processes. I do trademark searches. I came up using Boolean logic and other logic based search commands.

People now don't want to do that! They want to use AI based searches and OCR for design searches. Not only are the results inferior, I just don't understand why they are so addicted to shortcuts. Yes, they spit out an acceptable looking product, but the searchers are almost completely detached from the results and don't use any critical thinking to assess the final report.

Don't get me started on their failing letter writing skills (Dear First Name, Last Name, and complete inability to outline the subject matter), or how they all work with headphones or ear buds instead of wanting to interact with their coworkers.